Schedule - 2026 Global Forum on ASGM

9:00-9:40 – Welcome and Opening Remarks 

The opening session of the 2026 Global Forum on ASGM will feature greetings from the host government followed by opening remarks from representatives of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the Global Environment Facility, and the UN Environment Programme. 

9:40-10:25 – Progress and Perspectives from planetGOLD  

This session will provide an orientation to the planetGOLD programme, highlighting its objectives and key lessons learned to date. Participants will gain insights into progress across participating countries and explore how knowledge, tools, and experiences from Phase 1 countries have informed and strengthened implementation in Phase 2 countries. 

10:25 – 10:45 – Coffee/Networking Break 

10:45-11:45 – Engagement and Collaboration with Indigenous Communities 

By drawing lessons from past and ongoing planetGOLD project experiences, this fireside chat-style discussion will strengthen attendees’ understanding of respectful engagement, partnership, and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) with Indigenous communities. 

11:45-12:50 – Women’s Advances in the ASGM Sector 

Through access to finance, changes in social norms, community organization and government policy advances, women continue to advance in the ASGM sector. This panel will discuss key barriers women in the sector face, practical entry points for reform, and lessons from the field on how financing and formalization efforts can better support women’s participation, leadership, and economic empowerment. 

12:50-14:00 – Lunch/Networking Break

14:00-15:00 – Responsible ASGM Poster Session 

Held in the Exhibit Area, this poster session will provide a dynamic, interactive opportunity to share ideas, exchange information, and connect with other attendees. Representatives of planetGOLD projects and from the Programme Advisory Group will be available to discuss their poster highlighting promising or innovative activities and achievements related to ASGM formalization, miners’ access to finance, or responsible ASGM gold supply chains. 

15:00-16:00 – ASGM and the Environment: Preventing Impacts 

This interactive workshop will explore approaches to reducing ASGM’s environmental and biodiversity impacts through preventive strategies grounded in ecosystem understanding and proven, policy-relevant solutions. 

16:00-17:00 – ASGM and the Environment: Monitoring and Mitigating Impacts on Biodiversity 

Continuing the discussion of environmental impacts, this engaging workshop will help participants understand monitoring, remediation, and restoration of ASGM-impacted areas using robust assessment frameworks, cross-country learning, and solutions including nature-based approaches and innovative financing. 

17:00-17:30 – Closing Remarks 

Reflections on the day's discussions and forward-looking remarks on the plan for the following day. 

9:00-9:15 – Opening Remarks  

The opening session on Wednesday will include reflections from the previous day’s sessions and workshops, and an overview of the day’s schedule.  

9:15-10:25 – Miner Roundtable: Challenges of Informality 

In this facilitated discussion with miner representatives from multiple planetGOLD countries, participants will learn how informality affects small-scale miners’ everyday operations and their priorities for formalization assistance.  

10:25-10:45 – Coffee/Networking Break 

10:45-11:45 – Confronting Illicit Mining: Understanding Risks, Responses and Opportunities for Action 

This panel discussion will examine how illicit gold mining, related criminality, and the illegal mercury trade affect the contexts in which responsible ASGM initiatives operate. The session will showcase concrete examples of efforts and solutions that have been adopted to address these challenges. 

11:45 –13:00– New Models of Finance for ASGM 

This session will present new mechanisms to support better access to finance for ASGM via commercial banks, rural banks and microfinance institutions—describing how the mechanisms were established, highlighting key features, and summarizing experience to date with the use of these mechanisms. 

13:00-14:00 – Lunch/Networking Break

14:00-15:00 – Mercury-Free Technologies Poster Session 

Held in the Exhibit Area, this poster session will provide an opportunity for representatives of planetGOLD national projects and members of the Programme Advisory Group to highlight technology transfer interventions that help miners shift to mercury-free, responsible mining.  

15:00-17:00 – Overcoming Barriers to Uptake of New Technology (Parallel Session A) 

This interactive session will consider common barriers miners face to adopting improved, mercury-free technologies, with a showcase of example solutions that have been adopted to address these barriers. 

15:00 –17:00– Pathways for Selecting Appropriate Technology (Parallel Session B) 

This interactive session will prompt participants to consider the steps needed in choosing optimal technologies for responsible, mercury free gold production, depending on site characteristics.  

9:00-9:15 – Opening Remarks 

The opening session on Thursday will include reflections from the previous day’s workshops on mercury-free technologies and will provide an overview of the final day’s schedule.  

9:15-10:25 – Case Studies of Cooperation between Large-scale Mining (LSM) and Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) 

This session will showcase existing examples of cooperation between large-scale entities and small-scale gold miners and highlight how other stakeholders in the sector can support these arrangements.   

10:25-11:25 – Supporting Responsible ASGM Supply Chains 

This facilitated discussion will explore how gold buyers (Central Banks, gold refineries, jewelers and other downstream gold buyers) are creating enabling systems for artisanal and small-scale miners to sell their responsibly produced gold into formal supply chains. 

11:30-13:00 – Regional Stakeholder Dialogues: Regional Priority Setting and Knowledge Sharing 

In these facilitated regional meetings, project staff, miners, governments and other stakeholders from each region will discuss priorities and collaboration opportunities. The goal of these meetings is to facilitate networking, spur meaningful dialogue on region-specific ASGM challenges, and foster collaborative approaches to advance responsible mining practices. 

13:00-14:00 – Lunch/Networking Break

14:00-15:00 – Awareness Raising and Communication Showcase 

Held in the Exhibit Area, this showcase session will provide an opportunity for planetGOLD projects to highlight communication strategies, practical tools and products that raise awareness, persuade, support behavior change, and build broad support for enabling more responsible ASGM to flourish. 

15:00-15:30 – Reflections from Regional Stakeholder Dialogues 

Facilitators of each regional stakeholder dialogue will provide succinct summaries of their discussion and recommendations made by each group. 

15:30-16:40 – Miners’ Takeaways and Perspectives 

Miner representatives will reflect during this facilitated discussion on what they have learned from the forum, their hopes for the future, and ways in which they can contribute to advancing responsible, mercury-free mining through their engagement with planetGOLD. 

16:40-17:00 – Closing Remarks and Looking Ahead 

Representatives of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, GEF, and UN Environment Programme formally close the 2026 Global Forum on ASGM, commenting on key opportunities identified throughout the event and providing forward-looking remarks on what activities lie ahead for the planetGOLD programme.