History

The Blacksmith Institute was founded in 1999 to support locally based environmental work.  Focusing on the clean-up and mitigation of polluted areas, Blacksmith works all over the developing world in conjunction with partners through grant-making programs.

Over the past decade, Blacksmith has completed more than 50 projects.  Also known for its annual World's Worst reports; the foundation also created the Blacksmith Scale, which is now used around the world to rate levels of health risk from pollution.  They also developed the Blacksmith database, which documents more than 600 of the world's worst polluted sites. 

In 2008, Blacksmith created the global Health and Pollution Fund to help finance the cleanup and future elimination of legacy pollution in the developing world.

Focus of Activities

The Blacksmith Institute works cooperatively in global partnerships on some of the following initiatives:

HEALTH AND POLLUTION FUND (HPF)

In their most recent initiative, Blacksmith is building a public health fund (proposed $500 million) to eliminate legacy pollution in the developing world, with the goal of saving millions of lives.  

Toxic pollution remains a problem in poor countries.  Blacksmith's HPF will be the first and only toxic cleanup program to be conducted on a global scale.

GLOBAL INVENTORY PROJECT (GIP)

The first comprehensive global inventory of the world's worst polluted places causing an impact on human health.  Blacksmith has investigative teams all over the world assessing nearly 3,000 polluted sites in a total of 80 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

The GIP ranks sites using the Blacksmith Scale to guide and prioritize cleanup under the Health and Pollution Fund.   You can find out how to nominate a polluted site on Blacksmith's website.

LEAD POISONING AND CAR BATTERIES PROJECT

Formerly known as the Initiative for Responsible Battery Recycling, this project exists to clean up lead pollution caused by the improper recycling of car batteries.  As the consumer demand for cars grows in developing nations, so does this problem  

More than 12 million people, mostly women and children, are poisoned by lead, making it the most common environmental disease among children in developing countries.  

These projects are occurring in:

• Senegal
• Dominican Republic
• Philippines
• Panama
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• India
• Jamaica
  

ARTISANAL GOLD MINING (MERCURY POISONING)

UNIDO (The United Nations Industrial Development Organization) estimates that artisanal gold mining is responsible for 30% of the world's mercury emissions (approximately 1,000 tons of toxic mercury per year).  Artisanal gold mining supplies nearly 25% of the world's gold. 

4.5 million women and 600,000 children are among the world's 15 million gold miners who have been poisoned by direct contact with toxic mercury.  But mercury contamination doesn't stop there.  As it rises and travels, mercury can drop into rivers and oceans, causing worldwide poisoning of seafood.

Blacksmith currently works the the UNIDO Global Mercury Project in Senegal, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Cambodia.

General Programs

In addition to these specific initiatives, Blacksmith works all over the world in highly polluted areas to clean up and mitigate human health risks from pollution.  There is no one-size-fits-all approach to these pollution problems, so they are evaluated on a site by site basis, by the following factors:

• Type of pollution (air, water, groundwater, soil, etc)
  
• Pollutants or toxins involved (potency and longevity)
  
• Extent of contamination
  
• Whether it is active or "legacy" (abandoned or ownerless sites)
  
• Other local geographical and political factors
  

Solutions typically involve one of the following scenarios:

• Small scale clean-up 
  
• Large-scale clean-up 
  
• Active sites 
  
• Complex ("Multi-Modal") sites

Notable Achievements

Blacksmith's website details more than 40 major success stories in the clean up of some of the world's most polluted areas, including:

Dalnegorsk/Rudnaya Pristan:  This Russian lead smelter voluntarily shut down after reviewing Blacksmith's data on the health risks to children of lead contamination.  Local children with elevated lead levels are being treated with Blacksmith funding.  Blacksmith also provided and education program and testing throughout the community. 

Kanpur Groundwater Pollution:  In India, Blacksmith successfully treated groundwater contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a highly carcinogenic chemical which was used in the tannery industry to preserve leather hides. Kanpur is a center of India's tanning industry, and certain neighborhoods maintain critical levels of contamination.   

Partnering with the Central Pollution Control Board, the put additives into the groundwater that react with the toxic hexavalent version of chromium, causing it to bind to the rock rather than mixing into the water.  Now levels of hexavalent chromium in some of the test wells are at non-detectable levels, and an expansion of the clean up is under way.

Advocacy and Restoration of the Environment - Kafue River:  In Zambia, Blacksmith works with NGOs and the local government and industry to reduce pollution from copper mines, textile plants, metallurgical plants, fertilizer factories, sugar processing plants, cement factories, various agricultural activities, and the Kafue Sewage Treatment Plant.

Part of the Zambezi basin, this river supplies potable water for nearly half of Zambia's population.  Mineral deposits and chemicals lead to overgrowth of aquatic weeds, killing off river life.  Wastewater treatment is helping to recover the Kafue River's ability to sustain aquatic life and the people of Zambia.

Governance & Financial

The Blacksmith Institute is an International NGO, with financial support provided by personal and institutional funders.

Regions / countries which benefit

Blacksmith has organized clean up efforts in polluted areas in Eastern Europe, South Asia, and Africa.

How to donate

Through Blacksmith's website, you'll find several ways to make your tax-deductible donation, including:

• Join the Funders Network to make a sustained impact.
  
• Make an online donation, either ongoing or to sponsor a specific project or region.
  
• Make a gift donation in someone's name or memory of a loved one. 
  
• Donate by personal check, credit card, or donate your stocks or securities.

References

• http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org
• http://www.worstpolluted.org/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksmith_Institute