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Sustainable Development and
Mining
This section provides an outline of the development
of the concept of sustainable development. Links to a number of
key documents are included.
•Defining Sustainable
Development
•Sustainable Development and Mining
•The Earth Summit and Agenda 21
•Earth Summit +5
•UN Millennium Summit
•The World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD)
Defining Sustainable Development
One of the most widely accepted definitions of sustainable development
was given by the World Commission on Environment
and Development (WCED) in its 1987 report entitled "Our
Common Future".
In the report, sustainable development is defined as that which:
"... meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs." (WCED, 1987, p.8).
This is seen to require the following elements:
- Integration of economic, environmental,
and social considerations into all
decision making.
- Fostering of intra-generational equity
through the alleviation of poverty by concentrating the benefits
of development in lesser developed areas.
- Consideration of the needs of future generations so as to ensure
that inter-generational equity exists.
Sustainable Development and Mining
Several countries have attempted to define sustainable development
more specifically as it relates to the mining and minerals sector.
The definitions from Australia and Canada are detailed below.
Australia
In Australia, the Ecologically Sustainable Development Working
Group on Mining has defined sustainable development for the mining
sector as:
"...ensuring that the mineral raw materials
needs of society are met, without compromising the ability either
of future societies to meet their needs, or of the natural environment
to sustain indefinitely the quality of environmental services
(such as climate systems), biological diversity and ecological
integrity". From the 'Ecologically Sustainable Development
Working Group (ESDWG), Final Report - Mining', Australian Government
Publishing Service, November, 1991.
Canada
In Canada, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has defined sustainable
development for the mining sector as:
"...finding, extracting, producing, adding-value
to, using, re-using, recycling and, when necessary, disposing
of mineral and metal products in the most efficient, competitive
and environmentally responsible manner possible. NRCan recognises
that these activities must be carried out in consultation with,
and respecting the needs and values of, other resource users and
maintaining or improving environmental quality for present and
future generations."
To assist in the implementation of sustainable development practices
in the mining sector, NRCan developed six major objectives:
- Integration of the concept of sustainable development in federal
decision making affecting the minerals and metals industry.
- Ensuring the international competitiveness of Canada's minerals
and metals industry in the context of open and liberal global
trade and investment framework.
- Advancement of the concept of sustainable development of minerals
and metals at the international level.
- Establishment of Canada as a global leader in promoting the
safe use of minerals and metals, and their related products.
- Promotion of Aboriginal involvement in minerals and metals related
activities.
- Provision of a framework for the development and application
of science and technology to enhance the industry's competitiveness
and environmental stewardship.
Stockholm Declaration
The United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment was held in Stockholm on 5-16 June 1972. The
Conference considered the need for a common outlook and principles
to guide in the preservation and enhancement of the human environment.
A key document from the Conference was the "Declaration Of
The United Nations Conference On The Human Environment", otherwise
known as the Stockholm Declaration.
The following extracts are taken from the document:
Report of the UN Conference on the Human
Environment, Stockholm - 5-16 June 1972, UN Doc.: A/CONF.48/14/Rev1
at 3 (1973), 11 ILM 1416 (1972). [http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=97].
A number of the Stockholm Declaration's Principles affect the activities
of the mining and minerals sector. Most notably, Principle 21 outlines
a nationalistic viewpoint on the exploitation of natural resources:
"States have, in accordance with the
Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international
law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant
to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to
ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do
not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas
beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.".
Others include:
Principle 5:
"The non-renewable resources of the earth must be employed
in such a way as to guard against the danger of their future exhaustion
and to ensure that benefits from such employment are shared by
all mankind."
Principle 6:
"The discharge of toxic substances or of other substances
and the release of heat, in such quantities or concentrations
as to exceed the capacity of the environment to render them harmless,
must be halted in order to ensure that serious or irreversible
damage is not inflicted upon ecosystems. The just struggle of
the peoples of ill countries against pollution should be supported."
Principle 7:
"States shall take all possible steps to prevent pollution
of the seas by substances that are liable to create hazards to
human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage
amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea."
Principle 10:
"For the developing countries, stability of prices and adequate
earnings for primary commodities and raw materials are essential
to environmental management, since economic factors as well as
ecological processes must be taken into account."
Principle 13:
"In order to achieve a more rational management of resources
and thus to improve the environment, States should adopt an integrated
and coordinated approach to their development planning so as to
ensure that development is compatible with the need to protect
and improve environment for the benefit of their population."
Principle 17:
"Appropriate national institutions must be entrusted with
the task of planning, managing or controlling the 9 environmental
resources of States with a view to enhancing environmental quality."
Principle 22:
"States shall cooperate to develop further the international
law regarding liability and compensation for the victims of pollution
and other environmental damage caused by activities within the
jurisdiction or control of such States to areas beyond their jurisdiction."
Principle 23
"Without prejudice to such criteria as may be agreed upon
by the international community, or to standards which will have
to be determined nationally, it will be essential in all cases
to consider the systems of values prevailing in each country,
and the extent of the applicability of standards which are valid
for the most advanced countries but which may be inappropriate
and of unwarranted social cost for the developing countries."
The Earth Summit and Agenda 21
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED),
often referred to as the "Earth Summit", was held in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. One of the major outcomes of the summit
was Agenda 21, a detailed action plan for moving the world towards
sustainable development. The document consisted of four sections:
1. Social and Economic Dimensions
2. Conservation and Management of
Resources for Development
3. Strengthening the Role of Major
Groups
4. Means of Implementation
There is no specific section in Agenda 21 dealing with the mining
and minerals sector, but numerous provisions relate to the activities
of the sector. These are outlined below...
The full text of Agenda 21 may be viewed on the website of the
United Nations Division for Sustainable Development at:
[http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/agenda21.htm]
Agenda 21 and Mineral Resources
The following commentary on Agenda 21 as it affects the mining
and mineral sector is taken from an UNCTAD publication entitled
"International Law and Mineral
Resources" by Prof. George W. (Rock) Pring of the University
of Denver College of Law.
"While there is no specific chapter in Agenda 21 dealing
with the minerals sector (as for agriculture, example), are a
host of provisions direct and indirect relevance to mineral development....
Chapter 10 presents a program for
integrated planning and management of land resources. Its "broad
objective is to facilitate allocation of land to the uses that
provide the greatest sustainable benefits". Its specific
objectives are "to review and develop policies to support
the best possible use of the land and the sustainable management
of land resources," "to improve and strengthen planning,
management and evaluation systems," "to strengthen institutions
and coordinating systems," and "to create mechanisms
to facilitate the active involvement and participation of all
concerned, particularly communities and people at the local level,
in decision-making on land use and management". For most
countries, implementing even a portion of the suggestions in Chapter
10 would radically change the resource planning and allocation
process.
Other examples include: Chapter 4 (Changing
Consumption Patterns), which urges reduction in unsustainable
demand for natural resources, greater efficiency in the use of
energy and resources, minimizing generation of wastes, and environmentally
sound pricing; Chapter 6 (Protecting and
Promoting Human Health), which calls for extensive health
protections in the industry and energy sectors; Chapter 13 (Mountain
Development), suggesting alternatives to minerals development
to prevent soil erosion, landslides, and loss of habitat and genetic
diversity; Chapter 17 (Protection of Oceans),
which address, among other things, degradation of the marine environment
from oil and gas activities; and Chapter
26 (Strengthening the Role of Indigenous Peoples), which
calls for protecting indigenous people's lands "from activities
which are environmentally unsound or that [they] consider to be
socially and culturally inappropriate".
Without being exhaustive, general provisions of mining-sector
interest can also be found in Chapter 19
on Toxic Chemicals, Chapter 20 on
Hazardous Wastes, Chapter 30 on Strengthening
the Role of Business and Industry, the technology transfer
provisions of Chapter 33,
and Chapter 39 which encourages
additional international treaties and the development of international
standards for environmental protection. Agenda 21 also proposes
two programs relevant to the mining sector, one on interfirm cooperation
with government support to transfer technologies to minimize waste
and increase recycling and a second on responsible entrepreneurship
encouraging self-regulation, environmental research and development,
worldwide corporate standards, and partnerships in clean technology.
In summary, Agenda 21 proposes a stunningly diverse array of
global, national, and local reforms - some 2,500 projects in all
which if even fraction were implemented could transform the way
resource-based economies world deal with mineral development.
ECOSOC notes: "Agenda 21...sets priorities under resource
management technical assistance are to be carried out. Further
general guidance for these is given by Capacity programme 21.
goals this (a) assist countries incorporating principles sustainable
development into their plans programmes, (b) involving stakeholders
developing planning environmental (c) create body experience expertise
capacity-building that will continued material value to, influence
operation of, countries, UNDP, specialized agencies, non-governmental
organizations other donors." (UN document E/C.7/1996/1).
Earth Summit+5
A follow up event to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development (UNCED), was held in 1997 to review progress. This
event was termed Earth Summit +5.
Further information is available from the Earth
Summit +5 website:
[http://www.un.org/esa/earthsummit/]
UN Millennium Summit
The governments of the member states of the United Nations participated
in the Millennium Summit from 6 to 8 September 2000. The Summit
agreed on a process for fundamental review of the role of the United
Nations and of the challenges facing the organisation in the new
century.
The report, entitled "We the Peoples:
The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century",
presents the UN Secretary General's vision for the United Nations
in a globalised world that has changed dramatically in the 55 years
since the organisation was founded.
United
Nations Millennium Declaration (PDF) - Resolution by the General
Assembly, UN Doc.: A/RES/55/2, 2000.
"We the Peoples": The Role of
the United Nations in the 21st Century - Kofi A. Annan,
Secretary-General of the United Nations, 2000. The report is divided
into seven parts:
New century,
new challenges (PDF)
Globalization
and governance (PDF)
Freedom from
want (PDF)
Freedom from
fear (PDF)
Sustaining
our future (PDF)
Renewing the
United Nations (PDF)
For consideration
by the Summit (PDF)
Further information on the Millennium Summit is available from
the website at: [http://www.un.org/millennium/]
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
To mark the tenth anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit (UNCED),
the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August
to 4 September 2002. The Summit reviewed progress on Agenda
21, specifically reviewing the obstacles encountered, lessons
learned during the implementation process and new factors that have
emerged.
The major output of the Summit negotiations were outlined in two
documents:
Plan of
Implementation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
Political Declaration
Unlike the earlier Agenda 21, the Plan
of Implementation contains several direct references to the mining
sector in addition to a wide range of proposals that will impact
upon the activities of the sector. The key sections of these documents
relating to the mining and minerals sector have been identified
here.
In addition to these key documents, many others were published
by the United Nations, national governments, the private sector
and NGOs. Some of relevance to the mining sector include:
UNEP Industry
Sector Reports - The United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) coordinated the preparation of a number of industry sector
reviews that examined progress towards sustainable development since
the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Sectors of interest include: Aluminium,
Coal, and Iron and Steel.
Mining, Minerals and Sustainable
Development (MMSD) project - The final report of the MMSD
project, "Breaking New Ground: Mining,
Minerals, and Sustainable Development", was released
in early 2002 providing the major input for the mining sector
to the Summit process.
Further information on the WSSD is available from the official
website: [http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/]
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