Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development

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Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development

• Laying the Foundations for Positive Change

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WHAT IS MMSD?

• A two year effort
• With three goals
• Develop new approaches to sustainability issues
  in the mineral life cycle.
• Demonstrate that those approaches can be
  effective by making clear progress on a limited
  number of key issues.
• Develop by consensus both an agenda for future
  work after the project life and the structures
  which will carry it forward.

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FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

• Staying within the capacity of ecosystems to
  absorb change.
• Providing an adequate standard of living for
  those who do not have enough.
• Creating conditions in which individuals and
  groups can develop their potential.
• Developing systems of governance which promote
  and sustain these goals.

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WHY HAS THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA BECOME
SO URGENT?

• Globalization means that many problems are no
  longer simply local or national concerns.
• Growing evidence that ecosystems are seriously
  out of balance, posing new and poorly understood
  risks.
• The problem of poverty is inseparably linked with
  global ecological problems which cannot be solved
  unless people have a stake in the outcome and the
  resources to manage the problems.
• Governance systems have not yet emerged for the
  reality of a globalized economy.
• Increased awareness and expectations flowing from
  the new world information regime.

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SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES WOULD EMBODY

• Production consumption and living patterns
  consistent with ecological balance.
• Dramatic reduction of the numbers of people
  living in poverty.
• Greater opportunity to develop individual and
  group potential.
• More open, cooperative, transparent and
  consensual systems of governance.

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THE TRANSITION TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

• Will occur.
• Will affect fundamentally the way we live.
• Will change the conditions under which business
  is done.
• Cannot be achieved by any one industry or sector
  acting alone - it is fundamentally a joint
  enterprise.
• Could be orderly or chaotic.

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IN A MORE SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

• People will continue to explore for, produce,
  process, consume, recycle, and dispose of mineral
  products.
• The way this is done will have to be considerably
  different.
• The mineral industries will have to promote
  ecosystem health.
• And promote greater economic and social well
  being, with special attention to the problems of
  the poor.
• And support more open cooperative, transparent
  and consensual forms of governance.

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MMSD PROJECT OBJECTIVE

• To identify how mining and minerals can best
  contribute to the global transition to
  sustainable development.

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CHANGE

• Requires action by many different actors (e.g.
  mining companies, buyers of minerals, indigenous
  organizations, national governments,
  non-governmental organizations, local
  government).
• Therefore requires these actors to move toward a
  shared set of objectives.
• They cannot be expected to do this absent clear
  and understood rules of engagement
• which reduce the risks to them of participating
• which offer them a chance to achieve some of
  their objectives
• which they themselves help to develop

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OBSTACLES

• The problems are numerous, complex, diverse, and
  sometimes poorly understood. This makes it hard
  to develop a broad global agenda.
• There is a serious lack of trust among many of
  the key actors which makes it hard to work
  together.
• Identifying broadly agreed solutions is
  challenging enough but there is also a serious
  disagreement about mechanisms for implementing
  those solutions (e.g. ombudsman processes, codes
  of conduct, legislation, best practice guides,
  tax incentives, etc.)
• This project will last less than two more years.

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WHERE DO WE START?

• By developing, through consensus, a set of
  understood rules for engagement.
• By identifying a limited number of high priority
  projects and developing carefully structured
  processes around them.
• By working with, rather than competing with, the
  many other institutions which have something to
  contribute.

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WHO IS INVOLVED IN MMSD?

• MMSD has four sets of key actors
• The Sponsors Group
• The Assurance Group
• The Work Group
• Regional Partner Organisations

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THE MMSD SPONSORS GROUP

• Provides project funding and resources.
• Started with nine (now 31) major mining companies
  but will expand October 1 to include both
  industry and non-industry members.
• Does not control project outcomes.
• Convened by World Business Council for
  Sustainable Development.
• Draft charter on MMSD web site.
• Contact through Project Coordinator Richard
  Sandbrook.

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THE MMSD ASSURANCE GROUP

• Balanced to account for great variety of
  interests and stakeholder groups.
• Currently 16 but will expand to 24 members.
• Charged with assuring independence, integrity and
  objectivity of process.
• Draft charter appears on MMSD web site.

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ASSURANCE GROUP MEMBERS

• Roger Augustine
• Patricia Caswell
• Douglas Fraser
• Jay Hair (interim chair)
• Antonio La Vina
• Daniel Meilan
• Glen Miller
• Duma Nkosi

• Ligia Noronha
• Manuel Pulgar-Vidal
• Leon Rajaobelina
• Damien Roland
• Charles Secrett
• Osvaldo Sunkel
• Helmut Weidner
• Doug Yearley

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THE MMSD WORK GROUP

• Headquartered at the International Institute for
  Environment and Development in London.
• Charged with administering and developing the
  project.
• Will develop a series of specific projects in
  consultation with stakeholders, each of which
  will be focused on a critical emerging theme.
• Most projects will be done in cooperation with
  other organizations already active in the subject
  matter.

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THE MMSD WORK GROUP
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MMSD REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

• Will be developed in five to six of the principal
  mineral producing and consuming regions.
• Will be developed through consultation and
  discussion with regional stakeholders.
• Regional programs will have a high degree of
  autonomy under rules satisfactory to regional
  stakeholders.

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PROPOSED REGIONAL CENTERS
The project cannot at this stage cover the whole
world but aims to develop regional partnerships
in

• North America
• Southern Africa
• Southeast Asia

• Europe
• Australasia
• South America

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REGIONAL CENTERS

• Will have their own governing structures in a
  form satisfactory to principal stakeholders.
• Will receive some funding from the central
  project.
• Will have their own regional sponsorship groups.
• Will divide their focus between cooperating in
  the development of the global project and
  pursuing objectives they get at a regional level.

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REGIONAL STRUCTURE
Regional Stakeholder Meeting
Regional Steering Committee
Regional Sponsors Group
Project Headquarters
Research
Research
Regional Partner Institution
Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder Engagement
Communication
Communication
Implementation
Implementation
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REGIONAL WORKSHOPS

• In some other important centres of mineral
  production and consumption, the project intends
  to develop multi-stakeholder research workshops.
• We are considering such an approach in
• the former Soviet Union/CIS
• China
• Japan

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World Business Council for Sustainable Development
International Institute for Environment
Development
?
?
?
Assurance Group
Sponsor Group
?
?
?
?
?
Project Director Luke Danielson
Project Co-ordinator Richard Sandbrook
?
? Employment relationship ? Contractual
relationship ? Reports to/seeks agreement with ?
Services and upholds the terms of reference ?
Work in partnership
Project Team
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THE PROJECT HAS FOUR CORE ELEMENTS
Stakeholder Engagement
Implementation Strategy
Information, Communication, Dissemination
Research and Analysis
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INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITIES

• Will incorporate each of the four elements
• Stakeholder engagement
• Research and analysis
• Information, communication, dissemination
• Implementation and follow up

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INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITIES

• Will be centered on strategic issues in mining
  and minerals industries.
• Will be selected for their importance to
  stakeholders.
• Will have their own timetables and outputs.
• Will have their own governance and engagement
  processes.
• The following are examples.

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PROPOSED ACTIVITY No. 1

• Rules of Engagement
• Any attempt to engage stakeholders can be
  successful only if there are understood rules
  about what engagement means.
• Those rules can only be developed by the affected
  stakeholders themselves.
• We propose two workshops which will include a
  broad range of stakeholders worldwide.
• The participants will be asked to develop a set
  of understandings which will govern participation
  in all MMSD activities.
• These may be supplemented as needed in individual
  activities.

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PROPOSED ACTIVITY No. 2

• Baseline Assessment of Current Corporate Practice
  in Sustainability
• Corporate approaches to managing sustainability
  factors vary significantly.
• Without a clear understanding of current
  practice, it is difficult to identify problems or
  measure progress.
• We propose a detailed survey of current practice
  of the sixty largest mining companies.

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PROPOSED ACTIVITY No. 3

• Standards for Mining Finance
• Conditions of finance have a great influence in
  how projects are developed.
• Social, environmental and economic issues are an
  important risk factor in assessing projects.
• There is a lack of consensus on how these risk
  factors should be evaluated and reflected in the
  decision to finance projects.
• We propose an ongoing process of dialogue at
  developing clearer and more broadly accepted
  standards for assessing these risks and how this
  should affect financing.

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PROPOSED ACTIVITY No. 4

• Large Volume Wastes
• Mining worldwide generates large volumes of
  waste.
• Many sustainability issues revolve around how
  that waste is managed.
• We propose a series of research workshops on key
  issues, including
• tailings stability
• acid drainage
• riverine disposal
• ocean disposal
• Followed by broad stakeholder dialogue on how to
  improve handling of these wastes.

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THESE PROPOSED ACTIVITIES

• Are in the design stage.
• Cannot be fully developed without broad
  consultation and agreement.
• Need their own governance structures and
  processes of engagement.
• All of which must be acceptable to potential
  partners.
• Must be developed with a clear concept of how
  they can be put into action.

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OTHER ACTIVITIES

• MMSD in broad consultation with other actors will
  continue to develop other specific activities of
  focus as the project moves forward.
• Priorities include
• Specific concerns of indigenous communities.
• Management of mineral revenues.
• Environmental concerns over metals and the
  relationship to trade and markets.
• Economic, social and cultural impacts on local
  communities.

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WHAT CAN THIS PROJECT ACCOMPLISH?

• MMSD can do three things in its two year
  existence
• Develop new approaches for collaborative
  resolution of key problems.
• Demonstrate that those approaches are yielding
  progress on some issues.
• Develop a more broadly shared agenda for work
  beyond the life of the project.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

• web site www.iied.org/mmsd
• email mmsd_at_iied.org
• address 1a Doughty Street
• London WC1N 2PH
• United Kingdom
• telephone [phone]
• fax [phone]