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Liberia ASM Handbook

Improving Environmental Protection by Working with ASM Miners & Communities Impacted by Mining

By Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) is the main source of income for over 100,000 gold and diamond miners in Liberia. Out of the 1,293 mining operations in the country, 88.3% are ASM (World Bank, 2019). The sector faces significant challenges due to limited regulation and a lack of knowledge of existing laws by miners, leading to environmental degradation and human rights violations. Many miners operate in an illegal, unprotected, and inefficient work environment. This often results in negative health, safety, security, environmental, and socio-economic impacts that affect the miners, the natural environment, and communities across the country.

The Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) – implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) – worked with the regulatory authorities and agencies in Liberia* to develop a user-friendly ASM Handbook. The publication will provide guidance to miners and host communities about regulations, norms and practical steps to improve health, safety, and environmental and human rights protection in ASM. In an interview with the EGP, Abraham Tumbey, the EGP focal point in UNDP Liberia, outlines how the Handbook can help improve the governance of the ASM sector.

“The Handbook, the first of its kind in Liberia, is expected to provide miners with much needed guidance and support for understanding safe mining practices and regulations around mining. This will help promote respect for human rights and environmental protection”, says Tumbey.

Download the Handbook

The EGP also supported local authorities to organize multi-stakeholder workshops promoting the Handbook. Tumbey highlights that the first workshop – held on August 26-27, 2021 in Bomi county – addressed participatory environmental monitoring of mining activities, as well as existing ASM laws and regulations. Bomi county's ASM activities take place near the Gola Forest National Park of Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone’s Gola Rain Forest National Park.

Subsequent workshops were organized in other ASM hotspots across the country, including in the Grand Bassa, Nimba, and Margibi counties. The workshops educated miners about promoting the use of the Handbook through local community radio stations and working with associations of ASM miners and local CSOs, including the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia.

* Liberia’s Environment Protection Agency (EPA) was created by an Act of Legislation in 2003 with mandate to ensure the protection, conservation, monitoring and sustainable use of the environment and its natural resources. The Agency is responsible for the enforcement of environmental regulations, standards, and guidelines in collaboration with relevant institutions as required by the Environmental Protection and Management Law (EPML). The Ministry of Mines and Energy also provides regulations and monitoring of ASM activities, as mandated by the Minerals and Mining Law.

Interview

In an interview with the EGP, Tumbey outlines his expectations for the Handbook and his views on the future of the Liberian ASM sector.

EGP: What challenges do you expect to face in connection with the new Handbook for ASM miners?

TUMBEY: In addition to the handbook being new, miners are not accustomed to abiding by any guidance or standards when it comes to their work. It is going to take time before they start to adapt the handbook and follow the guidance it provides. We also need additional resources and support to cover large mining communities, many of which are in remote and hard to reach areas.

EGP: Can any complementary tools and initiatives help change ASM miners’ attitudes and behavior towards environmental protection?

TUMBEY: There is an ASM secretariat in Liberia which convenes stakeholders in the sector - government, miners and CSOs. The EGP has supported the expansion of this working group to include gender and human rights actors. This group is a unique platform that can support the work of the EGP, using the network of the CSOs and the ASM umbrella organizations to keep engaging miners and working with them to support positive change.

EGP: Has the Liberian ASM sector been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic? If so, how can the upcoming EGP-supported workshop help respond to these new and emerging challenges?

TUMBEY: COVID-19 has further limited the government’s monitoring of the sector due to over-stretched capacities and resources for addressing the health pandemic. The upcoming workshop will seek to strengthen the knowledge and capacity of local community actors for monitoring mining activities in their area. It will facilitate working with miners to ensure that mining is done in a way that it does not impact communities negatively.

In the news

"UNDP, Partners Organize Training of Trainers Workshop for Artisanal and Small-scale Miners on Use of Newly Developed ASM Handbook"

Front Page Africa (December 23, 2021)

"UNDP, Environmental Protection Agency, and Ministry of Mines & Energy on a two-day Training of Trainers Workshop on the Use of the ASM Handbook"

ECOWAS Radio (December 22, 2021)

Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County, Western Liberia. Credits: © iStock.com/himarkley

Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

Email: kundtjanst@naturvardsverket.se

Web: www.environmentalgovernanceprogramme.org

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EGP Newsletter

Liberia ASM Handbook

Improving Environmental Protection by Working with ASM Miners & Communities Impacted by Mining

FootNotes

A newsletter about responsible mining from the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

February 11^th, 2026

February 10^th, 2026

A newsletter about responsible mining from the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

October 27^th, 2025

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FootNotes

A newsletter about responsible mining from the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

February 11th, 2026

February 10th, 2026

A newsletter about responsible mining from the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

October 27th, 2025

Learn about all countries that have been a part of EGP

February 11^th, 2026

February 10^th, 2026

October 27^th, 2025