News:
Organising the Project

Decentralising the Project

Update on Activities Since Bulletin No.1

Strategic Planning Workshop

Formation of Assurance Group

Personnel

Junior Research Fellows

Future Events

Planning Phase

Head Office Relocation

Rolling Out Regional Processes

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

This is the second in a series of periodic bulletins about developments in the Mining Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project being conducted by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

The overall project objective is to identify how mining and minerals can best contribute to the global transition to sustainable development.

The project was initiated with the project sponsors' approval of a Scoping Report previously prepared by IIED, which appears on our website at www.iied.org/mmsd/.

MMSD is designed to produce a number of outputs, including an overall project report, which is to be presented at the end of 2001.

Organising the Project

MMSD represents a unique attempt to bring together the actors affected by the minerals cycle including in the exploration for deposits, construction of mines, mining operations, closure and rehabilitation, and the use, reuse, recycling, and final disposal of mineral products.

These stakeholders will work in an integrated process alongside recognised experts in a variety of disciplines. Together they will try to identify, prioritise, and, where possible, explore solutions to some of the very difficult and conflict-ridden challenges faced by the mining and minerals industries.

Communications and external relations is a critical factor in building up these partnerships and from an organisational point of view, we are in the process of hiring a full time communications and external relations professional. Part of this person's mandate will be to enhance and extend our communication strategy ensuring that all interested and identified external constituencies are reached. We are expecting a higher quality and frequency of communication once this position has been filled. Applications for this post are actively being solicited. Details are on our project website.

Decentralising the Project

Luke Danielson, the Project Director, moved to London and started work April 3. On April 4, he flew to South Africa for the first of several regional visits.

This is indicative of our commitment to a project that is truly decentralised: where activities are not primarily London-based, and where we develop strong working partnerships with existing regional institutions. We envisage regional centres based in perhaps 5 or 6 of the principal mineral producing and consuming regions of the world. Ultimately, we intend to commit more resources to these regional centres than we do to the project's principal office in London.

In the last few months, we have undergone intensive project initiation while recruiting senior staff and support staff for our central office in London. This has inhibited us from moving as quickly as we would like to establish these regional relationships but we have still managed to keep to our schedule. Nonetheless in the next two months, building and consolidating regional relationships will be the principal emphasis of our work efforts.

Update on Activities since Bulletin No.1

Since the appointment of the Project Director, Luke Danielson, the last two months, April and May, have been rather exhilarating and we have singled out the following highlights as indication of the speed at which we are moving:

Strategic Planning Workshop
We held a successful Strategic Planning Workshop in London on 5 and 6 May, where nearly 50 experts from diverse backgrounds and regions came together to be informed about how the project plans are developing. The primary objects of the workshop included a sharing of ideas and opinions on how the project should be structured, how it could best gain the trust of the many stakeholder communities from whom it seeks involvement and how to maximise its impact. The workshop agenda and a list of participants are available on our website.

Formation of Assurance Group
We have formed our Project's Assurance Group. Pen portraits of the initial members of the Group as well as the agenda for the first meeting are available on our website. The first meeting was held in London on May 22 and 23. We were pleased with the results of this initial meeting, which included the discussion and revision of a draft Charter for the Group. We anticipate it will be approved at their next meeting, scheduled for late August in North America. The draft Charter is also on our website.

Personnel
MMSD's biggest single commitment has involved staff recruitment. Sarah Henson began work as our Project Administrator at the beginning of June, joining Luke Danielson the Project Director, and Elisabeth Wood, the Assistant Project Manager, who have thus far been the only full time employees to date. Nick Robins, who has had a half time commitment, is the Project Rapporteur. Lucy Brain-Gabbott joined the Work Group as the project's Personal and Administrative Assistant this week. Others hired will shortly be announced.

Junior Research Fellows
We have established what has transpired into an extremely successful Junior Research Fellows program. We have had a very high degree of interest and many applicants. This program will allow us to have in-house bright, able people in a variety of disciplines from many of the world's principal mining and minerals regions. In turn, they can help disseminate the ideas developed in MMSD in their future work. Probably nothing has been as heartening as the quality, enthusiasm, and abilities of the applicants we have met in this process.

There are other accomplishments as well, but we believe this is a solid start for the first two months. In addition to this bulletin, the various documents posted on our website are tools to guide you through this multi-faceted project and to help give a general view of the project' status quo,

Future Events

Planning Phase
The project is in an intensive planning phase designed to develop a more concrete, focused, and realistic set of potential outputs, together with milestones, and a detailed budget.

We are also in the preliminary stages of organising the following:

• A small research workshop focused on a potential role for this project in the former Soviet Union
  
• A planning meeting for future workshops on potential methods by which project results could be implemented.

Head office relocation
By the end of June we will have moved into dedicated project offices near the IIED offices in London. Our staff is rapidly outgrowing the space IIED can currently make available. Please keep an eye on our website for our new co-ordinates.

Rolling out regional processes
The biggest emphasis in the next few weeks will be on contacting individuals and organisations in the principal mineral producing and consuming regions who have expressed interest in helping us initiate our regional processes. We are looking forward to a concerted effort in this direction with the goal of initiating some of these processes no later than July.

Please let us know of any questions or concerns you may have. Information requests should be directed to us at mmsd@iied.org

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