News:
Toward MMSD Report

MMSD Regional Activites Intensify

European Regional Scoping Meeting

Plans Advance Visit to Russia, Ukraine &
Central Asia

Assurance Group Meeting Plans

Improved Website to be Launched

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

Moving Toward MMSD's Report

One of MMSD's principal outputs is to be its Final Report, due to be produced in draft by the end of 2001. A process of participation, review, debate, comment and revision will accompany the preparation of the report and its transition from the draft version to the Final Report, which is to be completed in early 2002.

The Project Report will synthesize current knowledge in the many areas relevant to the minerals cycle and its role in a more sustainable society. It will document current practice and the legacy of this sector, and attempt to draw key insights from that base of information, pointing to changes that will be required.

No single individual, organisation or group has all the knowledge and insight necessary for a report of this scope to be successful and the reality of the minerals cycle is seen very differently through the eyes of the many different actors who play a role in that cycle - we hope to reflect this variety in the Report.

This endeavour therefore requires a very broad and open collaboration of a kind rarely attempted before. This must involve researchers of diverse experience, working in different locations across the globe with stakeholder groups, sharing their varied opinions and experience. Many people and institutions have already contributed their perspectives, suggestions, information and insight to MMSD, yet we need many more still to become involved, and in depth, for the Project to be a success.

We are about to distribute four separate documents, related to the preparation of the Draft Report, for review and reaction. These will be:

1. Work in Progress Report (December 2000). This describes our current thinking about the structure of the Draft Report, and how the various sections will come together to form a coherent whole.

2. Opportunities to Participate in Developing MMSD's Draft Report (December 2000). This will focus on the process by which the Project's multistakeholder Assurance Group will guide the development of the Report, and the means by which any individual can participate in research, critiquing conclusions, making suggestions, or otherwise influencing the ultimate product.

3. Proposed Outline for MMSD Report (December 2000). This is an updated, revised and streamlined list of the fundamental and substantive issues on which the Project's analysis will be based. It is the latest in a series of such documents dating back to June 2000, each of which has been exposed to comment and revision as we move toward a more focussed vision of the Draft Report.

4. Request for Expressions of Interest (December 2000). This will be a list of a number of areas, described generally, where we are searching for individuals or institutions willing and ready to work on specific topics in our report. Each piece of such research will be informed by the diverse views and perspectives of different groups.

We anticipate that all these documents will appear on our website in December. Please look out for specific postings on www.iied.org/mmsd/

Building Trust in MMSD Activities

Background

Were it not for the comments, suggestions and communication of a wide range of people and institutions MMSD would not be able to contribute effectively and responsively to the challenges it faces. In moving towards this goal, we need to strive to deal fairly, openly, and transparently with these individuals and organisations.

We cannot attract the necessary quality, depth and breadth of contribution we hope for from people if they are concerned that they will be identified with processes that they did not create or results they do not control.

There are many questions being asked about communication with MMSD, and participation in its workshops, meetings and other events. Such questions are understandable, given the long history of conflict and mistrust among divergent actors affected by the minerals cycle. MMSD is new and there is a wide range of reactions and uncertainties relating to it. Many people have concerns about the implications of engaging with the process, and it is unrealistic to assume that those concerns can be alleviated easily.

We therefore hope to develop a set of shared expectations relating to participation in each of MMSD's activities. These expectations cannot be stated unilaterally but must derive from experience, through understanding the concerns of others.

The following is a list drafted by MMSD and intended as a starting point for discussion and so we invite you to suggest any additions or changes. Please direct comments and suggestions to Frank McShane, Co-ordinator of Stakeholder Engagement, Frank.McShane@iied.org.

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The Basis of Participation

Those involved in an MMSD activity do so with the assurance that the Project is committed to providing the opportunity for participants to interact, with these expectations:

1. MMSD provides an opportunity for people both to inform each other within the context of a project which seeks to describe the global mineral cycle, and also to offer advice and guidance to the Project.

2. We hope to identify and understand the diversity of perspectives, values and interests that can help build the foundation for positive change. Views have to be freely expressed and the risks of such expression reduced. This is a forum in which individuals or groups can investigate ideas.

3. There is a need for a place where views can be exchanged frankly and openly. MMSD has no authority to impose solutions on anyone.

4. The Project should strive to identify where it can best help to guide the flow of discussion. The objective should be to help develop areas of common ground, understand where differences exist, and the underlying reasons for them.

5. Wherever possible, we should widen the networks of connections and identify ways of addressing challenges, within and beyond the life of the Project.

6. Participating in, or contributing to workshops or other events, commenting on documents produced, suggesting participants for meetings, and other interactions with the Project are not and will not be portrayed as an endorsement of MMSD. These basic understandings on the basis of participation will be included in any meeting reports prepared by MMSD. It is important that the basis for participation be widely understood.

7. Notes or minutes prepared by MMSD will report important comments and points of view but will not attribute them to specific participants unless this is requested by the person making the statement. Exchange of ideas is freer when unknown consequences can be minimised.

8. The notes from workshops should be reviewed by a representative group of attendees, agreed at the meeting, prior to finalisation. Notes will typically be of a summary nature and will include a list of participants. There should be an opportunity to discuss the contents of the notes and ensure that everyone is comfortable with them prior to their wider circulation.

9. There should be an opportunity to discuss this Basis for Participation at the outset of any activity to ensure that participants are comfortable with it and that it is appropriate for the purpose. It is in no way a constraint on the participants to develop further or additional understandings as are appropriate in the circumstances.

MMSD recognizes an affirmative responsibility to ensure that this Basis for Participation is as widely known as possible within and among the different communities with which the Project is involved.

MMSD Regional Activities Intensify

Much of the information needed to produce the MMSD Draft Report and to support many other Project activities is more accessible to regional researchers with a knowledge of the social, economic and environmental realities of their own regions than to centrally-located researchers. There are individual researchers and institutions around the world with a vast and very deep understanding of problems related to different aspects of the mineral cycle and their interactions with concepts of sustainable development. There is no way to bring this understanding and experience to bear on the tasks at hand from any single location.

MMSD has devoted a great part of its energy in the last few months to building a network of regional partner institutions capable of strengthening our efforts.

This investment is now starting to pay great dividends. Our first global meeting of regional partner institutions, potential regional partner institutions and observers was held in Montevideo, Uruguay on 30th November and 1st December. Attendees came from Southern Africa, North America, Europe, Latin America, Australia and the Philippines. The meeting was cohosted by the Mining Policy Research Initiative, a program of the International Development Research Centre, an institution with which MMSD hopes to formalize a relationship for regional work in Latin America. The report of the meeting and list of attendees will shortly appear on our website, www.iied.org/mmsd/.

It is clear that if it is to function effectively, this network will have to be a true partnership among institutions from these various regions, based on, and at the same time deepening MMSD's concept of collaborative work.

It is also clear that the Project cannot grapple effectively with many issues, nor can there be the deep engagement of stakeholders that is to be the hallmark of MMSD, without the knowledge, contact networks, and experience of partners in the principal mineral-producing and consuming regions of the world. This collaborative organisation of partner institutions may be one of the most durable and valuable outcomes of the Project.

European Regional Scoping Meeting

MMSD held an initial scoping meeting for its European Regional Process on 5th December. Euromines generously provided a venue at their offices in Brussels.

The meeting was attended by a range of experts from around 20 European organisations including the European Commission, government, industry, NGOs, development banks and academic institutions. Regrettably invitees from trade unions and the commercial sector were unable to attend.

The day began with an overview and discussion of MMSD - its structure and objectives - followed by short presentations from participants on some of the existing European initiatives concerning the mining and minerals sectors. The next session focussed on individual countries and the particular issues most pertinent to each case, which extended into a broader examination, across all the European states. Considerable discussion was devoted the feasibility and legitimacy of MMSD developing a process on a pan-European level: it was generally felt that the diversity of issues specific to different groups would make it extremely difficult to form an accurate and representative global European perspective. This developed into a discussion of possible ways forward for the MMSD European Process as an issue-based initiative, and what those issues addressed might be.

Following this initial discussion, MMSD hopes to continue and extend this process of consultation to include the many groups that could not be represented at the scoping meeting. More detailed proceedings will be available shortly. These will be circulated broadly for comment and to invite suggestions on ways to move forward in the region. If you would like to contribute to, or receive more information about the European process, contact Elisabeth Wood at Elisabeth.Wood@iied.org.

Plans Advance for Visit to Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia

Senior MMSD staff plan to conduct an initial visit in late January or early February to meet and become better acquainted with a variety of researchers and industry, labour, government, NGO and other interested groups in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia. If this visit demonstrates there is interest, it could lead to a research workshop or other event in this region, perhaps in April 2001. Anyone with suggestions on itinerary, organisations we should be in contact with, or other matters, please contact Silvia Kyeyune, Silvia.Kyeyune@iied.org.

Assurance Group Meeting Plans

The third meeting of the Assurance Group of the MMSD Project is now set for 22nd and 23rd January 2000 in Santiago, Chile. Further details will be forthcoming but the meeting and the preliminary events will feature opportunities for interested parties to exchange views with the MMSD staff and the Assurance Group. The meeting is being cohosted by CIPMA - the Centre for Environmental Research and Planning - a Chilean research institution with which MMSD intends to develop a relationship for regional work in Latin America.

Improved Website to be Launched

By mid-December, MMSD's new, redesigned website should be up and running. We thank the many people who have suggested ways to improve the current site, and believe that the new design should make for easier, faster and more reliable access to information of interest. The new website has been put together under the supervision of IIED's Communications Director, Lilian Chatterjee, and Aileen Penner.

Only six months since it first appeared, the MMSD website is receiving some 15,000 hits per month. We hope this level of use will continue to increase.

We would be grateful if any errors in the new website content or design are called to our attention, as with any suggestions for improvement. Please email Ben.Richardson@iied.org. We are also interested in establishing reciprocal links with organisations whose interests overlap with those of MMSD, and any offers or requests for links should also be sent to Ben Richardson.

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