Éducation non formelle des orpailleurs à l’environnement et réduction de l’utilisation du mercure dans l’orpaillage : pour l’adoption de techniques d’extraction aurifère durables

Abstract

Non-formal environmental education for gold miners and reduction of mercury use in gold mining: Towards the adoption of sustainable gold mining techniques – The use of mercury in artisanal mining is being combated all over the world. Uncontrolled use of mercury has negative impacts on health and the environment. One way to limit the use of this neurotoxic heavy metal is to raise awareness and educate gold miners. To this end, many educational activities are being carried out, but many artisanal miners are still not changing the way they work. This exploratory study addresses gold miners’ knowledge of the harmful effects of using mercury in gold mining, how they acquire this knowledge, and the conditions that should support their behaviour change. Data were collected in the town of Bétaré Oya in Eastern Cameroon using a mixed methods approach, interviews and questionnaires. It was found that the gold miners already have some knowledge about the reasons why they should change their behaviour in their working environment. However, experts are needed to properly train them and develop their artisanal skills to adopt and maintain gold mining practices that require little or no mercury. It is therefore necessary to consider intervention strategies based on non-formal environmental education that are conducive to developing and consolidating miners’ skills towards sustainable artisanal mining.