1.Front section - IUCN

Extractive industries as a new constituency for protected areas 2
the Vth World Parks Congress called on the global
conservation and development community to set new
targets to enlarge and improve the effectiveness of the
global protected areas system (IUCN, 2003), a
recommendation that is reflected in the programme of
work adopted by governments at the seventh
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity (2004). As both the protected
area system and mineral exploration continue to
expand, areas of potential conflict are also likely to
increase and the case for the conservation community
to engage the extractive industries becomes more
compelling.
Although it is easy to assume that the extraction of
hydrocarbons and minerals in protected areas would
be legally excluded, the reality is far from simple.
Legislation varies enormously from country to
country. Some governments do not allow mining or
oil and gas development in some of their protected
areas, while others issue exploration permits in
protected areas (Dudley and Stolton, 2003). Despite
these legal differences, environmental campaign
groups, and more recently the investment community
(ten Kate, 2003; Miller, 2003), are invoking the
recommendation made by IUCN members at the
2000 World Conservation Congress in Amman,
Jordan to challenge energy and mining companies to
make a voluntary commitment not to enter any IUCN
category I–IV protected areas.
The “No Go” campaign has heightened the risk to
companies of access to reserves being denied,
restricted, or kept in limbo, and of opposition from
local communities constraining production or
increasing the cost of operating in or near to protected
areas (ten Kate, 2003; Sykes, 2003). One study on the
subject concludes that companies that have assets in
or near existing or planned protected areas could see a
loss of more than 3% of shareholder value (Austin and
Sauer, 2002). Pressure on the industry has resulted in
voluntary restrictions. In 2003, fifteen international
mining companies, that make up the membership of
the International Council for Mining and Metals,
declared a policy not to operate in existing UNESCO
World Heritage Sites (International Council for
Mining and Metals, 2003) a commitment also made
by Shell, an Anglo-Dutch oil company (Shell, 2003).
Yet, if successful, the campaign to force a voluntary
commitment from energy and mining companies not
to explore or produce in or near to protected areas runs
the risk of a Pyhrric victory for conservation.
Governments have to make tough decisions to balance
economic development and environmental protection.
Especially in the developing world, sovereign states
will be reluctant to forego potential revenue from
developing their natural resources and may resist calls
to expand their protected areas system into areas that
have the potential to hold mineral or hydrocarbon
reserves, or choose to delineate boundaries to exclude
mineralized zones.
Furthermore, a strategy that seeks only to oppose
the commercial sector risks losing sight of the benefits
for conservation that can be made available through
collaboration. Companies in the extractive industries
sector own or control many resources that, if
harnessed, can be used to expand and strengthen the
protected area estate. The remainder of this chapter
gives examples of energy and mining companies that
have provided financial, human, management and
planning, scientific, and political resources for the
support of protected areas.
Examples of contributions to
protected areas from the
extractive industries sector
Financial contributions
Budgets for protected areas have not risen
commensurately with the rapid growth in their
number. Recent studies estimate that an additional
US$2.3 billion each year is required simply to make
management adequate in the existing protected area
network (James et al., cited in Lapham and
Livermore, 2003). Financial resources necessary to
create and manage a broadly representative and
effective global system of protected areas are upwards
of US$20 billion annually (Balmford et al., cited in
Lapham and Livermore, 2003). Because the project
life cycles of oil, gas, and mineral development
projects span many years, or even decades, there is a
tremendous opportunity for companies to provide a
sustainable flow of funding to protected areas over the
long term.
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