Project Detail |
planetGOLD Senegal is designed to transform the country’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) sector and reduce its socio-environmental impact. With the use of mercury widespread among the nations miners, the project is a consolidated attempt to eradicate the chemicals use via an approach which prioritises formalization, miners’ access to finance, establishing responsible supply chains, the introduction of mercury-free technologies and generating shared understandings of best practices, improving capacity and information at the local level. To protect human health and the environment from the toxic use of mercury in Senegal’s ASGM sector, the project will support an enabling policy and regulatory environment to accelerate formalization and the introduction of mercury-free technologies, while leveraging existing resources from the planetGOLD Programme to build incentives, awareness, capacity and facilitate the replication and scale-up of successful interventions. Key elements include working with the Governments of Gambia, Guinea, and Mali to tackle mercury pollution in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem, as well as Niokolo-Koba National Park, a biodiversity hotspot in West Africa. |