Mining and Sustainable Development II - DTIE

Mining
Activities Programme in the Industrial Activities
Branch of the International Labour Organization
(ILO, www.ilo.org) are aimed at ensuring safe
working conditions at mine sites. While the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
has no mining programme as such, its national
offices frequently sponsor training, information
and environmental assessment activities related to
mining development.
The Baia Mare tailings accident (30 January
2000) resulted in a number of commissions being
formed to consider follow up actions. These
include the European Union (EU) Baia Mare Task
Force, Romanian Government, UNEP and the
Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) Assessment Mission, and the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The
objective of these investigations is to establish the
cause of the accident, assess the damage, propose
actions to remedy the negative impacts, propose
actions to keep the general public fully informed,
and to propose actions to prevent future accidents.
In addition, UNIDO has begun a project in Hungary
on Emergency Preparedness and Responses
in Mining and Metallurgical industries. This initiative,
which involves UNEP and the Government
of Hungary, will look at application of the
UNEP APELL (Awareness and Preparedness for
Emergencies at Local Level) process in Hungary,
especially along the Tisza River.
Since implementing new policies and approaches
requires new skills based on up-to-date information,
building such capacity in government and
industry partners around the world has been an
important activity for UNEP. In October 1999,
the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western
Australia and UNEP jointly organized an international
conference on environmental education in
the minerals and energy industries in Australia.
Academics, industry and government officials discussed
how environmental issues can be better
incorporated into current and future teaching curricula
without detracting from the extensive technical
education that is required.
The United Nations Department of Economic
and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and UNEP jointly
held a second Berlin Roundtable on Mining and
the Environment in 1999, in collaboration with
the Deutsche Stiftung für internationale Entwicklung
(DSE – German Foundation for International
Development). (The Berlin II Guidelines
are reproduced in other parts of this publication).
The Australian Government and UNEP cohosted
an international regulators workshop in
Environmental Safety in Mining in Perth in October
2000, to discuss how to refine their legislative
tools (discussion papers are posted on the MRF
website).
At the regional level, the North American
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
(CEC – www.cec.org) was created in 1993 by
Canada, Mexico and the United States under the
North American Agreement in Environmental
Cooperation to address regional environmental
concerns, prevent potential trade and environmental
conflicts, and to promote the effective
enforcement of environmental law. Related to
minerals and metals are its initiatives on sound
management of chemicals and the North American
Pollutant Release and Transfer Register.
In the late 1990’s, the Mining Policy Research
Initiative (MPRI – www.idrc.ca/mpri) was
launched to address some of the concerns raised
from the rapid expansion of mineral exploration
and development throughout Latin America and
the Caribbean (LAC). Based in Montevideo,
Uruguay, MPRI focuses on the impact of mining
on ecosystems and human health and the regulation
of mining for environmental purposes.
Appropriate research is underway to ensure that
mining is supportive of sustainable development
in LAC.
Industry groups are mostly organized around
national mining associations and international
commodity organizations primarily concerned
with trade issues. One group focusing on environmental
issues is the International Council on Metals
and the Environment (ICME – www.icme.
com) based in Ottawa, Canada. ICME has worked
with many of the above organizations, especially
UNEP, to review policy issues and define practical
procedures for improving the industry’s general
environmental performance. In May 2000, ICME
and UNEP jointly organized an international
meeting to start the process of identifying the
issues and considerations related to the management
of cyanide in gold mining. ICME and
UNEP also held an international workshop on
emergency preparedness and response in the mining
industry to discuss the application of APELL
(Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at
Local Level) to installations and hazardous materials
transport in the mining sector. In addition,
UNEP is drafting an APELL for the mining industry
handbook. A best practice case study book on
water management at mine sites, a joint
UNEP/ICME publication, is also in process.
Although not primarily focused on mining, the
World Business Council on Sustainable Development
(WBCSD) has been promoting more systematic
and integrated environmental management
(eco-efficiency) by companies. One specific
initiative is the MMSD (Mining, Minerals and
Sustainable Development – www.iied.org/mmsd)
as one of a number of projects being supported by
the Global Mining Initiative (GMI – www.globalmining.com).
GMI is a bold initiative of more
than 25 CEO’s of major mining companies to
“ensure that the mining, minerals and metals
industry is responsive to global needs and challenges.”
Another organization making a strong contribution
to the mining and environmental discussion
is the International Commission on Large
Dams (ICOLD), which has sponsored numerous
technical publications and conferences concerning
tailings dams. ICOLD and UNEP jointly
published a 1996 survey of tailings incidents. A
second publication entitled “Tailings Dams: Risk
of Dangerous Occurrences – Lessons learnt from
practical experiences” is expected to be published
in early 2001. Finally, and based on recommendations
in the UNEP/OCHA Baia Mare Assessment
Mission Report, a study of contingency
options including structures for tailings dams
incorporating fail-safe features, secondary security
measures, and revised siting criteria, especially
when hazardous materials like cyanide are
involved, is under consideration.
A number of national mining associations are
increasingly addressing the environmental agenda
in a pro-active way. As well as organizing regular
workshops and seminars on environmental
matters, several associations have developed firm
policies on environmental responsibility that
members are expected to abide by. A number of
institutions of mining and metallurgy hold regular
conferences and publish information on environmental
issues, generally with a technical
orientation.
Academic and research institutes mainly have a
national focus. One exception is MERN – Mining
and Energy Research Network (formally the
Mining Environmental Research Network) which
is located within the Corporate Citizenship Unit
at the University of Warwick Business School
(UK). Its research and training activities relate to
the social, economic and environmental dimensions
of sustainable development across the minerals
and energy sectors. The Southern African
Development Community (SADC) Mining Unit
in Lusaka, Zambia, has a small environmental
unit which undertakes studies and seminars in
Southern Africa. A Southern Africa Workshop on
Sustainable Development and the Mining and
Metal Industries was held in November 2000 in
Pretoria, South Africa co-hosted by SADC, the
Namibian Geological Survey, the South African
Department of Minerals and Energy, the Chamber
of Mines of South Africa, ICME and the
World Bank.
In addition, a number of national institutions
are strongly focused on international work. CEN-
TEK in Sweden, and Queens University in Canada,
have programmes for international training.
Many national institutes also undertake consultancy
and advisory work in other countries. The
Colorado School of Mines co-published a book
entitled the “Sustainable Development and the
Future of Mineral Investment” as a collaborative
effort of the Institute for Global Resources Policy
and Management at Colorado School of Mines
(USA), the Metal Mining Agency of Japan and
UNEP.
A few community groups are active in regard to
mining and environment, often publishing information
on recent problems and upcoming issues.
These groups include World Wide Fund For
Nature (WWF), The World Conservation
Union-IUCN, Friends of the Earth, Conservation
International, Mineral Policy Centre as well as a
number of more nationally focused bodies in specific
countries (eg. MiningWatch Canada). Key
issues relate to indigenous issues, biodiversity,
small-scale and artisanal mining.
Finally, many regional development banks and
bilateral aid agencies in Europe, North America,
Japan and Australia have sponsored environmental
programmes in developing countries. These
programmes typically involve a range of training,
technical and assessment projects. ◆
UNEP Industry and Environment – Special issue 2000 ◆ 9