The "CHILD" framework for the study of artisanal mercury mining communities.

In this paper, our group reports the use of a new framework in sites contaminated with mercury. This is significant because under the Minamata Convention on Mercury each Party shall endeavor to develop appropriate strategies for identifying and assessing sites contaminated by mercury or mercury compounds. This new approach, the "CHILD" framework has five steps: i) Community-based risk characterization; ii) Habilitation; iii) Intervention; iv) Laws and Regulation; and v) Development. We are using this framework in three mercury artisanal mining sites, and preliminary results are depicted in this report.