Cambodia is amongst the poorer countries in the world, ranking 130 or 177 countries in the 2003 Human Development Index, as reported by the UN. The GNI per capita in 2004 was $320, while life expectancy was 57 years. Mortality due to waterborne illnesses is high, in part reflecting the fact that many Cambodians have less access to adequate sanitation and clean drinking water compared to other Asian nations. The country is still struggling to recover from recent civil war (1970-5), and Khmer Rouge tragedy (1075-9) and subsequent occupation by Vietnam (1979-89). A generation of technically-skilled people was killed or fled the country and all government institutions were mantled. As such, there is a great need to capacity building in the areas of natural resource, environment, and basic health management.

The province of Ratanakirri is an isolated underdeveloped area of northeast Cambodia with a small population of about 72,000. About 80% of the people are tribal who subsist by slash and burn agriculture and fishing. Gold and gem stones are fathered in crude mines at times using mercury to extract gold. A review by Sotham (2004) estimated that about 1000 miners are working at six Prey Meas mines. They use mercury amalgamation, without retorts, to extract the gold. The concentration of mercury in the hair of the miners was extremely high; in April 2006 retorts were successfully introduced into a goldmine in Prey Meas to recover mercury. The technology was readily understood, and the miners were glad to be both protecting their health and recouping some of their expense. This initial project was quite small and more effort should be directed at introduction of retorts at more mines. Any effort to introduce retorts at more mines should be associated with an attempt to measure the total amount of mercury escaping from the mines. The objective of this project is to reduce the negative, mercury-related, community health impacts of artisanal gold mining operations.

This project is focused on the creation of legislation to control hazardous materials in Cambodia. Though being a signatory to the Basel Convention, Cambodia currently lacks any laws regarding the importation, transportation, labeling, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials.

As of 2001, Cambodia lacked even the most rudimentary programs for medical waste disposal. By far the largest current hazardous waste threat is medical waste. The city has few working incinerators, and many hospitals dispose of their medical waste in the city dump, which is unlined, and has children scavenging it daily. Body parts are commonly found in the dump. At the time of our visit, there was need for a central incinerator, or incinerator reform program capable of handling this kind of waste, and a process to collect and transport it to the incinerator.

The lack of solid waste management in Cambodia is a widening crisis, and Kirirom National Park suffers acutely from such poor management. As the only national park within easy traveling distance from Phnom Penh (85 km), it is a major destination for tourists and local residents. In addition to prolific bird life, Kirirom Park also houses some unique flora, such as Sumatran Pine, the only pine occurring south of the Equator. The Ministry of Environment and the Department of Nature Conservation expressed their desire to address the litter problem, but they lacked the funding needed to organize waste collection and provide public education.

Cambodia is undergoing rapid development and subsequent population and industrial growth. Air quality is deteriorating as a result of industrial and handicraft processes as well as fossil fuel combustion. As of 2004, air quality monitoring activities were inadequate as there was no established technical guideline. While environmental conditions and human health are being threatened by poor air quality, setting technical monitoring guidelines was of utmost importance. Blacksmith Institute worked with the Cambodia Ministry of Environment's Department of Pollution Control on setting guidelines to help governments derive legally enforceable air quality standards. Moreover, the organizations devised action plans to carry out local control measures and to advise environmental health authorities and professionals.

Many scientific studies have linked breathing polluted air full of particulate matter to a series of significant health problems, including: aggravated asthma, coughing, painful breathing, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, and premature death. Acceptance and promotion of these guidelines was thus an extremely important step in developing a full air quality monitoring and enforcement system in Cambodia.

UNIDO estimates that mercury amalgamation from this kind of gold mining results in the release of an estimated 1,000 tons of mercury per year, which constitutes about 30 percent of the world’s anthropogenic mercury emissions. It is estimated that between 10 and 15 million artisanal and small-scale gold miners worldwide, including 4.5 million women and 600,000 children [1]. According to UNIDO, as much as 95 percent of all mercury used in artisanal gold mining is released into the environment, creating a danger on all fronts—economic, environmental and human health (2005). Covered by the 2008 World’s Worst Polluted Places Report, ASM still threatens today’s world environment and public health.

Marilao is a small town located in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. The largest lead battery recycler in the country, the Philippine Recyclers Inc (PRI), has a smelting plant here, and a vast cottage industry of unregulated lead recycling has sprung up on the plant's outskirts.

Significant industrial waste is haphazardly dumped into the Meycauayan River, a source of domestic and agricultural water for 250,000 people living in and around Manila. Substantial contamination comes from small scale lead recycling facilities along the river at Marilao, and from the many tanneries that dump untreated hexavalent chromium into the river. This river also feeds directly into the Manila Bay, and its effluents contaminate shellfish in commercial fishing areas.

Meycauayan, a town about 12 miles (19 kms) north of Manila, is the tannery center of the Philippines. First established in 1903, there are now around 120 tanneries employing about 8,000 people in the area.

Mt. Diwalwal is located in the Southeastern region of the Philippines. In 1982, the discovery of gold on this mountain triggered a gold rush to an area of 729 hectares. In the opinion of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), it is ‘the largest gold deposit in the world’. An estimated $1.8 billion worth of gold reserves remain untapped in the 5,000-hectare mountain where some 30,000 small-scale miners operate, many illegally. The Naboc and Agusan rivers are grossly contaminated with mercury and cyanide from mining operations.

In 2000, Blacksmith Institute was the catalyst for the founding of EnLAW, and has since supported its legal work. EnLAW is an independent advocacy group in Thailand working both to strengthen the relatively new sector of public interest environmental law and to promote environmental protection by working to enact and update Thailand's environmental laws with stronger enforcement mechanisms.

EnLAW provides assistance to communities affected by environmental pollution through legal consultation, litigation, financial aid, and networks victims with other Thai environmental advocates and physicians. EnLAW also organizes public forums on environmental law, is developing an environmental law database for environmental litigation and advocacy campaigns, and runs intensive training programs for environmental advocates and lawyers. EnLAW is also working with Professor Richard Stewart of New York University's Center on Environmental and Land Use Law to establish reasonable compensation levels for environmental claims in the Thai courts.

Environmental pollution victims' rights claims represent a new development within the Thai court system and EnLAW's litigation will set compensation-related precedents so that greater justice for victims of environmental hazards can be secured.

Lower Klity village lies on the west rim of the Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province. The Huai Klity stream flows through the village and eventually drains into the Kwae Yai River in the eastern region of Thailand. A lead mine that operated since the early 80’s was closed seven years ago by Thailand’s Department of Mineral Resources due to pollution concerns. However villagers’ health continues to suffer from the past mining operations.

Map Ta Phut is a 176,000-acre industrial zone located in the province of Rayong, about 137 miles by road from Bangkok. Originally a sleepy fishing and agricultural community on the Gulf of Thailand, its bay made it attractive for docking deep-sea vessels used in the transport of natural gas. In the 70's, Map Ta Phut was designated by the government as a future home for Thailand's petrochemical and heavy industries. Today, there are around 104 factories in the area.