Blackmsith Letter
from Blacksmith Institute Founder and President
Dear Reader,
2010 has been an important year in our ongoing effort to identify and clean up sites contaminated by toxic pollution and reduce the devastating health impacts it causes. So far this year, Blacksmith Institute’s field investigators have identified and evaluated nearly 1,000 new polluted sites in low- and middle-income countries. While these new data are a great resource, we are saddened to realize that the scope of this problem may be greater than any of us previously thought.
Fortunately, 2010 has been a year of significant progress, and the international community is starting to recognize the importance of this global issue. In September, Blacksmith Institute hosted an international conference in Bellagio, Italy, where leaders from multilateral organizations and environmental ministries convened to share knowledge and outline future steps to address pollution problems.
Ministers and representatives from developing countries presented the scope of toxic pollution in their own countries, and acknowledged that the problem is a priority for their respective Ministries of Environment. The participants concluded that an international response to deal with these issues is needed. Interim solutions must be implemented while a longer-term strategy, such as a fund to specifically address remediation of legacy pollution, is developed.
Seeing so many influential leaders and policymakers gathered to tackle this important issue provided great hope for the future. We hope that this report increases the global awareness of some of the most damaging pollutants and inspires people to join us in this fight. Our past successes in cleaning up these sites are concrete and measurable, and if scaled up, could be used as models to remediate sites on a global scale. There is still much work to do, but we believe this is an issue that can be solved in our lifetime, and one that can improve the lives of more than one hundred million people.
Richard Fuller
President - Blacksmith Institute
