Roughly 500 delegates from 125 countries descended on the United Nations Environmental Program [UNEP] headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya to negotiate a legally-binding global treaty to reduce and, where possible eliminate, global mercury release in the environment. [1]
The treaty aims to hold governments, companies, and individuals accountable for mercury release into the environment. While there are many ways mercury can enter the environment – adversely affecting public health, as mercury is known to severely impact the brain and nervous system – the focus of this year’s meeting was to discuss the reduction of mercury and consider policy options to criminalize the use of mercury in small-scale gold mining [SGM] operations.
What is the connection between mercury and gold mining and why does it matter to international law?
In small-scale gold mining [SGM] operations mercury is used to purify gold as it binds tightly to the metal allowing miners to easily extract high-quality gold from the ore. Mercury is used in mining processes in over 70 countries in Africa, Asia, and South America because it is cheap, readily available, and enables miners to swiftly extract gold.
Globally, SGM releases 1000 tons of mercury into the environment. Recently, SGM operations were awarded the not-so-honorable distinction of ‘second largest global emitter of mercury’ – first place went to the coal-combustion sector!
If SGM operations contribute to the global mercury burden, who are the emitters and will they be held accountable to international law?
The typical profile of a not-so-evil SGM emitter is an individual or household living in a rural area of the developing world, where abject poverty is pervasive. These individuals lack basic provisions like clean water, a stable food source, and basic health care; their financial resources are immeasurably stretched; and miners typically lack education and access to improved technologies – approximately 10-15 million individuals, in 70 countries, practice SGM. In Tanzania alone, it is estimated that more than 400,000 individuals practice SGM and entire families are usually part of the mining operation – money generated from individual gold-mining operations is oftentimes the sole-source of household income. And, YES, these SGM emitters will be expected to strictly abide by international law.
Understanding the complicated marriage between global policy and individual livelihoods
In a recent publication [2], Samuel Spiegel explores the complexities of the SGM industry and the factors that will cause a global mercury abatement treaty to be ineffective and irresponsible if the needs of the small-scale mining community are not taken into consideration. Spiegel’s most relevant finding was despite the rising cost of mercury, the hazardous occupational conditions, and looming regulations, small-scale gold miners continue to use mercury for their operations; this indicates that complex social and economic-based needs are actually driving mercury’s continued use.
Below are some of the barriers that may prevent miners from eliminating mercury during mining activities:
- They do not have the financial resources or the ability to access cleaner technology, which is often more expensive than mercury.
- There is a deeply embedded black-market for mercury that has enabled miners to still purchase mercury despite global prices rising 300% in the recent past.
- Strict laws regulating use of mercury in SGM will likely provide unintended support for black-market purchases of mercury.
- When creating programs or legislation, foreign experts and policy makers have shamefully overlooked the mining communities reliance on mercury –besides mercury, there are few alternative options currently available to the small-scale gold mining community.
Overall, I think the challenges above are summarized well by Spiegel who argues that mercury pollution abatement strategies will fail unless international governments and national agencies explicitly address local social and economic needs.
And while big business and big brother [government] are hammering out the details of a global ban on mercury, is there something that we, as consumers of gold products, can do to make an impact?
The answer is YES!
Do you care?
Hopefully, and if you do, there is something that the average American can do.
- First, think about the minerals you are purchasing and where they are coming from.
- If you decide to purchase gold, there is a fair-trade, environmentally friendly program in Colombia called Green Gold:
- Also, the Alliance for Responsible Mining works to educate, set standards, and support producers and miners.
- Furthermore, gold consumers, like you and I, can financially support organizations like the ones above, or NGOs like the Blacksmith Institute, which has training programs for miners to learn how to appropriately use different technologies to recapture the mercury for reuse.
1) United nations Environmental Program: Global Mercury Partnership. http://www.unep.org/hazardoussubstances/Mercury/GlobalMercuryPartnership/tabid/1253/Default.aspx
2) Spiegel, Samuel. Socioeconomic Dimensions of Mercury Pollution Abatement: Engaging Artisanal Mining Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ecological Economics. 68 (2009); 3072-3083.
3) picture source: http://ecopolproject.blogspot.com/2010/10/gold-mining-cause-considerable.html
Cassie O'Lenick is in her first-year of a PhD program at Emory University in Environmental Health Sciences. She is an outdoor enthusiast, a self-diagnosed goof-ball, and big fan of science and public health. My one unachievable goal in life is to give everyone in this great big world a hug or a high-five [whatever is more culturally acceptable at the time].
Yet another public health concern of which most of us are (blissfully) unaware and uninformed. And, although I am certainly not someone who often purchases gold items, I will be more aware of this issue in the future.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, though, what is being done to educate the small family miners not only to the dangers of the processes they are using but of alternative processes they could use to extract the gold. If you are going to take away the methods by which an impoverished family makes a living, it is important to have a reasonable alternative ready for them to adopt in its place.
I agree with Deb's question above -- one of the greatest challenges in identifying a problem is finding a workable solution that doesn't create further black market issues or put even more families into poverty.
ReplyDeleteThis ties into what some of the other blogs have addressed, which is that an multi-sector (interdisciplinary) perspective is often needed because sometimes the solutions create more/different problems!
I like the links you included and also how you used bullet points and headings to make your message stand out. In a few places you have some really long sentences that probably sound better when you hear them aloud, but are harder to follow when you're reading them to yourself.
I also like the picture you selected. I had no idea what a messy process this is!
Last, I am curious about the impact of the mercury on the "not-so-evil SGM emitter." What types of problems are these people experiencing from the regular contact with the mercury (and do connect these problems with using mercury)?
Very complicated issue. I have some friends that have done some work in South America regarding mining and mercury. The miners' families live close to the mines and had high levels of mercury. Policies are only as good as the thought that goes into them. If it doesn't work on the ground, then it's pointless.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the summary of the SGM problem globally. It appears that the millions of people using mercury processing makes for a difficult situation to identify, retrain, assist, monitor, and enforce. If the people in SGM are still in abject poverty, then switching to a more environmentally friendly processing may help the physical environment but it won't help the people find more gold or presumably process it faster. It seems that people need more than SGM operations to make a livable wage. Are there other agencies of the country governments that can assist people to find alternative employment or self-sufficient farming? Gold is not the total answer in their lives. Maybe there are other import products US citizens can purchase that support these countries and the SMG workforce.
ReplyDeleteI liked your article, Cassie. Very interesting aspect of environmental health and policy that I know little about. I like that you explained the issue and gave resources on how we be more informed consumers. I like the links to learn more.
ReplyDeleteOne area that was a little confusing is the question/answer about "emitters"? I realize this was probably a term used in the literature, but it is word that probably needed a little more explaining for the uninformed reader. Also, how is the mercury emitted?
I liked how you presented that this is an issue that needs addressing b/c of its environmental and human health impact, yet illustrated that good intentions to address one issue can have negative impacts in other areas. That certainly seems true in this case.
Overall, I found your article interesting and relatively easy to read (but it is likely written above an 8th grade reading level). You made me interested to learn more and to reflect upon where the gold I own originated.
Nice.