News
25 September 2026
More than 180 partners and stakeholders convened in Panama City from 22 to 24 September 2026.
Participants shared practical approaches to responsible finance, biodiversity protection, mercury-free processing, illicit mining and gender equality in artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
The Forum strengthened international cooperation to accelerate the transition away from mercury while supporting safer practices and sustainable livelihoods.
Panama City, Panama, 25 September 2026 – More than 180 partners and stakeholders gathered for the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded planetGOLD programme’s 2026 Global Forum on Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining, held from 22 to 24 September, to advance practical action towards a mercury-free and responsibly managed sector.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining provides livelihoods for up to 20 million miners in more than 80 countries. Yet its continued use of mercury poses serious risks to miners, communities and ecosystems and accounts for about 37 per cent of global mercury pollution. As a financial mechanism for the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the GEF supports countries through the UNEP-led planetGOLD Programme to reduce and ultimately eliminate mercury use while improving access to finance, cleaner technologies and more responsible gold markets. As of 2025, planetGOLD had supported the abatement of 39 tonnes of mercury, assisted 41,821 miners through formalisation processes and supported the production of 1.4 tonnes of responsible gold. It had also developed 20 financial mechanisms through which miners accessed US $1.9 million.
“Reduction in mercury use helps protect human health and biodiversity. Across communities and countries, these reductions add up—advancing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 7 by reducing pollution that harms nature. The knowledge created and shared through planetGOLD’s work multiplies this impact. The GEF will help carry the strongest ideas forward through finance, knowledge, and partnership—bringing us closer to a clean gold supply chain and safe, sustainable livelihoods for small-scale miners worldwide,” said the GEF Interim CEO and Chairperson, Claude Gascon.
Over the course of three days, representatives of miners, government officials, technical and policy experts, international organizations and private-sector partners—building on proven planetGOLD models from different planetGOLD country projects including Burkina Faso, Colombia, Mongolia, Peru, and the Philippines—examined how finance, institutions, technology and responsible markets can support safer practices, sustainable livelihoods and environmental protection.
Against this backdrop, Forum discussions focused on practical responses to the sector’s most pressing challenges, including widening access to responsible finance, reducing impacts on biodiversity, deploying effective mercury-free processing technologies, confronting illicit mining and advancing gender equality. These exchanges helped participants identify practical approaches that can be adapted and scaled across all countries with ASGM activities, such as optimal technologies for mercury-free gold production, methods of mitigating impacts on biodiversity in ASGM-impacted areas, and processes to ensure respectful engagement with Indigenous communities.
By connecting practitioners across countries and generations of planetGOLD projects, the Forum helped participants understand how to adapt and scale proven approaches to their local contexts, providing a practical foundation for building on the programme’s measurable progress.
“The experience of the planetGOLD programme demonstrates something fundamentally important: solutions exist. planetGOLD has become one of the most successful and innovative programmes in the GEF portfolio, and we fully support its continuation. Around the world, miners are showing that mercury-free, more responsible gold production is possible when they have access to training, technology, finance and markets. The challenge before us is to bring these solutions to more people at the speed required by today’s realities. Moving forward, it is essential for governments to put in place the right incentives to support the formalization of ASGM as well as strengthen cooperation to combat the illegal mercury trade. Buyers, traders, refiners, and financial institutions must also step up and play their part in driving responsible practices across the gold supply chain," said Monika Stankiewicz, Executive Secretary of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
Participants included planetGOLD project staff, representatives of miners and government officials from 19 countries, including 18 projects under implementation and one with a project under development, as well as staff and stakeholders from six former projects. Together, they brought current and past implementation experience to the discussion, creating a broader foundation for scaling tested approaches across the programme.
“Artisanal and small-scale gold mining supports millions of livelihoods and making the sector safer and more sustainable is essential. Through planetGOLD, UNEP, together with other Implementing Agencies for the Programme, is working with countries, miners and partners to turn the transition away from mercury into practical change, expanding access to safer technologies, strengthening livelihoods and building a more responsible gold sector. The progress we are seeing shows what is possible when policy, finance, technology and the experience of miners come together,” said Dr Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, Director of the Industry and Economy Division at the UN Environment Programme.
As the planetGOLD Programme expands, the Global Forum provides a platform for governments, miners and partners to align efforts, sustain collaboration and scale solutions that help countries meet their obligations under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
Further resources
Visit the planetGOLD 2026 Global Forum event webpage for news and programme information.
Watch recordings of key sessions on YouTube and learn more on the planetGOLD website.
Notes to editors
About the Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the world’s family of funds for the environment. As the financial mechanism for six multilateral conventions, it supports countries’ efforts to tackle the root causes of environmental degradation — advancing global goals for nature, climate, and pollution. Over the past three decades, the GEF has been the largest public funder for the environment and provided more than $27 billion in financing, primarily as grants, and mobilized another $155 billion for country-driven priority projects.
About the Minamata Convention
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty that helps countries to control, reduce and eliminate mercury across all its life-stages with the objective to protect human health and the environment. It is named after the bay in Japan where, in the mid-20th century, mercury-tainted industrial wastewater poisoned thousands of people, leading to severe health damage that became known as the “Minamata disease”. Since it entered into force on 16 August 2017, Parties have been working together to control the mercury supply and trade, reduce the use, emissions and releases of mercury, raise public awareness, and build the necessary institutional capacity.
About the UN Environment Programme
The UN Environment Programme is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
About the planetGOLD Programme
Supported by the Global Environment Facility, the planetGOLD programme is led by the United Nations Environment Programme and implemented in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and Conservation International. The programme helps countries fulfil their obligations under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
For more information and to arrange interviews, please contact:
UNEP News Desk (Nairobi)
Tel: +254 717 080 753
[email protected]
www.unep.org
Alexandre Pinheiro Rego
GEF Senior Communications Officer
[email protected]
Jennifer Wilmore Scroggins
planetGOLD Programme Communications Manager
[email protected]
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