As we reached the 6th anniversary of the Minamata Convention on Mercury entering into force, many countries are moving from planning to implementation of the required actions to make mercury history. To address mercury emissions from the largest anthropogenic source - artisanal and small-scale gold mining – up to date 30 countries (to date) have prepared and submitted their National Action Plan (NAP) to the Secretariat of the Convention. Among others, the NAPs outline the national strategies to reduce and where feasible eliminate mercury use in the sector.
African countries constitute a majority of the submitted NAPs. To strengthen the knowledge and experience exchange between countries in the region, UNEP has convened two regional workshops on NAP development and implementation including study tours that focused on demonstrating current and best practices in the sector. The regional study tours for East and Central Africa took place in Kenya in April 2023, and regional workshop for West Africa took place in Togo in May 2023.
Participants in the East Africa ASGM study tour, including government representatives from Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Burundi and Congo as well as mining representative from Kenya, visited ASGM sites in Narok and Migori counties – where cleaner, less mercury-intensive operations as well as steps towards mercury elimination have been taken by the local communities. Participants in the West Africa study tour, including government representatives from Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, visited traditional gold panning operations throughout the Plateaux, Central and Kara regions – where efforts to formalize the operations, including empowering women, and improve working conditions were taken by the ASGM communities in collaboration with local authorities.
Participants from both workshops highlighted several challenges related to NAP implementation and transitioning to cleaner and more responsible ASGM sector, including:
- the inadequate coordination mechanisms between the environment and mining ministries,
- high cost of mercury-free gold recovery technologies that limits their accessibility and adoption by miners,
- the need for strengthening related legal and regulatory frameworks, as well as institutional capacities, and
- lack of incentives for sound management of mercury-contaminated tailings and mine rehabilitation.
According to the participants, key priorities as we move forward towards NAP implementation include:
- acknowledging that NAPs are living document and require periodic review and updates;
- review of NAPs to include missing elements- i.e. tailings management, mine rehabilitation and conservation of biodiversity in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework - and provide update on the baseline situation and progress in implementation;
- promotion of best practices such as piloting of mercury-free technologies, fast-track formalization, and enhance access to financing for the ASGM sector; and
- need for exchange programs/workshops for countries and miners to learn and share best practices.
For many countries, the planetGOLD programme provides an opportunity to spearhead the implementation of the NAP and put in place solutions for cleaner and more responsible ASGM. Many of the participating countries - Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Congo, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire - have joined the planetGOLD program, and other might join at a later stage.
To learn more about NAPs and wealth of information gathered in the national documents visit UNEP page dedicated to NAPs and interactive dashboards.
Factsheet: Exploring lessons learned
