This project applies a social, technical, and environmental systems perspective to analyze mercury use and human well-being with a focus on artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). Mercury is an environmental pollutant that can travel far from its emission source, where it can damage human health and the environment. ASGM is estimated to be the largest source of global mercury emissions, and occurs in the context of power, race, and gender dynamics in mining communities. A better understanding of the multiple, interacting factors that influence mercury use in ASGM will help advance knowledge about the atmospheric mercury system and support governance efforts to address environmental and human health risks from mercury pollution. The project will develop and evaluate a new theoretical framework that can be employed to analyze interactions of people, technologies, and the environment that can contribute to sustainability transitions. The project's broader impact will be to inform initiatives to mitigate environmental and social harms of ASGM activities, including those under the global Minamata Convention on Mercury. Project participants will engage with organizations, NGOs, those affected by mercury contamination in communities, and other experts to translate findings to practical action.
This project uses the perspective of an integrated human-technical-environmental system to analyze mercury use and human well-being with a focus on artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in Peru's Amazonian region of Madre de Dios. Mercury poses substantial risks to human health, both locally and through long-range transport, and ASGM is estimated to be the largest source of mercury to the global atmosphere. Mercury use and ASGM is also accompanied by a range of other social and environmental problems. The project will develop and evaluate a new theoretical framework based on a human-technical-environmental systems approach, and refined methods for bridging quantitative and qualitative systems analysis. The project asks the following questions: Q1) How much mercury is emitted to the atmosphere from ASGM, globally and regionally? Q2) What are the main multilevel governance needs and options to support reduced mercury use and improved human well-being in the ASGM sector? Q3) How do ideas about mercury and pollution in the context of power, race, and gender affect prospects for sustainability transitions in ASGM regions? Q4) What frameworks can be used to better understand the links between ASGM and sustainability, and measure progress towards improving miners' well-being? The project deploys multi-disciplinary research methods, including atmospheric chemistry modeling, governance research methods, and ethnographic methods. It applies a systems framework using a matrix-based approach linking quantitative and qualitative analysis. The matrix approach will classify system components, map interactions among these components, and identify key points of leverage in the system. All four questions and research methods will be refined through coordination with local and international stakeholders. The project results will contribute to the broader field of sustainability science through developing frameworks and insights to assess integrated social-environmental systems. The research will also contribute to the areas of atmospheric chemistry (through novel inverse approaches and better constraints on mercury emissions), governance research (by contributing to theory and empirical analysis of multilevel governance), and political ecology and environmental anthropology (through a better assessment of complex social relationships related to natural resource extraction). Societal benefits include informing efforts, including under the Minamata Convention on Mercury, to mitigate environmental and social harms of ASGM. Students will be trained and involved in interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary research methods, and related case study materials will be developed for teaching.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
