APELL (Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at the Local Level) is a process designed by UN Environment to identify and raise awareness of risks and dangers, to initiate measures to reduce risks and prevent and mitigate accidents and to establish a coordinated preparation between the local industry, the authorities and the population.
The Environmental Research Institute of the Pacific (Instituto de Investigaciones Ambientales del Pacífico, IIAP) adapted the APELL process to suit the gold processing industry in Choco, a sector defined by its informality. Until then the APELL methodology had been mostly used in large factories and major regulated industries, but IIAP demonstrated how it could tackle such an illegal and informal industry.
Marilise and IRMA Associate Guillermo Toro Zuluaga documented these efforts in a case study finalised in December 2018.
