Mon, 28 Nov 2016 20:06:26 +0000
ZAMBIA is among eight African countries to benefit from the US$350, 000 project aimed at reducing the use of mercury and its compounds in artisanal and small scale gold mining in the region.
Other countries include Burundi, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Kenya, Swaziland, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The project would be implemented through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with Africa Institute for the environmentally sound management of hazardous and other wastes (Africa Institute), acting as the executing agency.
Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) director general John Msimuko said Government in collaboration with the Africa Institute had sourced funding for the project from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) worth US$300,000.
He was said this in a speech read for him by ZEMA inspectorate manager, Patson Zulu, at the inception workshop on development of national action plans for artisanal and small scale gold mining in Zambia in Lusaka.
Mr Msimuko said the project was aimed at assisting countries develop national action plans to reduce the use of mercury and mercury compounds, emissions and releases to the environment of mercury from artisanal and small-scale gold mining and processing.
“The goal of this project is to contribute to the implementation of the Minamata convention through the reduction of risks posed by the unsound use, management and release of mercury in the artisanal and small scale gold mining sector,” he said.
The Minamata convention on mercury is a global treaty whose objective is to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
The convention was adopted in October 2013 in Kumamoto, Japan, and Zambia ratified it on March 2016.
