Innovator’s Handbook: Artisanal Mining Grand Challenge: The Amazon

The Challenge is administered by Conservation X Labs (CXL) with funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Microsoft, and ESRI, and technical input from the Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation (CINCIA) and strategic implementation from the USAID/Peru Prevent project - Combating Environmental Crimes (Prevent). The Challenge seeks innovations at the prototype or piloting stage that address three key areas: safeguarding ecosystems and preventing, remediating, and restoring impacts from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) at mining sites on biodiversity, water resources, and human health; optimizing responsible supply chains to increase transparency and traceability and enable gold purchasing that is environmentally responsible and socially equitable from the point of origin to its final sale; and promoting and sustaining formalization of miners in the ASGM sector to achieve environmental and social safeguards and regulatory compliance. The Challenge aims to provide promising innovators with funding and support to help innovations achieve environmental and social impact, become financially sustainable, and scale. Participating in the Challenge offers a number of benefits, including access to a network of experts and leaders in the space, mentorship on business and product development, opportunities to conduct field-testing and receive feedback from users and customers, and recognition and validation from a world-class evaluation panel. The Challenge will be executed in six steps: Technical Application, Shortlist Applications, Grant Application for Field-Testing Plan & Innovation Development, Challenge Grants Awarded, Challenge Acceleration Program, and Closing Ceremony & Additional Prizes. The Technical Application of the Challenge opened on July 14, 2021, and closed on November 10, 2021. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a critical source of livelihood for an estimated 15+ million people worldwide and accounts for an estimated 15–20% of gold sourced globally. This gold is used in electronics, jewelry, and other consumer products. The Minamata Convention on Mercury defines ASGM as gold mining conducted by individual miners or small enterprises with limited capital investment and production. The Challenge is part of the USAID Grand Challenges for Development model, which mobilizes governments, companies, and foundations around important issues and sources new solutions, tests new ideas, and scales what works. The benefits of Grand Challenges include the identification of useful solutions, setting aspirational goals for discovery and invention, attracting new solvers, building communities of practice, drawing global attention, and inspiring novel partnerships that allow us to leverage resources at multiple organizations to scale up solutions.