Solve pollution. Save lives. Protect the planet.

The Toxic Sites Identification Program (TSIP) is the largest global database of sites contaminated with toxic chemicals. The TSIP aims to locate, assess and document contaminated sites in low- and middle-income countries, and stores this data in a publicly available database that provides decision-makers with information that is otherwise unavailable through national programs. To date, TSIP has identified nearly 5000 toxic sites in over 50 countries

Update: Feb. 2020: API Tool Released To Broaden Access To Global Database Of Toxic Sites

In many low- and middle-income countries, industrial activities are often conducted without proper pollution controls or worker protections, resulting in thousands of toxic hotspots, where soil and water are contaminated with toxic chemicals. Such activities frequently take place in residential areas, posing an ongoing health threat to families living nearby. In many high-income countries, governments maintain databases of such contamination hotspots and have institutional mechanisms to address contaminated sites. This is rarely the case in low- and middle-income countries.

Filling Information Gaps To Help Prioritize Cleanups

The Toxic Sites Identification Program (TSIP) aims to provide decision-makers at all levels of government and within the international development community with information on the location, sources and potential impacts of sites contaminated by chemical pollution. The publicly available TSIP database of nearly 5,000 initial site assessments fills a critical information gap in many countries and facilitates the prioritization of pollution control and remediation efforts.

The TSIP database generates a relative risk score (0-10) for each contaminated site based on environmental sampling and other field data, thus allowing decision-makers to prioritize certain sites or sectors for intervention.

The Blacksmith Index ranks the severity of the site using a logarithmic scale. See these publications for detailed methodology:

Global Team of Pollution Investigators

In order to carry out site assessments, Pure Earth trains and utilizes a network of experts in each country to visit and document hazardous waste sites. These pollution investigators, often from the environment or health departments at a national university, are trained to identify and assess contaminated sites using a rapid assessment tool called the Initial Site Screening (ISS) protocol.  Government representatives also attend the training.  The ISS identifies major elements of a contaminated site, including estimated population at risk, key pollutant information, human exposure pathway data and sampling data. As part of the training, a field visit is made by the group to demonstrate the methodology for assessing the human health impact of toxic sites.

Since 2012, TSIP has organized workshops in 14 countries and trained over 400 investigators and 90 government representatives worldwide on how to identify and assess toxic sites.

Scroll below for a regularly updated list of TSIP projects.

Measuring Pollution

Without proper interventions to prevent, mitigate and remediate such sites, toxic hotspots pose long-term risks that undermine development objectives related to public health, education, poverty reduction, natural resources and sustainability.

These sites alone represent a potential health risk to more than 80 million poor people. However, these 5,000 sites likely represent a small fraction of the overall total. By way of example, over the past twenty years, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has identified tens of thousands of sites in the US alone that require remediation, and its National Priorities List for urgent remediation currently contains more than 1,300 sites. Analysis of the data and trends in the TSIP database indicates that as many as 200 million people may be affected.

Learn more:

Inside the Movement to Clean Up the World’s Most Toxic Sites

TSIP Regional Training- Donetsk, Ukraine

February 1-3, 2009
Investigators present: 4

TSIP Regional Training- Changsha, China

April 11-13, 2009
Investigators present: 9

TSIP Regional Training- New Delhi, India

April 19-21, 2009
Investigators present: 11

TSIP Regional Training- Panama City,

Panama May 24-26, 2009
Investigators present: 9

TSIP Regional Training- Jakarta, Indonesia

June 11-13, 2009
Investigators present: 9

TSIP Regional Training- Nairobi, Kenya

June 11-13, 2009
Investigators present: 9

TSIP Regional Training- Johannesburg, South Africa

June 18-20, 2009
Investigators present: 4

TSIP Regional Training- Buenos Aires, Argentina

June 25-26, 2009
Investigators present: 9

TSIP Training Dhaka, Bangladesh

July 14-15, 2009
Investigators present: 4

TSIP Regional Training- Lima, Peru

September 3-5, 2009
Investigators present: 10

TSIP Training Los Banos, Philippines

October 4-6, 2009
Investigators present: 9

TSIP Training Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

October 15-17, 2009
Investigators present: 10
Investigators present: 4

TSIP Regional Training- Dodowa, Ghana

March 22-24, 2010
Investigators present: 13

TSIP Regional Training- Senegal, Nigeria

August 9-11, 2010
Investigators present: 5

TSIP Training Phnom Penh, Cambodia

August 14-16, 2010
Investigators present: 4

TSIP Training Mexico City, Mexico

February 21-22, 2012
Investigators present: 12
Government personnel present: 2

TSIP Training- Buenos Aires, Argentina

February 28-29, 2012
Investigators present: 7
Government personnel present: 4

TSIP Training Baku, Azerbaijan

March 1-2, 2012
Investigators present: 8
Government personnel present: 15

TSIP Training Yerevan, Armenia

March 6-7, 2012
Investigators present: 6
Government personnel present: 13

TSIP Training Montevideo, Uruguay

March 7-9, 2012
Investigators present: 5
Government personnel present: 4

TSIP Training Lima, Peru

March 14-15, 2012
Investigators present: 10
Government personnel present: 7

TSIP Training Accra, Ghana

March 22-23, 2012
Investigators present: 18
Government personnel present: 2

TSIP Training Lagos, Nigeria

March 28-29, 2012
Investigators present: 10
Government personnel present: 14

TSIP Training Dushanbe, Tajikistan

March 30-31, 2012
Investigators present: 6
Government personnel present: 4

TSIP Training Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

April 7-8, 2012
Investigators present: 5
Government personnel present: 6

TSIP Training Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

April 26-27, 2012
Investigators present: 17
Government personnel present: 2

TSIP Training Nairobi, Kenya

May 2-3, 2012
Investigators present: 15
Government personnel present: 1

TSIP Training Astana, Kazakhstan

June 12-13, 2012
Investigators present: 6
Government personnel present: 2

TSIP Training Vladivostok, Russia

July 23, 2012
Investigators present: 4

TSIP Training Santiago, Chile

August 1-2, 2012
Investigators present: 7
Government personnel present: 16

TSIP Training Dakar, Senegal

February 19-20, 2013
Investigators present: 15
Government personnel present: 12

TSIP Training La Paz, Bolivia

June 18-20, 2013
Investigators present: 4
Government personnel present: 4

TSIP Training Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

July 3-4, 2013
Investigators present: 8
Government personnel present: 9

TSIP Training Baku, Azerbaijan

March 1-2, 2014
Investigators present: 8
Government personnel present: 15

TSIP Training Yerevan, Armenia

March 6-7, 2014
Investigators present: 6
Government personnel present: 13

TSIP Training Antananarivo, Madagascar

March 25-27, 2014
Investigators present: 7
Government personnel present: 5

TSIP Training Dushanbe, Tajikistan

March 30-31, 2014
Investigators present: 6
Government personnel present: 4

TSIP Training Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

April 7-8, 2014
Investigators present: 5
Government personnel present: 6

TSIP Training Nairobi, Kenya

September 12-13, 2016
Investigators present: 5
Government personnel present: 11

TSIP Training New Delhi, India

September 21, 2016
Investigators present: 22

TSIP Training Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

October 13-14, 2016
Investigators present: 6
Government personnel present: 12

TSIP Training Dhaka, Bangladesh

October 19, 2016
Investigators present: 6
Government personnel present: 12

TSIP Training Dakar, Senegal

November 29-30, 2016
Investigators present: 4

TSIP Training Bogota, Colombia

December 5-6, 2016
Investigators present: 11
Government personnel present: 22

TSIP Training La Paz, Bolivia

January 19-20, 2017
Investigators present: 3
Government personnel present: 9

TSIP Training Guido Condarco, Bolivia

January 19-20, 2017
Investigators present: 4
Government personnel present: 11

TSIP Training Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil

March 20-21 2017
Investigators present: 10

TSIP Training Quezon City, Philippines

March 29, 2017
Investigators present: 7
Government personnel present: 27

TSIP Training Hanoi, Vietnam

April 5, 2017
Investigators present: 8
Government personnel present: 21

TSIP Training Vadodara, India

August 17-18, 2017
Investigators present: 3

TSIP Training Iloilo, Philippines

August 30-31, 2017
Investigators present: 28
Government personnel present: 44

TSIP Training Kingston, Jamaica

October 18-19, 2017
Investigators present: 7
Government personnel present: 6

TSIP Training Bogota, Colombia

February 28- March 1, 2018
Investigators present: 5

TSIP Training Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

March 7-8 2018
Investigators present: 3
Government personnel present: 11

TSIP Training Brazil

August 26 and 27, 2019
Investigators present: 40 from 9 states of NE Brazil and from the government

TSIP Training Colombia

January 2020 On January 23, 2020
Investigators present: 2

TSIP Training Ghana

May 2021
Investigators present:  29

TSIP training Indonesia

12 – 14 October, 2021.

Investigators present: 9