dynamic mineral resources management: anosy case ... - CommDev

Figure 1: The interactions between the management of regional economic development and mineralresources; in consideration of higher-level development goals.The value to a society of any of its resources can be measured by its contribution toimproved quality of life. Figure 1 shows some quality of life measures as developmentgoals to be optimized through the management of society’s resources: mineral, human,and environmental. The central frame, entitled Management of Integrated RegionalEconomic Development, lists actions that policy planners (“managers”) may initiate toachieve Society’s development goals. Taking effective management actions requiresmanagers to have access to information on the quantity and quality of society’s resources.The Mineral Resource Estimation Template is designed to provide such information formineral resources. Clearly, to be most effective, development managers should haveaccess to similar information about all of Society’s resources.The arrow in Figure 1 from mineral resources to management actions represents the useof mineral resource estimates to identify those actions that will most effectively achievedevelopment goals. The reverse arrow is equally important, for it represents the impactof management actions on the contribution of Society’s mineral resources. Some actionsby management enhance certain development goals while diminishing others. There is adelicate balance of tradeoffs between alternative land-uses. The important point to bemade is that a system, replete with resource estimates, enhances the ability ofmanagement to identify and initiate those management actions that optimally attainSociety’s development goals in consideration of one land-use’s impacts on thesurrounding system.Page 3