Page 32 - STRATEGY Magazine (G)

Mining New Ways to Protect the Environment
Despite the recent decline in the price of precious metals, conflicts continue to bubble up throughout Latin America as communities, activists, governments, and the mining industry work to protect the environment and still extract vital resources from the earth.
THE INTER-AMERI- CAN MINING SOCI- ETY EXPECTS MIN- ING INVESTMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA TO REACH US $300 BILLION BY 2020
THE DATABASE OF MINING CON- FLICTS IN LATIN AMERICA HAS IDENTIFIED 208 MINING CONFLICTS IN LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES OUT OF 337 MINING PROJECTS IN THE REGION. THAT NUMBER AFFECTS 312 COMMUNITIES, WITH MEXICO, PERU, AND CHILE HAVING MORE THAN 30 CONFLICTS EACH.
The insatiable global appetite for pre- cious metals reaches deep into the Am- azon and all across Latin America. The Inter-American Mining Society expects mining investments in Latin America to reach US $300 billion by 2020. With the price of gold increasing to four figures and silver more than doubling over the past decade, the rush to mine precious metals from Latin America has brought all the economic booms a gold rush causes as well as all the environmental damage left in the rush’s wake.
The Database of Mining Conflicts in Latin America has identified 208 mining conflicts in Latin American countries out of 337 mining projects in the region. That number affects 312 communities, with Mexico, Peru, and Chile having more than 30 conflicts each. Too often, governments lack clear processes, ade-
quate resources, and the political ability to respond to these conflicts. The solu- tion requires proactive and continuous communication between governments, corporations, and local communities in order to balance regulating industry with distributing economic benefits, which in the end will help to prevent and manage conflicts. By improving dialogue and bringing local communities into deeper involvement with the consul- tation process from the start of each project, government can better explain the benefits and drawbacks of natural resource projects.
ECONOMY VS. ENVIRONMENT?
Gold, silver, copper, iron, zinc. All that and more, waiting to be mined, usually requiring the clear cutting of forests, the draining of lakes and waterways, and even the relocation of entire villages. Environmental impact assessments and studies keep citizens informed as global mining corporations attempt to ease environmental concerns and create jobs in order to convince local and federal au- thorities to approve the projects. From one end of Latin America to the other, numerous projects have been put on
hold or even canceled due to the strong, organized opposition from environmen- tal groups.
Concerned over the millions of gallons of water diverted for mining as well as the toxic cyanide required to separate gold from rock, which works its way into the water, activists struggle to keep the new gold rush as environmentally friendly as possible while maintaining the support of communities desperate
for the economic impact of mining. “It is true that there is a new environmental consciousness among the people,” says Juan Carlos Belausteguigoitia, a World Bank environmental economist for Latin America and the Caribbean. “But people also are realizing the unusual profits that mining brings them and they want part of them to stay in their region.”
Several mining projects throughout the region have also been put on hold as local communities have fought for their rights to prior consultation under the International Labour Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Conven- tion. Of equal concern to global corpo- rations and their mega-mining projects, however, are the miners unconnected
to any legal, and therefore regulat-
ed, mining operation. The Peruvian government only last year put a stop to an illegal mining camp in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon, in which some 40,000 miners caused untold environmental damage. And according to the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 children currently work in small-scale mining in Colombia, exploiting aban- doned mines in search of precious metal.
REPEATING ACROSS THE REGION
The smallest member state of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Ecuador, turned to Chinese loans to help the nation survive after defaulting on its bonds in 2008. Seven years later, more than 90 percent of its oil exports are earmarked for China. With the recent slump in the price of oil, Ecuador owes more and more crude
Latin America’s economies rely heavily on the export of commodities, including oil and minerals. These primary goods made up 40 percent of Central and South American exports in 2013, nearly double the world- wide average of 22 percent.
30 STRATEGY