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In San Ramón, Bolivia - an area known for its biodiversity and tropical climate - the planetGOLD project is partnering with women miners to provide training in gastronomy, helping them to incorporate cooking businesses as an alternative source of income for themselves and their families. The course is grounded in the Manq'a approach of using locally sourced ingredients.

In the Philippines municipality of Paracale, over half of the population is involved in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, either as workers, financiers, processors, or gold panners. Many operations use the toxic chemical mercury to extract their gold and use outdated equipment--but this site is home to a brand new mercury-free processing system thanks to the planetGOLD Philippines project. This upgraded facility eliminates harmful emissions of mercury while also supporting livelihoods by enabling miners to recover more gold than before when they were using mercury.

The Kassanda District in Central Uganda is well known for artisanal mining. At the Kayonza-Kitumbi Mine Site, it is estimated that between 2,000-3,000 people have been engaged in small-scale gold mining here for decades, typically using toxic mercury to process the ore.

The coastal waters of Southeast Asia are home to one of the world’s most productive fisheries, which supports nearly 4 million people. But a growing human population and overfishing are threatening the region’s marine species, including the blue crab.  

Angèle Delo began panning with mercury in her town in southeastern Burkina Faso at the age of 12. Now she is one of 116 miners who are newly equipped with skills to process ore without the use of this toxic metal, thanks to a new vocational training program developed by planetGOLD Burkina Faso.

Angele plans to not only use this training for her own work, but to also raise awareness among her fellow women miners, especially in the town of Poura where many women still work using mercury.

Meet Angele in episode 12 of planetGOLD's #DispatchesFromTheField series.

Alfredo Somebang is an elder of the Pidlisan Indigenous tribe, which is part of the collective tribe of Igorot, or "people of the mountains," in the Philippines' Sagada region. He works as a gold miner as well as a farmer to support his family of eight. Small-scale gold mining is an increasingly important part of this region’s economy, and for the past two years, the planetGOLD Philippines project has worked with Alfredo and other miners to design a mercury-free gold processing plant that is fully accepted and approved by all local Indigenous communities.

Two new facilities nearing completion in Mongolia will allow small-scale gold miners to use a centralized, professional processing service that is mercury-free, rather than doing the gold processing themselves in secret using mercury.

Visit both new mercury-free facilities in this episode of planetGOLD's #DispatchesFromTheField video series.

What does financing have to do with the push to #MakeMercuryHistory in artisanal & small-scale gold mining?

Unlocking capital from formal financial institutions like commercial banks and microfinance institutions is critically needed in order for artisanal and small-scale miners to make the transition to responsible, #mercuryfree mining.

Banco National Park in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, is much more than just a pocket of green. It is a sprawling nationally protected park that is 10 times the size of New York City’s Central Park – and yet is completely ensconced by the hustle and bustle of Abidjan, a city of 5 million.

Biotechnology has huge potential to help overcome some of our leading global problems, from disease-resistant crops to innovative medical treatments.

But, like many new technologies, it is not without potential risks.

Living Modified Organisms (LMOs – also known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs) can potentially negatively impact human health and the environment.

The United Nations Environment Programme is working with San Salvador city and its surrounding coffee farms to create a natural defence against floods. Known as CityAdapt, the project is restoring 1,150 hectares of forests and coffee plantations to revive San Salvador’s ability to absorb rainfall.

Soil degradation is a major challenge for Vietnam's farmers, but biochar could be the answer.