CENTURY XXI: THE
CHALLENGE OF REDUCING MINING
The most important challenge for any
society in the world in this century - in
fact in the next decades or it will be too
late - is the achievement of true
sustainability. This entails maintaining
the viability of ecosystems and cultures
and ensuring the survival of all species
and societies. It also involves promoting
reduced and more efficient production and
consumption, more responsible management of
waste products, and a just distribution of
material benefits.
If we are to achieve these goals,
economic activities using non-renewable
resources will not be possible. On the
activity of mining, we must agree with the
sentiments of Razali Ismail, former
president of the UN General Assembly: "I am
sure we all recognize that mining can never
be 'sustainable', and remains one of the
most unsustainable economic practices that
threatens communities and the
environment."
Mining is unsustainable and furthermore
presents extreme social and environmental
impacts. It should either be stopped or
continue only at the level of absolute
necessity. Meanwhile, we should seek
alternatives for the materials being mined
- for example energy creation through
hydrogen rather than oil, jewellery made
from materials other than gold, paint
whitening via substances other than rutile.
In addition, economic alternatives for
people potentially affected by these
transitions must also be considered.
Beyond Eco-Efficiency
FoEI's conceptual framework, which
includes the concepts of environmental
space, the ecological and social rucksack
and ecological debt, can be extremely
useful in defining limits to unsustainable
activities like mining.
The importance of reducing mining is
clearly reflected in recent statements by
various UN bodies. In order to avoid total
ecological disaster and to allow poverty
alleviation, they recommend that emissions
levels be reduced by up to 80 percent (the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
and natural resource use by industrialized
countries by 90 percent (UN Environment
Programme).
These targets are only possible through
a significant reduction in the total
production and consumption of materials.
Eco-efficiency, although to some extent
useful, is not enough. Various authors have
pointed out that efforts to improve the
efficiency of production processes have not
led to general reductions in the extractive
sector. Energy and materials flows from
South to North continue to increase,
further evidence that the 'delinking' of
the economy is not taking place.
Reversing those trends is a particularly
urgent quest for Latin Americans. The most
economically important export companies in
the nine largest countries on the continent
are mining enterprises (oil, copper, iron
and gold). The social and environmental
impacts of their activities are felt daily,
and feasible alternatives are not being
explored.
The recent gold mining disaster in
Hungary led to the contamination of the
Tisza river with cyanide and heavy metals.
This catastrophe, which polluted the river
which runs through my university town,
lends even more force to the words of
Spanish ecological economist José Manuel
Naredo: "It is essential to change the
purely extractive mentality of our
civilization to palliate the daily
deterioration of our natural
inheritance."
Gabriel Rivas-Ducca,
FoE Costa Rica
