How to finance mercury-reducing projects in ASGM? 

This presentation outlines experience in financing projects to reduce mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, drawing on programme development in West Africa. It describes limited coordination and competition for funding before 2008, followed by improved collaboration through a global partnership that enabled information sharing and joint project design. A regional programme covering Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal was developed after a sub-regional assessment identified common challenges, similar extraction techniques and cross-border miner mobility. Activities included site inventories, national strategic planning, health awareness campaigns, technology transfer to eliminate mercury emissions, market access initiatives and dissemination of results.