Mining and Sustainable Development II - DTIE

Mining
Viewpoints on
future challenges
Environment, multi-culturalism and
human rights: challenges for the mining
industry and governments
Cristina Echavarría, Director, Mining Policy Research Initiative, IDRC, P.O. Box 6379, 11100 Montevideo, Uruguay
The challenges for mining and sustainable
development over the coming decade are
numerous and varied. If the 1980’s and
1990’s saw environmental imperatives affecting
corporate practice, the turn of the millennium is
witness to the rise of the social imperative. From
this perspective one could mention the following
challenges:
◆ Providing and facilitating access to relevant and
adequate information for improved participatory
decision-making and understanding of trade-offs
with regard to mineral development.
◆ Developing transparent, efficient and reliable
environmental and social evaluation and monitoring
systems that are meaningful to all stakeholders.
◆ Making lasting partnerships between corporations,
communities and governments for the sustainable
and equitable development of mining
localities and regions.
◆ Designing and applying intercultural mechanisms
for resolution of conflicts over natural
resources in indigenous territories.
◆ Developing and implementing mine closure
and rehabilitation laws and practices.
◆ Finding ways to make artisanal and small-scale
mining sustainable, in every sense of the word.
◆ Building capacities of local governments to deal
with the multiple challenges of mineral development.
Perhaps the most crucial question is: how can
large scale mining and mineral processing contribute
to increased well-being, equity and sustainable
development of mining regions and
localities in the developing world?
The answers are diverse and multi-dimensional,
and are likely to be voiced from multiple cultural
perspectives in today’s world. In effect, the
outcome of mining in each particular mining
region – in terms of its contribution to equitable
and sustainable development – will not depend
only on the performance of the mining companies.
It will also depend on the capacity and performance
of other key stakeholders such as the
local, regional and national governments, the different
groups and civil organizations within the
communities themselves and even advocacy
groups at the global level. I will address the key
challenge of complete and respectful communication
and engagement of stakeholders as one of
the main requirements for moving towards more
equitable and sustainable development of mining
regions.
Due to the nature of global geopolitics and the
global economy, many developing country governments
are forced to make decisions where the
implications of the trade-offs involved are not
properly known or understood. In the developing
world, short-term realities usually dictate that the
decision-making process tends to take place under
the pressure of growing social unrest and of the
effects of economic globalization and structural
adjustment. The structural restrictions that make
for imposed decisions tend to broaden the gap
between participatory demagogy and meaningful
public participation. The urgency for much needed
foreign direct investment and the need to generate
jobs means that the medium and long term
strategic importance of biodiversity may be minimized,
the rights and ethnic integrity 1 of indigenous
peoples deemed contrary to national interest,
potential public health hazards ignored, and
the diversified livelihoods of rural dwellers undermined.
In the same way that developing countries
are restricted in their development options by an
unlevel global market and playing-field, so local
communities find their needs and priorities mandated
by central governments. It is in this context
of differences in power, capacity and degree of
freedom of choice that mining takes place.
The liberalization of investment regimes and
the globalization process have brought the rapid
expansion of mining activities to areas previously
isolated from mainstream development processes
in many developing countries. Many of these
areas coincide with territories traditionally occupied
or used by indigenous and other traditional
rural peoples as the basis of their livelihood 2 .
Many of these regions are also characterized by
cultural and biological diversity and are fragile
ecosystems (e.g. desert, mountain or tropical forest)
3 . Most of them are areas where basic public
services are either lacking or deficient, where
indeed the “presence” of the government may be
very weak, and where there is likely to be a high
level of expectation that large mining companies
will deliver these services. A common situation in
many localities is that local communities do not
have freedom of choice. Solutions to problems of
social and economic rights and minerals development
are presented in the discourse of both governments
and mining companies as one and the
same thing. The promise of “development” dominates
the communication scenario in the early
phases of mining, but in general this develop-
UNEP Industry and Environment – Special issue 2000 ◆ 87