News:
Bringing Things Together

Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners and Researchers Meet in London

Access to Information

Corporate Citizenship

Second Biodiversity and MIning Workshop

In Brief

Heads Up For...

MMSD Publications Corner

For a printable version of the MMSD news bulletin, click here.

News:

Bringing Things Together

The MMSD Project is about to reach a major milestone: the release of its Draft Project Report, scheduled for 14 December 2001.

The Project has been up and running since 1 April 2000 - barely 20 months. MMSD has always endeavoured to conduct its business in an open fashion, but is now about to "go public" in a much more visible way. We hope that you will find this of value.

The Draft MMSD Report has taken a great deal of effort to produce. It represents intensive work at the Project's London-based Work Group's offices, including contributions from several dozen outside researchers as well as the project staff. It also represents the work of our Regional Partner organisations in Australia, North America, South America and Southern Africa, and national research teams in several countries outside these regions.

This work has been reviewed and discussed at nearly 30 workshops, experts' meetings, and other fora, which have been attended by something approaching 1,500 people. The proceedings of all of these meetings have been (or will shortly be) available on our website, www.iied.org/mmsd/events/workshops.html, or the websites of our Regional Partner organisations.

A Dialogue for the Open Minded

We anticipate the Draft Report will create considerable debate. The issues in the minerals sector worldwide are often complex; opinion is deeply divided, with conflict frequent and the way forward not always apparent. Even when we know where we want to go, it may not always be easy to get there.

Our work will be far from perfect. But we hope that it will be a start, and perhaps the broadest synthesis of the problems of sustainable development in the minerals sector attempted to date. Despite any defects, it will hopefully contain the germ of some ideas about how to progress.

It is our job to be as inclusive and as transparent as possible. We endeavour to be receptive to new ideas, to encourage dialogue, and to give other people the floor.

We look forward to receiving your reactions to our work. Incorporating these will help to improve the Project Report, making it more acute, more complete, and more reflective of the concerns of those people vitally affected by the minerals industries. We plan to publish all written comments received by 31 January 2002 in their entirety as an MMSD Working Paper.

MMSD has witnessed significant commitment, enthusiasm and creativity towards designing change for the sector. We know also that there are other valuable insights to come and that together we can develop practical, realistic ways to start making things work better.

Write to us at mmsd@iied.org.

Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners and Researchers Meet in London

In many parts of the world, artisanal or small-scale mining (ASM) activities are at least as important as large-scale mining activities. The numbers of people employed are actually considerably greater than in large companies. An estimated 13 million people - a large percentage of whom are women and children - are artisanal and small-scale miners operating mainly in developing countries. The number of small-scale miners and their dependents could be up to 80-100 million people. Despite being generally associated with poor environmental performance and precarious health and safety practices, artisanal and small-scale mining continues to exist in many developing countries as a poverty survival strategy and, as such, has a potential to contribute to sustainable rural development. The question is, how?

MMSD's activities on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) include three components: a global report, a number of commissioned country and regional studies, and a participatory workshop. The third component - a workshop attended by the researchers who compiled the studies - took place on 19-20 November 2001 in London. Over 40 participants from non-governmental and community-based organisations, small-scale miners, and government and international organisations officials were also present.

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This multilingual workshop was one of the most internationally diverse MMSD events. Participants brought field expertise gained as ASM researchers, small-scale miners, or government officials in countries were ASM is a significant source of livelihoods. The countries represented included: Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Namakau Kaingu - small-scale miner, Chair of SADC's Women in Mining Trust and MMSD Assurance Group member - opened the two-day gathering by calling for change and drawing attention to the issues surrounding women and children artisanal miners. She reminded participants that governments are at times reticent to legally recognise ASM in spite of its contributions to national economies and livelihoods.

The workshop began with a tour de table seeking to capture participants' expectations of the gathering and of MMSD's work on ASM. Some of these perspectives were: recognising ASM as an integral part of rural development strategies, discussing how ASM can help build human capacity and fight poverty; increasing awareness of the nature and importance of ASM throughout the world; exploring possible better environmental practices; among others. Participants also provided comment on the draft ASM Global Report and contributed national and regional perspectives to this document.

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After much debate, participants agreed that ASM - understood in the context of community-level development - needs to be part of an integrated livelihoods strategy where its links to other rural activities are also part of the equation. For example, how can agriculture go hand-in-hand with mining activities as part of a larger framework for rural development?

With these ideas in mind, participants discussed the following topics in small groups:

Adding value for mineral production

This group concentrated on the potential for vertical integration in ASM, possible certification schemes and fair trade issues. The group agreed on the need to design programmes, by commodity, at each stage of the cycle to add value to the final product.

Some of the points raised included:

• Use of improved and appropriate technologies
• Linking production to market demand
• Ensuring appropriate environmental management
• Providing a regulatory and facilitative legislative framework
• Working towards quality assurance and branding
• Encouraging economic diversification and links to other sectors

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Supporting development of socially and economically sustainable communities

This group focused on the question of how local mining communities can benefit sustainably from ASM.

Some of the recommendations arising from this discussion included:

• Fostering the establishment of stable ASM communities rather
  than migratory ones
• Developing activities that complement mining and generate dependable revenues
• Strengthening capabilities in communities
• Enhancing entrepreneurship at the community level
• Promoting the reinvestment of earnings into profitable sustainable activities
• Working with other local partners such as NGOs and universities

Access and use of external resources

The group agreed that the main challenge is for communities to move from unorganised, informal groups with low access to credit and technology, into organised, fully legalised and networked productive mining communities.

Among the ideas spurred by this discussion were:

• Providing skills development programmes (related to production, business 'know-how', environment, information)
• Learning from local experiences
• Enhancing access to expertise from government officials and NGOs
• Sharing learned lessons

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Relationships between ASM and outside entities (e.g. large companies, governments, donors, NGOs)

Priority areas identified by this group included:
· Legalisation of ASM activities as a top priority
· Stop using artisanal miners as 'free geologists' with no rights on
their discoveries
· Framing external assistance into a comprehensive rural development strategy
· Providing appropriate financing schemes, such as a 'community bank'

As with all MMSD workshops, the proceedings of this meeting will be posted on the MMSD website. For more details on MMSD's work on ASM, visit www.iied.org/mmsd/activities/small_scale_mining.html.

The overarching goal in developing activities surrounding ASM has been to develop an understanding of how artisanal and small-scale mining can better contribute to sustainable development. To date, MMSD's work on ASM has generated several outputs, including: global, regional and country studies; databases; and a network of researchers. The future of these outputs was also discussed during the workshop.

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Representatives from the DFID-funded, World Bank's Collaborative Group on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (CASM) described its mission as seeking poverty-reduction by supporting comprehensive livelihoods approaches, including artisanal and small-scale mining. CASM plans to work in a coordinating and facilitating capacity to ensure the continuation of the network formed through the MMSD process, the further exchange of information and practice, and by helping donors to identify key criteria for funding. For more on CASM, visit www.casmsite.org/.

For more information on MMSD's activities related to ASM, contact Anne-Marie Fleury, annemarie.fleury@iied.org.

MMSD to Hold Workshop on Access to Information in the Mining and Minerals Sector

Information plays a key role in building - and sometimes undermining - trust, and in enabling different groups to negotiate effectively with one another. Recently there has been a rapid expansion in the number of initiatives designed to encourage greater transparency, but it is unclear whether significant and effective progress is being made in the way that information is generated and transmitted. A need exists to build shared understanding about the role information can play in creating a solid basis for sustainable development. What information needs to be gathered within the sector, and by whom? With whom, and how, should it be shared?

Information is not knowledge, and it can obfuscate as well as enlighten. While civil society sees information as a key to furthering issues of equity and accountability, industry and government may be concerned with the inefficiencies associated with current information gathering and dissemination practices, and, in particular, the potential for adverse effects on competitiveness. The rights of communities to prior-informed consent based on effective and timely provision of relevant information, as well as issues concerning the 'digital divide' and inequitable access to information experienced by those in developing countries, are just some of the many questions which make this a key issue for the sector's contribution to sustainable development.

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In order to continue to explore this important topic - a recurrent cross-cutting theme in most of MMSD's activities - the Project will hold a workshop on 29-30 November 2001 in Vancouver, Canada. The workshop follows up on a scoping meeting held in March 2001 in Toronto and will bring together approximately 30 participants.

Workshop invitees will arrive from as far afield as South Africa, Bolivia, the Philippines and Australia, and the various attendees will represent the interests of a number of different stakeholder groups, including indigenous communities, NGOs, regulatory bodies, labour organisations, academia and the mining industry itself.

The workshop will focus on issues of information access for various stakeholders, and, in particular, on the challenges faced in the production, dissemination, use and verification of information within the sector. In this respect, some of the key questions that arise and which will be tackled at the workshop are:

• What are the duties and needs of each group of actors involved with the sector?
• What is the current status of information production and use?
• Where are the most serious gaps in knowledge and practice?
• What will drive change towards more rational and effective systems of information production, dissemination, use and verification within a sustainable development framework?
• What mechanisms are in place and what new ones are needed to make such changes?
• What systems of governance are required?
• What actions need to be taken to drive such change?

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MMSD has commissioned several pieces of background research in key areas on the topic of information access. Specifically, these include work on Corporate Communications Standards, The Government Role, A Review of Systems for Making Information Available, and Community Information Needs.

The workshop will evaluate and develop this background research with the ultimate goal of ensuring that MMSD's Project Report fully reflects the diversity of viewpoints on this subject. Attendees will be encouraged to consider the duties and needs of actors, gaps in knowledge, drivers of change, mechanisms and governance, and action plans for the future.

For further information, contact Frank McShane, frank.mcshane@iied.org.

MMSD and RIIA: Corporate Citizenship from Words to Actions

MMSD co-sponsored a conference entitled 'Corporate Social Responsibility: From Words to Actions', which was held in Chatham House, London on 15-16 October 2001, with the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Control Risks Group and the International Business Leaders' Forum. At the conference, practical issues surrounding the corporate citizenship agenda - also known as corporate social responsibility - were examined. The event was attended by world-renowned experts on policy issues related to this topic as well as a number of company representatives and NGOs.

MMSD led a panel discussion, 'Structures for Achieving Change in the Extractive Industries', which centred on potential frameworks for change in the extractive sector and cross-sectoral learning. Gerard Holden of Barclays' Capital, and MMSD Assurance Group member, presented a "banker's perspective" on voluntary initiatives and how they can be made to work. He explained that financiers have a role to play in maximising the sector's contribution to sustainable development by encouraging compliance with guidelines. After all, he noted, "capital is the industry's livelihood." MMSD Project Coordinator Richard Sandbrook spoke about the possibility of 'Achieving Verifiable Outcomes in the Mining and Minerals Sector'. He used corruption as an illustration of the dilemma surrounding boundaries of responsibility and outlined areas for possible action. (These presentations are available on the MMSD website at www.iied.org/mmsd/activities/corporate_citizenship.html.) Other presentations were made regarding similar experiences in the oil sector.

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During this conference MMSD unveiled some preliminary conclusions on issues of governance and voluntary initiatives. The possibility of developing a verification system for the industry was introduced. Such a verification scheme could eventually lead to mines, minerals and companies all being verified against a set of global, regional and local standards. Three phases - ultimately leading to the development of the global verification scheme - were outlined.

A verification system would cover sustainable development issues such as human rights, environmental management, local economic development, corruption, labour standards, community relations, etc. The exact range and scope of the verification scheme would be developed as part of Phase I. At the end of the process a clear set of benchmarks defining concrete performance at the global, national and project level would be in place. An independent system for verifying compliance would provide incentives to comply through favourable borrowing terms, lower insurance rates and a clear system of resolving disputes when they occur.

For more information on this conference, contact Bernice Lee, bernice.lee@iied.org.

MMSD Holds Second Biodiversity and Mining Workshop

MMSD held its second Biodiversity and Mining workshop on 25-26 October 2001 in London. This gathering aimed to take the 'scene-setting' discussions held in June a step further and to identify possible action steps. Various research pieces commissioned by MMSD were discussed.

The topics included:

• mining and protected areas
• enabling environment and mining and biodiversity issues
• economic and financial mechanisms

The level of debate around these issues has moved forward significantly since the first workshop. Consensus that joint actions between mining and conservation interests might be achievable on certain issues - especially those pertaining to lands outside protected areas - began to emerge. There was broad acceptance that the key stakeholders are all working towards achieving the same overall 'vision', i.e. how to create the conditions that will enable mining to continue as a land user in a world where sustainable development is the operating principle.

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The discussions made evident that trying to get stakeholder groups to an agreement on issues related to mineral development in the Categories I-IV (IUCN's terminology for protected areas) would not be the best next step in the immediate term. There is still too much that needs to be in place before either side can even start to consider conceding to the respective demands. It became apparent that the best way forward would be to embark on a process of trust-building first. This could involve working together on developing best practice case studies, putting together a series of biodiversity conservation principles for the industry, among other activities. Such joint actions could help pave the way (and create the necessary trust) for further dialogue and consensus building on contentious issues.

The principal ideas and action points emerging from the two-day workshop are:

The need to build trust between mining and conservation interests.
The discussions suggested that collaboration in the development of biodiversity best practice case study material (e.g. land outside protected areas), and joint action on some of the activities listed below could help build trust between mining and conservation interests.

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The need to strengthen the role and level of investment in hard science
Hard science should underpin decision-making on biodiversity conservation. There are, however, certain limits to using pure 'hard science' alone in setting conservation priorities.

Possible action steps included:

• Encouraging further debate and action on the decline in systematics and taxonomy
• Identifying a suitable institution or network that can act as a repository of good biophysical science
• Building on opportunities provided by the mining industry to support taxonomy in remote areas, e.g. during exploration
• Ensuring that mainstream mining engineering and geology courses also teach biodiversity-related subjects

The need to provide coherent and high resolution information on biodiversity
There is a lack of coherence among the many information bases on biodiversity and no universal system of prioritisation. Key databases, such as the list of protected areas, need regular updating, but there is a lack of resources to enable this to happen.

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Possible action steps included:

• Organising a workshop on 'Information for Conservation' to begin addressing data accessibility, compatibility and standardisation; mechanisms for quality control; statistical analysis methodologies, etc
• Establishing a high resolution biodiversity information system for the mining sector
• Exploring the potential use of web-based systems for science-based information sharing on biodiversity

The need to strengthen land use planning capacity
It was also agreed that effective land use planning can help countries maximise the benefits and minimise the costs of different land use regimes, and support the move towards greater sustainability. However, it was discussed that in many countries the land use planning system is weak and uncoordinated.

Possible action steps included:

• Establishing a process to investigate how to strengthen land use planning systems in collaboration with other key institutions, e.g. ICMM, IUCN, UNEP, professional land use planning networks, UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme, etc.

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The need to establish more consistent and transparent decision-making processes on protected areas, which are supported by integrated landscape/ecosystem management approaches
Both the mining and the conservation representatives recognised that there is a real need for further work and debate on the issue of mining and protected areas categories I-IV as reaching consensus will require time and process.

Possible action steps included:

• Strengthening the application of the IUCN protected areas categorisation system
• Developing jointly best practice case studies to be showcased at the World Parks Congress in 2003
• Building further on existing work on protected areas management effectiveness
• Investigating further innovative concepts, such as offsets

The need to articulate and enhance better practice within the mining sector
As yet, there have been no industry-wide attempts to articulate industry's biodiversity conservation principles, despite efforts at company level to address biodiversity better practice. Development of such principles should be a key priority for an industry body, such as the ICMM.

The proceedings from this workshop will be available soon on MMSD's website at www.iied.org/mmsd/activities/biodiversity.html. For more information on this workshop, contact Izabella Koziell, izabella.koziell@iied.org.

In Brief

MMSD Regional Partners contributed insights gained through their regional activities to the Project's Draft Report during the course of informal meetings with the London-based Work Group from 21-26 November 2001. Representatives from MMSD Australia, MMSD North America, MMSD South America and MMSD Southern Africa discussed draft chapters in an effort to incorporate early lessons from their respective regional processes. The London-based MMSD team and the Project's Regional Partners will continue to work together to ensure regional perspectives are adequately reflected in the Project Report.

IIED 30th Anniversary Conference. On 12-13 November 2001, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) - home of the MMSD Project - celebrated its 30th anniversary with a workshop and conference entitled 'Equity for a Small Planet.' The event aimed to encourage debate on the dynamics and tensions between globalisation and local livelihoods and provide an international platform for Southern experiences to inform the agenda for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002.

ICMM holds first council meeting. The newly created International Council on Mining and Metals held its first council meeting on 22-24 October 2001. Among other themes, discussions surrounding the business case for sustainable development were held. MMSD participated briefly in this meeting by sharing with participants materials presented at its recent Corporate Citizenship Conference held in partnership with the Royal Institute of International Affairs on 15-16 October 2001 (see article above).

World Mines Ministers Forum. Sponsored by the Canadian Government, the organising committee has begun discussing the scope of the next Forum to be held on 13-15 March 2002 in Toronto, Canada. MMSD is part of this committee and will contribute to the event by running a half-day workshop on 'Governance Issues in the Mining Sector'. For more on this event, visit www.wmmf.org.

Heads Up For...

MMSD Draft Report Scheduled for 14 December. The Draft Report will be made available on the Project's website for stakeholder review and input. Further details on the Draft Report's consultation process, including 'road shows' will be given in the next issue of the MMSD News Bulletin. A limited number of copies will be available in hard copy. To request one, write to mmsd@iied.org and provide your postal address.

MMSD's Assurance Group will hold its sixth meeting in London on 3-5 December 2001 in London. This meeting will focus on reviewing and discussing the content of the Project's Draft Report before it is shared with the general public later in the month. The Group is gearing up for intense working sessions during the three-day gathering. In addition, several Assurance Group members unable to attend this meeting will meet on 10-11 December 2001 to ensure their perspectives are also incorporated in the Draft Report.

MMSD's Indigenous Peoples and Mining Workshop will take place in Australia in February 2002. The meeting aims to follow up on the progress achieved during the Preparatory Meeting held in Quito, Ecuador last September (see Bulletin 17 for more on this meeting). This workshop will include representatives of other stakeholder groups. Note that the workshop was originally planned for mid-December and has been postponed. For more information, contact Andrea Steel, Andrea.Steel@iied.org.

News from MMSD Regional Partners

MMSD Australia

A multistakeholder conference 'Engaging Stakeholders: Improving Industry Performance' was held in Brisbane on 17-18 September 2001. Research coordinators provided an update on the progress of their respective projects to over 60 participants. In addition to this large event, MMSD Australia has also held workshops with smaller groups on managing mineral wealth, the Australian baseline assessment, biodiversity, indigenous peoples and consultation.

MMSD Australia has released proposals for their regional report. These are available on their website, which will also report comments received so that stakeholders may follow - and participate in - the debate. The proposals will be presented for discussion at the MMSD Australia workshop in Melbourne on 6-7 December 2001. The outcomes from this meeting will define some of the key themes and messages to be included in the Australian regional report.

For more on MMSD Australia, visit www.ameef.com.au.

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MMSD North America

MMSD North America held its 'Mining Dialogue: Working Toward a Framework for Action' on 7-9 November 2001 in Vancouver, Canada. The goal of the event was to provide an opportunity for participants to exchange ideas and develop a better understanding of both the reasons behind differences and the areas where common action might be possible.

The Dialogue addressed some of the contentious issues facing the sector, based on the issues of concern emerging from its regional process. The meeting provided a platform for identifying some concrete responses that could be reflected in a set of benchmarks and that might serve as a foundation for, or beginnings of, an agenda for change in the North American region. It was led and facilitated in partnership with the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue of Simon Fraser University.

The Dialogue also provided an opportunity for MMSD North America's Working Groups to share the outcome of their research activities and obtain input from participants.

For more information on the Dialogue and on MMSD North America, visit their website at www.iisd.org/mmsd.

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MMSD South America

MMSD South America's national teams have recently completed their national reports. These document the research and participatory activities undertaken at the national level in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru and will be available by the end of the year. MMSD South America has also published the first findings stemming from its participatory process, which is based on a survey and over 70 workshops carried out during the last six months. These are available on their website and the last issue of their News Bulletin, www.mmsd-la.org.

In addition, MMSD South America attended the recent CAMMA meeting (Annual Meeting of Mines Ministers of the Americas) in mid-November to look into ways of working with governments in the context of the preliminary findings of their process.

MMSD South America's regional report will be available for comment on their website on 15 December 2001. For more information on MMSD South America, visit www.mmsd-la.org.

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MMSD Southern Africa

As previously reported, MMSD Southern Africa held a multistakeholder workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa on 18-19 September 2001. Approximately 100 participants attended the workshop from all stakeholder groups across the region. The results of the research component were presented to attendees, who discussed the recommendations arising from the research and prioritised them for possible implementation.

The draft regional report was sent to stakeholders for comment and review, and the final report is approaching completion. It will be submitted to the region's Steering Committee shortly, after which the report will be published.

The first three months of next year promise to be busy ones in the region. The Working Group will hold a number of focus group meetings throughout the region to discuss the final regional report and the draft global report with stakeholder groups.

For more information on MMSD Southern Africa, visit their website at www.mining.wits.ac.za/mmsd.html.

MMSD Publications Corner

On this issue: Public Participation for Sustainable Development

This issue features MMSD's work with the Academic Advisory Group of the International Bar Association's Section on Energy and Resources Law (IBA/SERL). The product of this work - presented and critiqued at an Academic Advisory Group conference in May 2001 - will be published as a book entitled "Human Rights in Resources Development: The New Law of Public Participation." This publication is authored by 18 members of the IBA/SERL and will be published by Oxford University Press in May 2002.

Public Participation is a fundamental part of the new international norm of sustainable development. A recognised 'human right' since the 1940s, public participation today is fast morphing into many different legal and political forms - 'citizen involvement', 'indigenous peoples' rights', 'local community rights', 'sustainable development agreements', 'public hearings', 'consultation', 'right to information', and more. The right to be heard is a fundamental principle of public law in most of the world's legal systems, but in practice it ranges from being deeply ingrained in some countries to non-existent, even prohibited, in others.

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Globalisation, democratisation, the increasing role of civil society, the rule of law, the human rights explosion and technology are contributing to the expansion of these public rights to control private development. Advantages of this movement are seen as improved quality in decision-making, better information, and increased legitimacy and acceptance. Understanding these legal and extra-legal 'human dimensions' in development will be an essential part of the planning of lawyers, companies, governments, international agencies, NGOs and citizens for the mining and resource developments of coming decades.

This book - authored by international resources law experts from a dozen different countries - aims to pull together a comprehensive, objective, expert view of this phenomenon by providing the theoretical and practical guidance essential to understanding and dealing with the new law of public participation. A first section lays out the basics of public participation law - origins, history, theories, modern sources and future directions. A second section presents the international legal authorities. A third section analyses the current experience and future trends in over a dozen nations and regions of critical resource development interest from Africa, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, China, Europe and North, Central and South America.

For more information, visit www.ibanet.org/SERL. A full list of MMSD Working Papers will be available in MMSD's website shortly.

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