Book Description

ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING (ASM) AND COVID-19: RESPONDING TO THE PANDEMIC ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING (ASM) AND COVID-19: RESPONDING TO THE PANDEMIC The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant the coming months. [...] It outlines While formalizing the ASM sector has some of the main challenges to ASM sector been a key public sector priority for many support and regulation in the context of ASM host nation governments, informality the global pandemic, and points tentatively remains widespread, accounting for an to how governments could move forward estimated 80% of the total workforce. [...] These monitor and enforce ASM laws and challenges have in some cases become regulations on the ground; inspectors more complex and intractable as the and extension officers simply cannot scale and length of the pandemic get to many ASM sites. [...] Movement restrictions demonstrate the effectiveness of to and from ASM sites made it difficult government sensitization efforts in reaching for ASM actors to sell their production, ASM populations, the distribution of basic which in many countries resulted in the disease control provisions has to date been emergence of a "buyers market" in the limited. [...] For those able to provide COVID- (to contain the virus as well as formalize the specific support, programs have included ASM sector) and the continued reliance on those focused on health (awareness- informal activities to meet the basic needs raising campaigns around the virus and of the population.