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mssd

 

statement to the un environment program regarding the mining, minerals and sustainable development initiative

sustainability means less mining, not more

Mining is inherently unsustainable - it requires the depletion of non-renewable natural and cultural resources. In many cases, mines can be operated more responsibly, with reduced negative impacts. But a truly sustainable global society will take fewer minerals from the earth each year. Instead of requiring ever-growing amounts of minerals and fuels, a sustainable economy will use materials much more efficiently, reducing waste to a bare minimum, and rely more on recycling, reuse and renewable energy technology.

While we may applaud efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of existing mines, we, the undersigned, cannot support attempts by the mining industry to depict mining as a sustainable economic practice. Expansion of the global mining industry is incompatible with a sustainable future. It is not a step towards one as mining and mineral processing:
  • have disproportionately great impacts on indigenous peoples and poor, rural communities, whose lands are often forcibly seized for mining with little or no compensation, and enjoy few of the benefits of mineral extraction
  • are among the greatest threats to biological diversity worldwide, along with industrial logging and land conversion for agriculture
  • create extraordinary amounts of waste, much of it contaminated, and often create environmental problems --such as water pollution-- that can endure for centuries - often yield little, if any, long-term net benefits for host countries and regions (as is becoming increasingly evident the long-term cleanup costs of many mines may well exceed what the host countries gain while the mines are open)
  • are a major contributor to climate change, with smelters and mines alone accounting for up to 10 percent of world commercial energy use each year.
  • are often closely linked with human rights abuses, bolster despotic regimes and can otherwise be antithetical to democracy, sustainability and intergenerational justice.

Mining will continue to be a part of the global economy for the foreseeable future. We may be willing to work with the mining industry to reduce the damage that mining does to communities and the environment. But the where, when, and how of mining should be decided by those most affected. The companies that have made a business out of taking the wealth of communities through large-scale mines are not appropriate arbiters of how mining should take place. Nor should they decide which techno-fix or other strategy will make mining "sustainable." As a result we reject the Global Mining Initiative's efforts in the lead up to Rio +10, and also the process known as Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development, which aim to co-opt the very notion of sustainability. We reject this and all other forms of greenwashing of and by the industry and expect UNEP to do likewise.

Signed:

  • Both ENDS, Wiert Wiertsema, The Netherlands.
  • Corporate Europe Observatory, Olivier Hoedeman, The Netherlands.
  • COECOCEIBA - Friends Of The Earth Costa Rica.
  • Friends of the Earth International's Campaign on the Environmental and Social Impaof Mining, Gabriel Rivas-Ducca, Coordinator, Costa Rica.
  • Friends of the Earth Cyprus, Antonio Ursini, Cyprus.
  • Friends of the Earth International, Johan Frijns, The Netherlands.
  • Friends of the Earth-USA, Carol Welch, USA.
  • Great Basin Mine Watch, Tom Myers, USA.
  • IEDS-Friends of the Earth Bangladesh, Mohammed Ali Ashraf, Bangladesh.
  • Miljöförbundet Jordens Vänner, Klas Rönnbäck, Sweden.
  • Mineral Policy Center, Aimee Boulanger, USA.
  • Mineral Policy Institute, Geoff Evans, Australia.
  • Minewatch, Richard Harkinson, United Kingdom.
  • MiningWatch Canada, Joan Kuyek, Canada.
  • Nucleo Amigos da Terra, Lucia Schild Ortiz, Brasil.
  • Pacific Environment, Catriona Glazebrook, USA.
  • Project Underground, Lwazi Kubukeli, USA.
  • Third World Network-Africa, William Appiah, Ghana.
  • Tebtebba Institute (The Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education), Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, The Philippines.
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