; (8) to engage the mining industry to encourage the building of technical expertise in best practices, environmental safeguards, and access to new technologies; (9) to support the establishment of gold commodity supply chain due diligence, responsible sourcing, tracing and tracking capacities, and standards-compliant commodity certification systems in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including efforts recommended in the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High Risk Areas, Third Edition (2016); (10) to reduce the negative environmental impacts of ASM, particularly— (A) the use of mercury in preliminary refining; (B) the destruction of tropical forests; (C) the construction of illegal and unregulated dams and the resulting valley floods; (D) the pollution of water resources and soil; and (E) the release of dust, which can contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals that can cause severe health problems; (11) to aid and encourage ASM miners— (A) to formalize their business activities, including through skills training, technical and business assistance, and access to financing, loans, and credit; (B) to utilize environmentally safe and sustainable mining practices, including by scaling up the use of mercury-free gold refining technologies, and mining methods and technologies that do not result in deforestation, forest destruction, air pollution, water and soil-contamination, and other negative environmental impacts associated with ASM; (C) to reduce the costs associated with formalization and compliance with mining regulations; (D) to fully break away from the influence of illicit actors who leverage the control of territory and use violence to extort miners and push them into illicit arrangements; (E) to adopt and utilize environmentally safe and sustainable mining practices, including— (i) mercury-free gold refining technologies; and (ii) extractive techniques that do not result in— (I) forest clearance and water contamination