FOREST-SMART MINING Identifying Good and Bad Practices and Policy Responses for Artisanal & Small-Scale Mining in Forest Landscapes Suggested Citation: Forest-Smart Mining: Artisanal & Small-Scale Mining in Forest Landscapes (ASM), World Bank, 2019 Disclaimer: This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. All omissions and inaccuracies in this document are the responsibility of the authors. The findings, interpretations, and views expressed in this guide do not necessarily represent those of the institutions involved, nor do they necessarily reflect the views of PROFOR, The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. 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Design: Michael Bunnya Kalanzi (MeBK) Cover photo: Minkébé, Gabon (By Gustave Mbaza/WWF Gabon) FOREST-SMART MINING Identifying Good and Bad Practices and Policy Responses for Artisanal & Small-Scale Mining in Forest Landscapes Final Report April, 2019 FOREST-SMART MINING i TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................................................................................iii Abbreviations and Acronyms........................................................................................................................................................viii Executive Summary..............................................................................................................................................................................2 1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................ 10 1.1. Introduction and Terms of Reference....................................................................................................................................................10 1.2. Introduction to Mining Sector Development and ASM............................................................................................................11 1.3. Introduction to Forest Sector Development.....................................................................................................................................14 1.4. Introduction to Mining in Forests............................................................................................................................................................17 1.5. The Importance and Definition of a “Forest Smart” Approach to Mining.......................................................................20 2. Global Distribution of ASM in Forests.............................................................................................................................. 22 2.1. Presence of Minerals in Forests..................................................................................................................................................................22 2.2. Projections for ASM in Forests....................................................................................................................................................................22 2.3. Managing ASM in Forests.............................................................................................................................................................................24 3. Case Studies................................................................................................................................................................................. 31 3.1. Case Study Selection........................................................................................................................................................................................31 3.2. Case Study Methodology.............................................................................................................................................................................31 3.3. Bolivia........................................................................................................................................................................................................................35 3.4. Colombia.................................................................................................................................................................................................................54 3.5. Democratic Republic of Congo.................................................................................................................................................................63 3.6. Ecuador....................................................................................................................................................................................................................68 3.7. Ghana........................................................................................................................................................................................................................77 3.8. Indonesia.................................................................................................................................................................................................................90 3.9. Liberia..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 105 3.10. Madagascar......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 115 3.11. Mongolia.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 128 3.12. Suriname.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 135 3.13. Sweden.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 141 3.14. Ukraine................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 147 3.15. Results overview.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 153 4. Lessons Learned......................................................................................................................................................................163 4.1. What Are the Impacts of ASM on Forests?...................................................................................................................................... 163 4.2. Political and Economic Barriers to Forest-Smart Mining........................................................................................................ 164 4.3. Governance Barriers to Forest-Smart Mining................................................................................................................................ 165 4.4. The Way Forward—Solutions and Mechanisms for Forest-Smart ASM........................................................................ 166 4.5. Comparative Analysis of the Case Studies...................................................................................................................................... 169 5. Forest-Smart ASM General Conclusions and Recommendations......................................................................175 6. References.......................................................................................................................................................................................189 ii FOREST-SMART MINING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Report was led by Levin Sources and Swedish Geological AB, by a team of core authors composed of Andrew Cooke, Theodora Panayides, Håkan Tarras-Wahlberg, Estelle Levin-Nally, Blanca Racionero Gómez, Paul De Vries, Jonathan R. Stacey, Conrad Ocker and Victoria Gronwald. The extended team includes contributing researchers from Levin Sources, Swedish Geological AB, Alliance for Responsible Mining, Wildlife Conservation Society Bolivia and Independent Consultants. The extended team members who led the research of each case study analysed are: Manuel Salinas Rossel and Sandra Jahel Rivera Cordova (main authors of the Bolivian case studies), Yves Bertran (main author of the Colombian case studies) and Jairo Alonso Cardenas (main coordinator of the Colombian case studies), Ruby Stocklin-Weinberg (main author of the Indonesian case studies), Jonathan R. Stacey (main author of the Mongolian case study), Andrew Cooke (main author of the Madagascan and Ghanaian case studies), Håkan Tarras-Wahlberg (main author of the Swedish case study), Theodora Panayides and Håkan Tarras-Wahlberg (main authors of the Ecuadorian case studies), Victoria Gronwald (main author of the Ukrainian case study), Kate MacLeod (main author of the DRC case studies), Blanca Racionero Gómez (main author of the Liberian case studies) and Blanca Racionero Gómez and Victoria Gronwald (main authors of the Surinamese case study). The Bolivian case study authors would like to thank especially to Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Bolivia) and Oscar Loayza, who is the coordinator of the project led by WCS Bolivia called “Capacity Building to Reduce the Impact of Mining in the Polylepis Forests of Apolobamba, Madidi, and Pilón Lajas Protected Areas of Bolivia”. This project was a key reference and antecedent for all the Bolivian case studies, especially in Mapiri and Madidi. The authors are also thankful of WCS Bolivia for implementing another phase of this project to reduce the impacts of mining in protected areas. Special thanks to Claudia Franco, Laura Cortes, Jairo Alonso Cardenas, Elizabeth Echavarria and Yves Bertran who were co-authors and reviewers of the Colombian case studies. The Indonesian case study author would like to acknowledge Vovia Witni, who provided invaluable research assistance. And would also like to thank the individuals who participated in an interview: Kenneth Davis, Masnelyarti Hilman, Bardolf Paul, Yeni Srihartati, Daniel Stapper, Budi Susilorini, Christophe Klein and Nelly Hillman. The lead author of the Mongolian case study, Jonathan R. Stacey, who was Project Manager of The Asia Foundation’s Engaging Stakeholders in Environmental Conservation (ESEC) II Project during its implementation and completion 2013-2016, and within which context this Noyod case was rehabilitated, would like to acknowledge the staff at The Asia Foundation during this time, and to the primary donor of the Project, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). In particular, thanks go to the following staff who collaborated as a team to implement the ESEC II Project: Bolormaa Purevjav, Undraa Nergui, Erdenechimeg Regjiibuu, Khandarmaa Ayush, Anujin Baatarkhu, Tselmeg Erdenetogtokh, Bakhytgul Titov, Tsomorlig Tserenbat and Orgil Batsukh. Seasonal staff on the Frugal Rehabilitation Team played an important role and comprised Erdene Dorjsuren, Sodnom Damba, Oyumaa Jamsran, Tungalag Sukhbaatar, Mendbaatar Osorjin, Sharav Batsukh and Danzan-Osor Avaadorj. In addition, thanks go to the many staff from the Ministry of Mining, its Mineral Resources Agency (MRAM), the Generalized Agency for Specialized Inspection (GASI), and the Ministry of the Environment, Green Development and Tourism (MoEGDT). Staff members from the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC), also contributed to the outcomes, as did members of their Sustainable Artisanal Mining (SAM) Project, in particular Patience Singo. Thanks also to the many NGOs and other organizations who played a contributory role in the project’s realization across the country. We also wish to acknowledge the considerable efforts of all those within Levin Sources’ international team in their convergent efforts. The Madagascan case study lead author would like to thank Hajanirina Razafindriainibe, Minosoa Ravololoharinjara, Levy Rakotoarison, Tom Cushman, Serge Rajaobelina, Marc Jobin, Rupert Cook, and Lalalison Razafintsalama. Many thanks to the Swedish case study main contributors; Anders Lundkvist, from AL Miljökonsult, Hans Winsa, from Bröderna Winsa AB and Per Broman, from Per B Konsult, as well as all the individuals that participated in an interview and/or were consulted including the team at LKAB. The lead authors of the Ecuadorian case studies would like to thank Adriana Flachier for her expert consultation support as well as all the individuals that participated in an interview and/or were consulted including: Lundin Gold, the FOREST-SMART MINING iii Gobierno provincial Zamora-Chinchipe, Fausto Lopez, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Carlos Fierro, Ministerio de Minería, Ministerio del Ambiente and ASONAMBILE, Nambija. The Liberian case study author would like to acknowledge Michelle Klailova, Shadrach Kerwillain, Anne Gardner, the Fauna and Flora International Liberia programme team and the RSPB, GolaMA Project for their key contributions, support and quality review. The Report is sponsored by the Program on Forests (PROFOR) of the World Bank. Overall guidance for preparation of the Report was provided by Kirsten Hund and Erik Reed. Jolien Schure has been essential for the earlier development of the ‘Forest Smart Mining’ approach. Laura Ivers, Katherine Graham and Charlotte Ampaire have played crucial roles on the PROFOR side. The team is very grateful for their generous support throughout the development of the Report. The team also received guidance and editing advise from Yolande Kyngdon-McKay and would like to specially thank her. We are very grateful as well with the external reviewers that provided significant input and advise to improve the quality of the report, including Daniele La Porta, Remi Pelon, Douglas Graham and George Ledec. We would also like to thank all of those who provided verbal and/or informal feedback during the dissemination of key findings from the Report at conferences and events in New York, Washington and Lusaka. The core team is very grateful with the Fauna and Flora International team that worked on the parallel study on Large Scale Mining, especially Tom Maddox, Pippa Howard, Jonathan Knox, Nicky Jenner and Dominic Ross, for their support, guidance, review and advise throughout the development of the Report. Jane Sunderland was the principal editor of the Report and the core authors would like to thank her and all the editorial and communications team. Michael Kalanzi is to be thanked for his beautiful design. The team drew on the background papers, analysis, research, and literature reviews of researchers and specialists from across the world. As such, the team would like to thank all the authors of those studies mentioned in the references. The team apologizes to any individuals or organizations inadvertently omitted from this list and expresses its gratitude to all who contributed to this Report, including those whose names may not appear here. iv FOREST-SMART MINING Figures Figure 1-1 Different Stakeholder Perspectives and Definitions of Forests .....................................................................................15 Figure 1-2 Drivers of Tropical and Subtropical Deforestation..................................................................................................................17 Figure 1-3 The Four Spheres of How ASM Impacts the Environment................................................................................................18 Figure 2-1 Intact Forest Landscapes, Tree Canopy Cover, and Deposits of Gems, Gold, Emeralds, Diamonds, and Columbite.............................................................................................................................................21 Figure 3-1 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around San Ramón, 2000–2016.........................................................................................................................................40 Figure 3-2 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around San Ramón, 2001–2014..............................................................................41 Figure 3-3 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Mapiri, 2000–2016.....................................................................................................................................................46 Figure 3-4 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Mapiri, 2001–2014..........................................................................................47 Figure 3-5 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Madidi, 2000–2016...................................................................................................................................................52 Figure 3-6 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Madidi....................................................................................................................53 Figure 3-7 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Bebaramá, 2000–2016............................................................................................................................................57 Figure 3-8 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Bebaramá, 2001–2014.................................................................................58 Figure 3-9 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around La Cascada, 2000–2016..........................................................................................................................................61 Figure 3-10 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around La Cascada, 2001–2014...........................................................................62 Figure 3-11 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Kahuzi-Biega National Park, 2000–2016..................................................................................................66 Figure 3-12 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Kahuzi-Biega National Park, 2001–2014.......................................67 Figure 3-13 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Nambija, 2000–2016 ...........................................................................................................................................71 Figure 3-14 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Nambija, 2001–2014.................................................................................72 Figure 3-15 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Podocarpus, 2000–2016....................................................................................................................................75 Figure 3-16 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Podocarpus, 2001–2014.........................................................................76 Figure 3-17 LSM Exploration and Exploitation Concessions around Atewa Range Forest Reserve...............................80 Figure 3-18 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Atewa, 2000–2016.................................................................................................................................................84 Figure 3-19 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Atewa, 2001–2014......................................................................................85 Figure 3-20 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Tarkwa, 2000–2016...............................................................................................................................................88 Figure 3-21 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Tarkwa, 2001–2014.....................................................................................89 Figure 3-22 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Bangka, 2000–2016..............................................................................................................................................93 FOREST-SMART MINING v Figure 3-23 Satellite View of ASM Activities in Bangka, 2000–2014...................................................................................................94 Figure 3-24 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Bangka, 2001–2014...................................................................................95 Figure 3-25 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Kahayan, 2000–2016......................................................................................................................................... 100 Figure 3-26 GIS Analysis of Annual Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Kahayan, 2000–2016................................................................................................................ 101 Figure 3-27 Gold Mining in the Upper Kahayan Catchment, 2005 (left) and 2015 (right)................................................ 102 Figure 3-28 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Central Kalimantan, 2001–2014...................................................... 104 Figure 3-29 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Sapo National Park, 2000–2016................................................................................................................. 109 Figure 3-30 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Sapo National Park, 2001–2014...................................................... 110 Figure 3-31 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around the Gola-Foya Corridor, 2000–2016......................................................................................................... 112 Figure 3-32 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around the Gola-Foya Corridor, 2001–2014.............................................. 113 Figure 3-33 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Ankarana, 2000–2016....................................................................................................................................... 118 Figure 3-34 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Ankarana, 2001–2014............................................................................ 119 Figure 3-35 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Bemainty, 2000–2016....................................................................................................................................... 122 Figure 3-36 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Bemainty, 2001–2014............................................................................ 123 Figure 3-37 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Loky Manambato, 2000–2016.................................................................................................................... 126 Figure 3-38 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Loky Manambato, 2001–2014......................................................... 127 Figure 3-39 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Noyod, 2000–2016............................................................................................................................................. 132 Figure 3-40 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Noyod, 2001–2014.................................................................................. 133 Figure 3-41 Formalizing an ASM-Inclusive Environmental Management Plan through Environmental Toolkits and Capacity Building.................................................................................................................. 134 Figure 3-42 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Merian, 2000–2016............................................................................................................................................ 138 Figure 3-43 GIS Analysis of Annual Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Merian, 2000–2016.................................................................................................................... 139 Figure 3-44 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Merian, 2001–2014................................................................................. 140 Figure 3-45 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in Lovisagruvan, 2000–2016.......................................................................................................................................................... 145 Figure 3-46 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Lovisagruvan, 2001–2014................................................................... 146 Figure 3-47 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources, Oleksiive, 2000–2016......................................................................................................................................................................... 151 Figure 3-48 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Polesia, 2001–2014................................................................................. 152 vi FOREST-SMART MINING Tables Table 3-1 Summary of the Variables Used to Calculate the AOI Forest Health Scores............................................................34 Table 3-2 Forest Health Score of the AOI around San Ramón................................................................................................................41 Table 3-3 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Mapiri...........................................................................................................................47 Table 3-4 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Madidi..........................................................................................................................53 Table 3-5 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Bebaramá...................................................................................................................58 Table 3-6 Forest Health Score of the AOI around La Cascada................................................................................................................62 Table 3-7 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Kahuzi-Biega National Park.............................................................................67 Table 3-8 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Nambija.......................................................................................................................72 Table 3-9 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Podocarpus..............................................................................................................76 Table 3-10 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Atewa.........................................................................................................................85 Table 3-11 Forest Health Score of AOI around Tarkwa.................................................................................................................................89 Table 3-12 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Bangka......................................................................................................................95 Table 3-13 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Kahayan................................................................................................................. 104 Table 3-14 Key Differences between the Main Evictions in Sapo National Park...................................................................... 107 Table 3-15 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Sapo National Park.......................................................................................... 110 Table 3-16 Forest Health Score of the AOI around the Gola-Foya Corridor................................................................................. 113 Table 3-17 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Ankarana............................................................................................................... 119 Table 3-18 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Bemainty............................................................................................................... 123 Table 3-19 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Loky Manambato............................................................................................ 127 Table 3-20 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Noyod..................................................................................................................... 133 Table 3-21 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Merian.................................................................................................................... 140 Table 3-22 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Lovisa...................................................................................................................... 146 Table 3-23 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Oleksiive................................................................................................................ 152 Table 3-24 Main Lessons Learned from ASM Case Studies.................................................................................................................... 153 Table 3-25 Forest Change Data at the Site, Regional, and Country Levels.................................................................................. 155 Table 3-26 Site-Specific Information Arranged According to the Relative Severity of Deforestation in the 5 km Buffer Zone around the ASM Operations..................................................................... 156 Table 3-27 Contextual Country-Level Information Arranged According to the Relative Severity of Deforestation in the 5 km Buffer Zone around the ASM Operations............................................ 158 Table 3-28 Forest Health Score and Rank of Each Mine Site AOI....................................................................................................... 160 FOREST-SMART MINING vii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AEZ Artisanal Exploration Zones AOI area of interest ASGM artisanal and small-scale gold mining ASM artisanal and small-scale mining ASMer artisanal and small-scale miner ASONAMBILE Asociación de Producción Minera Nambija Legendaria BCMM Bureau of Mining Cadastre of Madagascar CAZ Corridor Ankeniheny Zahamena CDF Community Development Fund CI Conservation International COMIFAC Central African Forests Commission DRC Democratic Republic of Congo EIA environmental impact assessment EMP environmental management plan EPA Environmental Protection Agency ERU Emergency Response Unit (Liberia) ESEC II Engaging Stakeholders in Environmental Conservation II ESIA environmental and social impact assessment FAO Food and Agriculture Organization (of the UN) FDA Forestry Development Authority (Liberia) FPIC free, prior and informed consent FRM Frugal Rehabilitation Methodology FSC Forest Stewardship Council; Forest for All Forever (Sweden) GDP gross domestic product GFC global financial crisis GIZ German Agency for International Cooperation GNI gross national income GRNP Gola Rainforest National Park GRI Global Reporting Initiative ICMM International Council on Mining and Metals IFC International Finance Corporation (of the World Bank Group) IFF illicit financial flow ICGLR International Conference on the Great Lakes Region IGF Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development IPIS International Peace Information Service IRMA Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature KBA Key Biodiversity Area KBNP Kahuzi-Biega National Park LSM large-scale mining viii FOREST-SMART MINING MLNR Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (Ghana) MNP Madagascar National Parks MoU Memorandum of Understanding MRV monitoring, reporting and verification NCA natural capital accounting NGO nongovernmental organization NP national park OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OGS Planning Commission for the Gold Sector (Suriname) PA protected area PEFC Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification PS Performance Standard (IFC) RCM Regional Certification Mechanism REDD Reduced Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation RJC Responsible Jewellery Council RMI Responsible Mining Index SADC Southern African Development Community SAM Sustainable Artisanal Mining SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SEIA strategic environmental impact assessment SFRA State Forest Resources Agency (Ukraine) SNP Sapo National Park SSM semi-mechanized small-scale mining UMAT University of Mines and Technology (Ghana) UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization UNITAR United Nations Institute for Training and Research UNOSAT United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme US United States USCF Ukrainian State Committee of Forestry VOI local community organizations (Bemainty) WCC World Conservation Congress WWF World Wide Fund for Nature All dollars are U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. FOREST-SMART MINING ix EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Minerals and metals are fundamentally incredibly A proliferation in the applications for minerals, and important to societies all over the world. The activities therefore rapidly increasing demand, has intensified the required to extract minerals, however, often have negative spread of mining into forested landscapes. impacts on forest landscapes and habitats. Although the extent of deforestation varies widely between “Forest smart” implies the following: artisanal and small-scale mine sites, our study found 1. Acknowledging the inter-linkages between forests that the amount of forest within the 5-kilometer “buffer and other land uses zone” potentially degraded by artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) ranged from 0.1 percent to 46.2 percent. 2. Adopting a development trajectory through an In many of the case studies, ASM was seen to have lower integrated landscape approach that will avoid or direct deforestation impacts compared with sectors like minimize adverse impacts on forest ecosystems and agriculture or forestry. However, it is important to note their biodiversity that these case studies show a limited picture in time and, 3. Proactively seeking win-win solutions where the in reality, ASM often acts in conjunction with agricultural above points are fully integrated in the design of the expansion, either inadvertently or through opportunism. interventions It should be recognized that ASM is an additional form of development contributing to overall forest loss and While some progress has been made in applying forest- should not be considered as less important than other smart approaches to aspects of large-scale mining (LSM), sector contributions. challenges remain. For artisanal and small-scale mining operations, which are typically informal or illegal and lack Forest health is not only about deforestation; mining the capacity (and incentives) to mitigate their impacts, has been found to produce severe impacts on water the challenges for applying forest-smart approaches are and soil that can indirectly impact forest health and its considerable. ecological integrity. Moreover, impacts of mining can become significant when multiple instances of mining Artisanal mining is typified as formal, informal, or illegal activities happen at the same location simultaneously, mining operations with predominantly rudimentary as was found in the Indonesian case studies. Therefore, technologies in the exploration and extraction by there is still the need to identify and attempt to reduce individuals or large groups of people. Small-scale mining the impacts of mining even in a landscape dominated by operations can also be mechanized, or semi-mechanized, activities like agriculture and forestry. and/or have a greater degree of capitalization than artisanal mining. Together we call these ASM. Background and Methodology The World Bank’s Extractive Industries in Forest Landscapes program seeks to address these challenges Historically, minerals and forests have been subject by promoting forest-smart extractive investments to to distinct development strategies and governance ensure that investments in the extractives sector do not systems. It has been assumed their uses have rarely erode forest capital and instead generate positive forest conflicted; the relative abundance of each has meant outcomes. that trade-offs have been possible. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines The situation is different today. Population growth forests as “lands spanning more than 0.5 hectares with and technological advancements have resulted in trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more ever-higher demand for natural resources. Forests in than 10 percent.” developing countries are subsequently receding at a rate exceeding their potential for natural replenishment, with Forests cover approximately a third (30.6 percent) of a resulting loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. global land area. Net forest area, a function of conversion 2 FOREST-SMART MINING of forest status to other uses and the creation of new Key Findings forested areas, fell by 3.1 percent between 1990 and 2015, with the highest losses in low-income countries. Global mapping of ASM and forests confirmed that the The main driver of forest loss is conversion to agriculture. location of ASM is driven by geology and the presence of Mining represents the fourth-largest driver of forest mineralization and revealed no evidence of a tendency loss. Forests and the services they provide are crucial for ASM to actively target forest areas. Certain types of to human economic and social development and well- mineral deposits are found in tropical regions; therefore, being. they are more likely to overlap with tropical forests, particularly in forest hotspots such as the Amazon and The ASM study and the parallel study on LSM share the Congo Basins. overarching objective of supporting the World Bank’s efforts to help client countries ensure that resource ASM is expected to continue to respond to demand for extraction from forested areas serves as a force for poverty high-value minerals and to fluctuations in commodity reduction and sustainable development while respecting prices, such as that of gold. While ASM is associated with the environment and the needs of local communities. poverty, it is ultimately driven by demand for minerals The secondary objective is to raise awareness of the (local and international) and is increasingly the subject of impacts of mining on forests, the mechanisms that capital investment, resulting in a transition to ever more influence forest health and thus inspire translation of our mechanization and destructive forms of ASM in some findings into avenues for action by relevant stakeholders. places. The ultimate goal is to support the protection of forests by the mining sector and its stakeholders. ASM falls under a variety of international regulations and guidance, including the Minamata Convention The methodology of the studies was twofold: to on Mercury, the Organisation for Economic Co- undertake a literature review of existing knowledge and operation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence experience around mining in forested landscapes, and to Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals select and analyze a number of active mine sites as case from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, and studies to identify good and bad practices for forest- regional frameworks (Africa Mining Vision, Southern smart mining and the conditions and mechanisms that African Development Community protocol on mining). motivate these practices. However, environmental, and specifically forest-related, considerations do not feature strongly in such guidance. Criteria for case study selection included a representative Various African countries have promulgated ambitious range of geographies and forest ecologies, mine types, regulatory frameworks for ASM, as have, for example, political and governance contexts, and landscapes, Ecuador, Peru, the Philippines, and Mongolia. ASM including those in which ASM occurs together with is also partly addressed in LSM industry frameworks, LSM. The final selection consisted of 21 sites across 12 for example the International Council on Mining and countries and four continents. LSM and ASM were both Metals (ICMM) and the Initiative for Responsible Mining present in five of the forest landscapes studied. Assurance (IRMA), and by responsible sourcing initiatives such as Fairtrade, Fairmined, and the Responsible Case studies followed a standardized methodology, Jewellery Council (RJC), but again, with limited scope for beginning with the collection of data at the country incentivizing better forest management. level (on macroeconomics, natural resource governance, forest policy, protected area coverage, land tenure Some mechanisms and tools for managing ASM in and indigenous peoples’ rights, ASM organization, and forests have been developed and tested, including regulation), and the collection of data at the site level the designation of ASM zones, the management of (local context, mining operations, mineral, deposit ASM in protected areas, and the frugal rehabilitation of type, mining method, mercury use, ASM dynamics, and ASM mine sites, but these are typically piecemeal and presence of LSM). infrequently applied. No comprehensive guidance exists For each study site, site-specific deforestation maps on the management of ASM in forest landscapes. were developed using a visualization method to define Collectively, the data provided a rich source of contextual the mining area and mining site, around which was variation at national and site levels (macroeconomic drawn a 5-kilometer buffer zone. Centered on the mine conditions, mining and forest policy, land tenure site identified, the local forest change analyses were systems, sector organization, target minerals, deposit complemented by the generation of a Forest Health type, mining methods, interactions with LSM and other Index (FHI) assessment for a wider 50-kilometer-diameter economic sectors) and facilitated an appreciation for the “potential area of influence” around the mining site. FOREST-SMART MINING 3 diversity of the forms of ASM and of the conditions and spatial distribution of the deposit. mechanisms influencing the forest outcomes of ASM. • Hard-rock, or mixed hard-rock and alluvial, deposits For each case study, lessons learned were identified in are associated with higher forest impacts, likely relation to ASM’s impacts on forests, barriers to forest- because of their frequent location in highly forested smart ASM (political/economic or governance), and upland areas, whereas alluvial mining tends to occur solutions and mechanisms for promoting forest-smart in lowland areas that have typically already been ASM. Key findings included the following: subject to deforestation. Factors influencing forest impacts in a Impacts negative way (deforestation, biodiversity • Compared to other land uses ASM has relatively few degradation, etc.) direct impacts on forests, despite being associated with • With regards to ASM for gold, forest impacts tend to a generally poor level of environmental compliance. increase in tandem with increased mercury usage, The amount of forest within the 5-kilometer buffer indicating that a lack of environmental stewardship zone potentially degraded by ASM ranged from 0.1 is associated with widespread impacts on ecological percent to 46.2 percent. It is important to note that health. those deforestation percentages were extracted from Global Forest Watch satellite data and do not • Forest impacts of ASM are greater for operations in distinguish between deforestation caused by mining phases of rapid growth, such as rush scenarios, than or deforestation caused by another sector’s (such for stable ASM operations or those in decline. as forestry or agriculture) activities. Therefore, the conclusion that ASM has relatively few direct impacts • The presence of LSM in the landscape tends to on forests has been extracted from field and desk- aggravate the forest impacts of ASM because of based research in each of the case studies. unclear accountability between each party over forest impacts and their remediation. • Other ASM impacts, such as those on soil and water quality, are often more severe and can impact forest • ASM forest impacts appear to be worse in developing health and its ecological integrity. countries with comparatively higher incomes. Normally, a greater purchasing power allows for a Barriers greater mechanization of ASM operations, which in turn increases deforestation. Forest impacts of ASM • Commodity price increases and foreign direct appear worse in countries where mining is a greater investment drive surges in ASM. percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). • LSM can act as an enabler of ASM by opening • Evictions appear comparatively more effective in low- previously inaccessible areas, discovering mineral income countries but have social justice implications. deposits, or, in isolated cases, directly encouraging ASM as part of exploration. • Greater levels of ASM organization appear to be associated with higher forest impacts. • Poverty and conflict are both drivers of ASM and barriers to improvement. Factors influencing forest impacts in a positive or neutral way • Political will and macroeconomic policies that increase economic instability may drive an upsurge in • Well-established and specific land tenure rights have ASM activities and therefore influence the severity of a positive influence on the forest outcomes of ASM. ASM impacts. • Pro-forest policies appear to favor better forest • Ill-adapted ASM regulations and ineffective (or non-) outcomes from ASM. enforcement exacerbate the impacts of ASM. • Recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights appears to Based on the comparative analysis of case be associated with lower forest impacts. study data, tentative complementary findings include the following: • Legal recognition of ASM does not appear to influence the forest impacts of ASM. • Deforestation in ASM areas can be less than the regional deforestation average, especially in remote • No association was found between good governance, areas. as scored by the Natural Resource Governance Index, and the forest impacts of ASM. • The severity of deforestation depends mainly on the 4 FOREST-SMART MINING • Countries with higher protected area coverage were environmental regulation, responsible ASM eviction not associated with lower forest impacts from ASM. procedures, and the use of geological information for forest conservation planning. Conclusion and Recommendations Governments also need to contribute through poverty reduction and resolving conflict, improved control of Overall, it may be concluded that contextual foreign investors, fighting a lack of good governance, conditions, especially economic conditions, are macroeconomic planning, promoting pro-forest stronger determinants of the forest impacts of ASM policies, improved gold sector governance (involving than mechanisms, such as environmental governance both fiscal and mining aspects), law enforcement, sector mechanisms, suggesting that existing mechanisms are coordination, empowerment of local government, ill adapted to the regulation of ASM. Contrary to some landscape planning, recognition of indigenous rights, perceptions, increased incomes rather than poverty and land tenure. seem to increase impacts of ASM on forests, owing to greater organization and mechanization and thus the Finally, environmental regulation and governance of potential for more intensive mining. For this reason, ASM should be based on the same principles as for investing in strengthened policies and regulation of ASM LSM, and regulatory frameworks should recognize that is critical as developing countries transition to emerging all mining operations lie on a continuum from least to country status, foreign direct investment increases, and most mechanized rather than treat ASM and LSM as financial capital and mechanization become more readily separate sectors. It is especially important to ensure that available to ASM operations. Therefore, countries in this environmentally destructive semi-mechanized small- economic transition should be prioritized for support in scale mining (SSM) operations do not benefit from promoting forest-smart mining. lighter regulation typically imposed on artisanal mining. Mining is mining, whatever its scale, and opportunities to The lower forest impacts of ASM encountered in the perform it in an environmentally and socially responsible poorer mining countries should not be cause for manner should be encouraged and required to the complacency. In such countries, it is important to extent possible. prepare for the effects of future economic growth in the ASM sector and to put in place the necessary policies In order to achieve a forest-smart ASM sector, adopting and regulatory frameworks as far in advance as possible an integrated approach is recommended. The following to ensure that the regulation of ASM keeps pace with set of principles for forest-smart mining are intended its capacity to engender forest impacts. In so doing, to inspire tailored guidance and actions by diverse countries should be mindful of the relatively minor actual stakeholders who can influence mining’s impacts on forest impacts of mechanized ASM compared with other forests: sources of deforestation, and the linkages between ASM and poverty, and prioritize accordingly. • General forest-smart principles for mining A key conclusion of the study is that the forest outcomes Good governance of ASM are more strongly determined by forest and protected area policies and regulation than they are 1. Develop and implement clear policies for land use by mining sector policy and regulation, indicating that allocation and land ownership. the mining ministries need to engage more effectively 2. Ensure that the regulatory environment of ASM in the governance of ASM and the management of its attempts to stay ahead of the development of the forest impacts. Actions that mining ministries could sector (recognizing that this sector has commonly take include improvements to policies and regulations been neglected or overlooked to date). for ASM, anticipation and response to commodity- price effects, coordination with environment ministries, 3. Take special care to safeguard comparatively weaker formalization of ASM, decentralized governance of ASM, communities/individuals and those with special management of interactions between ASM and LSM, rights. better use of geological information, and mobilizing more international donor support for the ASM sector. 4. Improve mining regulations to adopt an ASM forest- smart approach. Another key conclusion is that the environmental and Improved understanding and approaches forest sectors could help improve forest outcomes through improved monitoring, management of the 5. Contextualize mining deforestation by taking into ecological impacts of ASM (notably but not only the use account other sectors. of mercury in gold mining), REDD+ implementation, FOREST-SMART MINING 5 6. Improve the understanding of where ASM is occurring to achieve an adequate level of environmental and its impacts on forest landscape degradation, performance. human health and ecosystem services as a basis for • Recognize the rights of indigenous peoples designing appropriate realistic interventions with a where they occur and adequately safeguard their higher chance of success. autonomy over land or natural resources while 7. Consider all impacts of mining when considering ensuring the respect of environmental regulations forest-smart interventions. and standards. 8. Obtain clear understanding of the role and • Allocate mining areas for ASM and promote responsibilities of miners and regulators. progressive formalization as an entry point for compliance with environmental regulations and Capacity building management. 9. Assist and strengthen the regulators of ASM in • Where gold is extracted using mercury, the use of developing countries so that they can effectively mercury and destruction of river habitats should implement forest-smart mining . be assigned a higher priority for allocation of scarce preventative or remedial resources. 10. Assist and strengthen ASM operators in developing countries so that they can effectively implement • Priority action points for mining entities forest-smart mining practices • Address shared cumulative environmental impacts Widen the participants in the pursuit of forest-smart by building coalitions with companies in different mining sectors operating in the same community or region. 11. Consider the opportunities for positive synergy between ASM and LSM, and build cooperation and • Support local communities’ development alliances to enable ASM to perform better on forest programs and needs, recruit local people, impact mitigation. implement accountability, and monitor impact. 12. Work with the overall poverty reduction agenda and • Use previously disturbed areas, optimize mine secure a critical level of political stability in priority site design to reduce the area to be cleared and countries. implement good industry practices to minimize landslides. 13. Work with the environmental education agenda to disseminate facts related to the need to safeguard/ • Where LSM occurs in the same areas as ASM, LSM is protect forests. better positioned than ASM to positively influence forest outcomes in the landscape, but it needs 14. Consider the role of protected areas and REDD+ in help in identifying and exploiting opportunities limiting the impacts of ASM on forest landscapes. for synergy with ASM, such as implementing 15. Take advantage of existing frameworks for supply affordable rehabilitation or restoration techniques. chain management and due diligence and use • LSM should take greater responsibility for the market influence to raise the business case for forest- induced and indirect impacts associated with smart mining. mining operations, including ASM and the • Priority action points for governments cumulative socio-ecological impacts on the forest landscape. These duties do not necessarily mean • Prioritize the introduction of a forest-smart fully assuming all responsibilities, but nevertheless approach to landscapes that are more vulnerable supporting ASM to fulfill theirs. and promote an integrated “forest-smart development” approach across standardized • Priority action points for international finance landscape-based approaches. and development institutions • Prepare for the effects of future economic growth • Develop new strategies to concentrate the scarce by placing regulations, building awareness and funding resources for forest protection. capacity ahead of economic growth. Artisanal • Analyze sectors where increasing demand for miners who intend to transition to a larger scale minerals is driven by green economy or green and more mechanized methods of extraction values and overlaps with mines operating in forest must only be allowed to do so if they also are able landscapes. Target mines and countries in these 6 FOREST-SMART MINING sectors for action and support. • Adopt forest-smart principles into due diligence frameworks. Do due diligence on supply chains, • Build policy and expertise bridges across sectors including environmental management by ASM, (water, agriculture, mining, etc.). environmental impacts (deforestation, soil • Prioritize giving credit to local companies and degradation, water pollution, etc.). This includes communities and only give credit to foreign the following: companies if exploitation is agreed with local »» Making a commitment to forest-smart sourcing communities and causes no conflict and minimal practices in the company’s sustainability and/ environmental impacts. or responsible sourcing policies, and cascading • Agriculture is a bigger threat to forests than mining, this commitment into supporting procedures but impacts are higher where they occur together. and practices. An opportunity may exist to divert investments for »» Putting in place appropriate risk controls in the conversion of forests into agriculture toward the high-risk provenances, including boycotting rehabilitation and conversion of post-mining land certain origins where the rule of law makes into viable agriculture instead, providing a net gain responsible business conduct impossible or for the environment and the economy. However, highly unlikely. A high-risk provenance is where mining should not be regarded as an associated mining is carried out in a protected area or key development front for long-term deforestation (for biodiversity area. agricultural development objectives). »» Monitoring suppliers’ performance in terms of • Priority actions for the World Bank forest-smart practices and report on these to • Integrate the recommendations in section 5 of this stakeholders. report into the World Bank’s country programming. • Innovate “forest-smart products” derived from • Engage with client governments to identify materials that have been provably sourced from (a) those that are supportive of forest-smart mines that carry out forest-smart activities. mining and willing to enter loans to support • Lobby ASM mining and mineral trading entities the implementation of the above listed to gradually introduce controls for the entire risk recommendations or (b) where the adoption matrix of mining (that is, not just those risks listed of forest-smart mining is critical for climate or in Annex II of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance biodiversity reasons but where political will for but also impacts on forests, water, soil and air) sector loans is lacking, and seek opportunities for funding from other sources (for example, Global • Support the introduction of environmental Climate Fund, Global Environmental Facility [GEF]). education programs in communities where stable sourcing relationships are established. • Scope UNDP and GEF-funded capacity building for the ASM sector to ensure implementation will • Priority actions for civil society and NGOs benefit from forest-smart mining approaches. • Lobby mining entities for the introduction of • Continue to build and disseminate the evidence forest-smart mining practices in the ASM sector base for forest-smart mining to client governments and governments for the introduction and through the appropriate programs. application of forest-smart mining principles into governmental policy and regulations. • Promote these principles to sustainability standard or guidance-setting organizations for potential • Implementing NGOs should support ASM miners incorporation into the appropriate mining and in the adoption of alternative “clean” methods minerals frameworks. and technologies that avoid and minimize the environmental impacts of ASM (for example, mine • Promote these principles to implementing and design and rehabilitation). advocacy nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations, social enterprises, and • Advocate for stronger regulation of ASM and consultancies operating in the ASM sector to support measures to take special care and encourage their inclusion in programming and safeguard comparatively weaker communities and business development. those with special rights. • Priority actions for downstream companies • Fight against the lack of good governance. FOREST-SMART MINING 7 • Proactively employ environmental education as smart mining outcomes. Additionally, research part of program of activities and develop platforms which supplementary management action and for cooperation and mutual understanding. incentives are key success factors. • Priority actions for standard setting • Research how corporate carbon policies can be organizations integrated into existing country-level forest and carbon monitoring and measurement, reporting • Consider adaptation and integration of the forest- and verification (MRV) systems. What can be done smart principles into standards and guidance to ensure that countries can make better use of such as CRAFT, Fairtrade, Fairmined, iTSCi, Better available technologies and support improving Sourcing Program, and so on. transparency and access to carbon finance • Priority areas of further research mechanisms? • Prioritize where to take action by identifying • Analyze how to integrate and mainstream forest- “hotspots” for intervention based on the relative smart mining principles into environmental and importance of biodiversity impacted and the social impact assessments, including feasibility for driving change. (a) capacity to set thresholds that will be adopted; • Recognizing that the ASM case study inventory (b) implementation of simplified procedures is somewhat limited, and that the subsector is and development of classification criteria; expanding both geographically and economically, (c) regulations against project fragmentation; actively scope such priority countries experiencing (d) improvement of technical institutional ASM in forests for new additional case studies to support for implementation of procedures inform action-research based development forest- and publication of practical cases and guides; smart mining, in terms of both avoiding and (e) use of this instrument as a basis for open mitigating negative environmental impacts. dialogue and common concern; (f) strengthened monitoring and surveillance • Analyze how to integrate and mainstream forest- of the proposed measures, which will help smart mining principles into policy and practice improve forecasts for the future; and in priority countries—for example, by promoting (g) including cumulative and landscape the findings of this research to relevant institutions assessments as essential elements of ESIA, and individuals in each of the case study countries. having to take a socio-ecological approach. • Research how to get the mining industry to take • Repeat this study for development minerals ownership of the protection of forests and how to and ASM coal mining to better understand their get forest protection communities to be inclusive impacts on forests and ascertain whether forest- of environmentally responsible mining. smart mining approaches should be promoted in • Analyze how the various economic instruments these sectors. (for example, taxation, tradable rights, credit incentives, carbon trading [REDD+], PES systems) for environmental management can create incentives for forest-smart mining, and ensure the financial sustainability of monitoring systems for carbon credit mechanisms. • Research “best in class” technologies for environmental management in the forest and mining (LSM and ASM) sectors, respectively. Analyze what lessons have been learned in the forest and mining sectors regarding the successful deployment of such technologies by different actors. Consider how to promote such lessons and better technologies in priority countries and institutions. • Research which forms of land tenure and property rights can contribute to ensure forest- 8 FOREST-SMART MINING Bolivia, San Ramon 11, Credit: Manuel Salinas FOREST-SMART MINING 9 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Introduction and Terms of Reference The mining sector plays a key role in modern society. including the impacts of associated infrastructure and First, not only are metals and minerals already essential the influx of people that are often associated with large- to almost every aspect of everyday life, but they also play scale mining projects (Sonter et al. 2017). an increasingly important role in the development of future technology required for a transformation toward The impact of economic production in forest landscapes greener, more sustainable economies. Mining is not the is an area of particular concern. Forests lie at the only source of raw minerals: recycling is becoming an intersection of numerous development challenges. increasingly important part of the supply chain; steel They support 80 percent of global biodiversity, which has been recycled extensively for a long time, and now is responsible in turn for generating ecosystem services other commodities such as lead and aluminum are also from climate and water regulatory services to food, extensively reused or recycled. Some companies are fibers, and fuel that support over 1.6 billion people. Most even taking steps to end reliance on mined minerals of the people living near forests, and most of those with altogether—Apple (2017). However, recycling cannot the highest dependencies on forests, are poor (UNDP yet meet a global demand that continues to rise. It is 2014). Yet every year, a net 7 million hectares of forest estimated that at least 50 percent of mineral commodity are lost from the most sensitive areas (FAO 2016b). The needs will have to be met by mining for the foreseeable importance of forests has been recognized by a range future (Nassar 2018). of international actors, including the World Bank, which is guided by its 2002 Forests Strategy and 2016–20 Second, mining plays a huge economic role. The sector Forest Action Plan (World Bank 2016). The biggest drivers accounts for up to about a quarter of global GDP, of forest loss are economic activities, so the strategy indirectly accounts for up to 15 percent of employment, includes the vision that economic sectors do “not and plays a dominant role in the economies of more than erode forest capital and generate instead positive forest 80 countries, particularly those in the lower to middle- outcomes.” A key focus of this plan is the development income bracket (ICMM 2016b). Therefore, well-managed of forest-smart interventions across a range of economic mining has the potential to contribute positively to sectors, avoiding or minimizing harmful impacts and multiple global development goals (Columbia Center on enabling growth that does not come at the expense of Sustainable Investment et al. 2016). forest natural assets. However, national endowments of natural resources do Agriculture is the primary economic driver of forest not automatically lead to better development outcomes. loss, accounting for at least half of all deforestation On the contrary, many resource-rich nations suffer from globally, and thus the focus of most forest- or climate- the “resource curse,” exhibiting lower social and produced related responses. However, the impacts of mining and capital rates of economic growth and stability and higher associated infrastructure development can also play a rates of conflict, political authoritarianism, and social significant role, particularly in early-stage deforestation and environmental impacts (NRGI 2015). The impacts (Hosonuma et al. 2012). Thousands of official and at and near the mine site are the best understood, unofficial exploration and/or mining projects are located including land clearance, displacement of people, and in forested landscapes, and with mineral demand the generation of huge volumes of waste (eLAW 2010). continuing to rise, mining in forests is set to increase. To supply the 9 million tonnes of refined metals that are This is particularly true in lower- or middle-income produced today, the waste material generated from the countries where mining is economically significant mining process alone is equivalent to roughly 9 tonnes and where forests may play a particularly crucial role in per year for every person on the planet (Franks 2015). development. However, these are also the places where However, the less visible, indirect impacts of mining can the factors that lead to the resource curse tend to be be even more pervasive, occurring far from the mine site, most prevalent, where the poverty and vulnerability of 10 FOREST-SMART MINING people is highest and where biodiversity and ecological a mine that contributes to the economy while causing function is richest. less damage than its neighbors—it must be a mine that actively understands and plays a positive role in the With this in mind, it is essential that existing and landscape, not only contributing economically but also future mining activity in forests be “forest smart.” actively enhancing the forest values society depends on. But what is forest-smart mining? The World Bank Program on Forests (PROFOR) defines forest smart The terms of reference for this project were to conduct as “a development approach that recognizes forests’ an analysis of how to promote forest-smart mining in significance for sustaining growth across many sectors, forest landscapes. The overall objective is “to enable including agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and water. client countries and the World Bank Group to make It is sustainable and inclusive in nature, emphasizing better-informed decisions about minimizing trade-offs that forests are part of a broader landscape and that and maximizing benefits from forest-smart mining,’’ to be changes in forest cover affect other land uses as well as achieved by “generating knowledge on the extratives- the people living in that landscape. It transforms how forest nexus and guidance on how to translate this into sectors operate by identifying opportunities for mutual forest-smart mining.” The analysis is based on a set of in- benefit and creating practical solutions that can be depth case studies that investigate the key challenges implemented at scale” (PROFOR 2016). countries are facing when trying to balance mineral extraction and sustainable forest management, each The negative impacts of mining on forests can be looking at the key issues, the opportunities for change, particularly visible. LSM projects can be directly and the tools and policies needed to find forest-based responsible for clear-cutting thousands of hectares solutions to the problems at stake. of forest, while an influx of hundreds or thousands of artisanal or small-scale miners (ASMers) can lead to The project has been divided into two, coordinated extensive riparian deforestation and river pollution. Partly studies, one focusing on large-scale mining and the because of the highly visible nature of these impacts, other on artisanal and small-scale mining. This report various frameworks and guidelines for mitigation focuses on ASM, with the stated outcome being “the already exist. The Natural Resource Charter, for example, identification of good and bad practices and/or enabling provides guidelines to governments looking to avoid conditions related to promoting forest-smart ASM based the resource curse, including the establishment of on a series of case studies.” The sibling report focusing on strong environmental governance (NRGI 2014). The UN the same outcome from an LSM perspective is available Framework Classification for Resources (UNFCR) seeks separately. to promote an integrated global framework for resource exploitation in line with global development goals. Other examples focus on the role of business, such as 1.2. Introduction to Mining Sector the International Council on Mining and Metals good Development and ASM practice principles (ICMM 2017) or the International While there is no universally accepted definition of ASM, Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards, the OECD definition is widely used: particularly the standard on environmental and social sustainability (IFC 2012b). “ASM-formal or informal mining operations with predominantly simplified forms of exploration, However, does the application of good practice at the extraction, processing, and transportation. ‘ASM’ can political, financial and corporate level and minimization include men and women working on an individual basis of forest impacts at project level alone constitute forest- as well as those working in family groups, in partnership, smart mining? Forest “smart” suggests something more or as members of cooperatives or other types of legal than minimizing harm. It suggests a more dynamic, associations and enterprises involving hundreds or even integrated understanding of the relationship between thousands of miners” (OECD 2016). forests and economic activity and the identification of synergies that help to drive positive forest outcomes. ASM is thus typified by the use of rudimentary technology Forest-smart mining, therefore, requires an understanding in the exploration and extraction of minerals and/or of the ecology of the forest landscape and all of the mineral-bearing ores by individuals or groups of people. associated impacts and dependencies. It requires an However, ASM operations can also be mechanized, or understanding of all of the actors across the landscape semi-mechanized, depending on what is being mined and the interactions between them. It requires not only and the miners’ access to capital. Capital equipment the avoidance or minimization of negative impacts but occasionally used in ASM includes excavators and also the active pursuit of opportunities for generating draglines, while more common machinery includes positive impacts. A forest-smart mine must be more than sluices, generators, and water pumps. Although the FOREST-SMART MINING 11 OECD definition states that ASM operations may employ many actors therein are also trapped in debt cycles that thousands of people, they typically each have fewer than prevent them from leaving the sector to find alternative 50 people on rotation (SDC 2011). livelihood opportunities (Hilson 2012). This debt could be related to the challenges ASMers often face in accessing Globally, ASM provides direct employment for an formal credit from financial institutions, especially if they estimated 40.5 million people, and livelihoods for 150 are not licensed to mine (and are thus “informal”). million people (IIED 2017). It can take place in virtually Informality in the ASM sector makes miners unattractive any minerals industry, including low-value, high- formal loan candidates because of their associated risk volume commodities like coal, limestone, and mica, and profile. This often forces miners to access financing high-value, low-volume minerals like diamonds, gold, options in the illicit financial sector. Illicit financial flows emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. (IFFs) are defined as “money illegally earned, transferred or The low barriers to entry of ASM make it a highly attractive used” (GI TOC 2016). ASMers’ reliance on IFFs may result in employment opportunity. The deposits mined by ASM two things: their being preyed upon by loan sharks who are typically more superficial than those dominated by charge exorbitant rates of interest, perpetuating a form LSM, including both primary and secondary deposits. of modern-day slavery; and their perpetual informality, This means that the minerals are easier to extract, both of which may trap them in a cycle of poverty. IFFs requiring less equipment and machinery, and can be have been associated with lower rates of formalization in mined by novices. For example, any able-bodied person the ASM sector because illicit financiers are often drawn possessing a shovel, sieve, and a bucket can often carry to the sector because of the secrecy such informality out alluvial and eluvial mining of metals or gems. ASMers allows: “it helps to keep their illegal activities and related can also mine the discarded tailings of LSM operations, profits, such as gold smuggling, tax evasion and money finding the minerals that were not economically feasible laundering, hidden from government” (GI TOC and for the larger company to extract (Global Witness 2015). Estelle Levin Ltd. 2016b). Therefore, once IFFs enter an As the ore has already been extracted and crushed, ASM sector, the miners therein may face a higher risk of this process requires little, if any, equipment. Hard-rock entering a cycle of debt from which they cannot escape deposits usually require machinery, which can make (the potential environmental impacts of which will be them more attractive endeavors for semi-mechanized explored further below). small-scale mining (SSM) operations with greater access ASM is nonetheless an important industry in terms to capital. However, some artisanal miners tackle hard- of socioeconomic development. It provides a way for rock deposits using only rudimentary technology (Drace men—and to a lesser but ever-growing extent women et al. 2012). (Buss et al. 2017)—to gain direct benefit from their country’s mineral resources, which are often dominated Documented growth trends in ASM show it is expanding by LSM operations. LSM, because of its typically capital- in some countries, and becoming more mechanized intensive nature, is an industry that often quickly reaches (Verbrugge 2015). SSM uses machinery that ASM does an inflection point with regards to the number of jobs not have access to. This machinery improves efficiency, it creates in the country where the mineral is being meaning that SSM can exhaust known deposits at a faster extracted versus the number of jobs it creates outside rate, thus requiring faster access to new deposits. This of that country. In contrast, ASM is a labor-intensive, can lead to competition with local agriculture sectors local pursuit that provides many different employment for land and resources, and increased environmental opportunities to local and migrant laborers, including but impacts (ACET 2017). This may also result in an increased not limited to digger, diver, lumberman, mucker, crusher, encroachment on greenfield areas, including forests. This miller, bagger, washer, amalgamation, smelter, blaster, issue is examined in this study. and support roles such as electrician, security, driver, water fetcher, rodmill operator, cook, and errands runner. ASM’s Economic and Development Context Industries can also emerge around ASM operations, including mechanics, restaurants, and general stores The earning potential of workers in the ASM sector is (GI TOC and Estelle Levin Ltd. 2016b). For this reason, it highly variable. Some are paid wages by mine bosses, creates 10 times the number of domestic jobs compared while others collectively determine earnings based on to LSM (Buxton 2013). While supply chains originating in the amount of mineral extracted and how much it sells ASM can also, like LSM, create jobs outside of the country for on the market. Despite the variability in potential where the resource is located, the ratio of local jobs for income, it can be up to five times more profitable to ASM is typically much higher. operate in the ASM sector compared to local agricultural industries (Buxton 2013). ASM can thus play a key role in Workers are drawn to the ASM sector by myriad push- poverty alleviation. However, it is important to note that pull factors, including “shock-push,” where an unforeseen 12 FOREST-SMART MINING financial loss such as sudden unemployment or a poor ASM is also often excluded from stakeholder agricultural yield forces them into the sector; or the “push” engagement processes such as landscape planning of inadequate wages or income from their full-time approaches to mine and land use management. This can job, an issue common in the agriculture sector, which be because of the challenges outlined above, and/or a may provide only a subsistence income (ASM-PACE government preference for LSM activities (ASM-PACE 2012; Banchirigah and Hilson 2010). “Pull” factors can 2012), which may be deemed more beneficial to national include ASM being the only industry accessible to them development because of the foreign direct investment (Tschakert 2009); the potential to make more money they can bring (along with a greater source of rents for in ASM compared to other industries (ASM-PACE 2012; corrupt government officials) (SDC 2011). This can result Banchirigah and Hilson 2010); the discovery of a new in ASMers not having sufficient legal land to access, mineral deposit that is accessible to ASM (Associated which, when combined with high rates of poverty and Press 2017) (which often gives rise to a “rush” scenario, low alternative livelihood opportunities, may force them the environmental impacts of which are further explored to mine in non-mandated areas (including those with below); or a sudden increase in demand for a particular a high biodiversity value). This, when combined with mineral that improves ASM profit margins and thus insufficient law enforcement and monitoring, could makes it a more appealing industry to enter (Artisanal result in increased environmental impacts at the site Gold Council 2018). These push-pull factors can influence level, which will be further explored below (ASM-PACE ASM in developing, emerging, and developed countries. 2012). For example, when the global financial crisis (GFC) The incidence of informality in the ASM sector has in caused significant job losses in Australia’s LSM sector some countries resulted in the development of local (Australian 2008), some casualties of that entered the governance approaches that foster “quasi-legitimacy.” ASM opal sector in order to make a living (pers. comm.). In such cases, informal miners may be technically When the gold price increases, it has been documented illegal, but they have local legitimacy afforded by that the scale of artisanal and small-scale gold mining chiefs, local governors, or other government officials (ASGM) in developing and emerging countries also rises that enables their activities to continue even if they are (Artisanal Gold Council 2018). at odds with federal law (GI TOC and Estelle Levin Ltd. Governance of ASM 2016a). However, local authorities typically also lack the capacity (or incentive) to adequately govern ASM In many countries, there is a lack of political will to activities or promote the sector’s sustainable economic govern ASM activities. This can be because of a belief development, which can ultimately harm miners and that LSM should be prioritized over ASM; that ASM surrounding communities (SDC 2011). The potential role is unmanageable, which undermines productive of informality in increasing the environmental impacts of engagement with the sector; that ASM is not a legitimate ASM is explored below. (For further background on the driver of economic development, although it can ASM sector, please see Annex 1). contribute significantly to a country’s GDP; or that ASM’s common informality and subsequent exposure to illicit 1.2.1. The Relationship between LSM and ASM markets makes it a valuable source of rents for corrupt political elites (ASM-PACE 2012). While this report focuses on ASM, the links with LSM are strong in some countries and it is important to recognize Much of the ASM sector around the world is informal, the relationship between the two. Further investigation meaning the miners do not possess the required license/s of the potential for forest-smart LSM is addressed in the to operate. This degree of informality is usually a product sister report to this one. of one or more of the following: onerous licensing requirements (cost, comprehension, exclusivity); obscure ASM tends to focus on high value easily accessible or imprecise legal texts; insufficient or inaccessible resources in small or large deposits, including the so-called legally mandated mining areas; miners’ inability to conflict minerals (tungsten, tantalum, tin, and gold, or the access administrative capitals (because of remoteness “3TG”), industrial minerals (cobalt, copper, rare earth, low- and/or poor infrastructure); or the above-mentioned value commodities (like mica, sand, limestone or coal), exposure to illicit financing (Hinton and Levin 2010). This and precious stones (like diamonds, emeralds, sapphires informality can prevent miners from accessing resources or rubies). However, a significant proportion of ASM such as training and formal credit; make them attractive also mines “development minerals” used domestically sources of rents for corrupt police and government in construction, manufacturing, infrastructure, and officials; and force them to work in dangerous and/ agriculture (UNDP 2018). In contrast, LSM targets a wide or hidden locations that are less accessible to law range of mineral resources and geologies where they enforcement, including protected areas (Hruschka 2015). occur in commercial concentrations, including relatively FOREST-SMART MINING 13 low value minerals where economies of scale make the little support from government. exploitation profitable (such as for coal, iron ore, and so on). 1.3. Introduction to Forest Sector Development ASM and LSM activities frequently and increasingly occur together, causing cumulative impacts, particularly Definitions of forests vary greatly according to whether in less developed countries. In many cases the two are they are seen in ecological, economic, political, or cultural inextricably linked: LSM often paves the way for ASM terms, with over 1,500 definitions documented (Chao by exposing deposits and beginning exploration, and 2012). For this report, the FAO definition of forests has many of the impacts of LSM come through associated been adopted since it is the definition for which data are ASM activities (and vice versa). LSM and ASM can interact most readily available. The FAO defines forests as any land directly or indirectly. Direct interactions include when spanning more than 0.5 hectares, with trees higher than ASM and LSM operations compete for access to resources, 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent. or when ASM activities impact the effectiveness of LSM The definition is driven both by the presence of trees social or environmental impact mitigation strategies. and the absence of other land uses; therefore, it includes Direct physical competition for minerals between LSM areas of mangrove, bamboo, palm, rubber wood, cork, and ASM is rare, not least because of the physical dangers and even Christmas tree plantations but excludes other to ASMers working alongside LSM operations and tree-based agricultural production systems, such as oil machinery. However, ASM activities may readily occur at palm, fruit trees, and most agroforestry (FAO 2015a). the margins or in parts of an LSM concession where the While the FAO definition is the dominant definition of concentrations of target minerals are too low to justify forest, it should also be noted that it has its limitations, the cost of LSM operations, or during the exploration or particularly drawing criticism for its inclusion of plantation closure phases of an LSM concession where access may forests (Jones 2017). Furthermore, the FAO definition is be less actively restricted. Competition by ASM during informed primarily by economic timber production as the exploration phase of an LSM concession can pose a opposed to ecosystem services, landscape management, particular challenge for LSM operators: if ASM operations socioeconomics, or any of the other potential objectives are allowed to proliferate before LSM operations begin, for forest management (Chazdon et al. 2016). social and political factors may make it impossible for LSM (see Figure 1-1) to proceed as planned, especially in a context of poverty and resource nationalism. Competition by ASM at the Forests represent a major proportion of the planet’s land deposit periphery or during the closure phase may be area. In 2015, forest area (defined by the FAO as land less economically damaging, but it can pose significant designated as forest—not necessarily land with trees on reputational, social and environmental risks. Indirect it) covered just under 4 billion hectares, or approximately interactions include social, economic, administrative, or a third (30.6 percent) of the global land area. Ninety-three political processes that favor one form of mining over percent is defined as natural forest and the remaining 7 another, such as when ASM interests negatively influence percent as planted forests. Most of the world’s forests are LSM licensing, or preferential treatment of LSM results in in high-income countries, followed by upper-middle, the suppression of ASM. lower-middle, and low-income countries (FAO 2016a). Most natural forest is in Europe (although 81 percent Where ASM operates in the same landscape as LSM, of the continent’s forest area accounts to the Russian even if outside of LSM concessions and therefore Federation), followed by South and then North America without direct competition for resources, ASM can (CIFOR 2016; United Nations 2014). nevertheless undermine the social and environmental mitigation commitments of LSM. Examples would Forests and the services they provide are crucial to human include where ASM impacts LSM’s ability to maintain air development and well-being and are expected to play or water quality, or where ASM damages vegetation that a role in the delivery of all 17 Sustainable Development the LSM project has undertaken to protect as a part of Goals (Angelsen et al. 2014). Forests are an important a compensation or offset program. ASM activities may source of cash income, particularly in developing also physically interfere with LSM project infrastructure, countries where forests are the second-largest source such as transport routes, mine roads, pipelines, of income. In Africa, 11 percent of the population is construction camps, or accommodation blocks. This estimated to be lifted above the poverty line because of may be a particular challenge where the infrastructure income from forest resources (FAO 2014). Income from lies outside the mining concession and is not subject to the formal forest sector, which is dominated by timber formal company legal ownership. Companies typically production but also includes wood fuel and non-timber attempt to resolve such issues via their corporate social products, totals about $600 billion/year, or just under 1 responsibility (CSR) or external affairs departments with percent of the global economy (Ecosystem Marketplace 14 FOREST-SMART MINING 2017). Other forms of formal income from forests include 2014; Noack et al. 2015; Angelsen and Dokken 2015). payments for ecosystem services, including from REDD+, Forests also provide valuable services that are much but these still represent a fairly small fraction of income. harder to quantify economically. For example, forests are In 2016, the value of carbon credits from forestry and an important safety net for rural communities in times of land use projects was just $67 million (Ecosystem economic stress. Even if people do not rely primarily on Marketplace 2017). Outside the formal economy, an services from forests, the option to fall back on them in estimated $33 billion/year is generated from wood times of crop failure, commodity price crashes, or weather fuel and charcoal and $88 billion from non-timber shocks can be important in certain circumstances (FAO products, including plant products, animal products, and 2014). medicines, although these are likely to be substantial underestimates (Angelsen et al. 2014). Moreover, forests are an important source of employment. The formal forest sector employs over 13 million people, Forests are also an important source of noncash income, with a further 40 million employed in the informal sector which can represent half of total income in developing and another 840 million using forests to collect fuelwood countries. This includes income from food, animal feed, (Miningfacts.org 2012). This can be compared to the 3.7 building materials, fuel and medicine (Wunder et al. million employed in the formal mining sector (Chao 2012). Figure 1-1 Different Stakeholder Perspectives and Definitions of Forests Source: Chazdon et al. 2016. FOREST-SMART MINING 15 A large number of people depend on the products and The primary service forests provide with recognized services forests generate, particularly in developing economic value is timber production. Timber contributes countries, although quantifying this is challenging. Most about $600 billion per year to the global economy, or attempts to quantify reliance are based on the numbers about 1 percent of gross domestic product, supporting of people living in and around forests. The most recent the employment of about 50 million people (Secretariat estimate of this suggests about 1.3 billion people, or of the Convention on Biological Diversity 2001). Other one-fifth of the global population, live in or near forests services may also have economic value locally, but they and obtain direct or indirect benefits, including some are more likely to go unrecognized because they occur 300–350 million indigenous people who depend almost in the informal economy. These include the provision entirely on forests (FAO 2014). However, these estimates of a variety of non-timber forest products, such as fuel, are disputed and the FAO has suggested the number of food, building materials, and medicines. forest-dependent people could be closer to 750 million (FAO 2015b). Forests also provide a number of services to society that are difficult or impossible to value, particularly in an The FAO measures changes in forest status over time economic sense. These include a range of supporting or through indicators of total area and composition, levels regulating services such as water provision, watershed of sustainable forest management, ecological integrity management, flood control, carbon sequestration, soil and biodiversity, and economic and social benefits. fertility, and climate change resilience. Together these give a picture of falling forest cover and quality, particularly in the tropics, with potentially severe The biodiversity of forests is a particularly difficult implications for the people that rely on them. underlying value to quantify economically. Forests are extremely biodiverse, with tropical forests alone Total forest area has been falling for many decades, with estimated to hold half of all known species (Hosonuma forest composition changing from natural to planted et al. 2012). The extent to which biodiversity is linked and degradation increasing, but rates of change vary to the ecosystem services biological systems provide over time, geography, and economic status. Net forest is debated; however, the link between biodiversity and area—a function of conversion of forest status to other resilience is widely accepted. uses and the creation of new forested areas—fell by 3.1 percent between 1990 and 2015, although losses have The key driver of forest loss is conversion to agriculture, slowed by 50 percent since 2000. Rates of loss were although drivers vary by transition phase and country.² highest in low-income countries. High-income countries In a study of 44 tropical and subtropical countries, actually increased forest area coverage during this agriculture was shown to account for about 80 percent period. Upper-middle countries decreased losses over of forest losses in total, with commercial agriculture a key time and exhibited a small increase from 2010 to 2015. driver in Latin America. Infrastructure was the second- Lower-income countries demonstrated the largest losses biggest driver, particularly in Asia and Africa, and urban and showed almost no change in loss rates over the 25- expansion was a significant driver in Asia in particular year period. Associated with this, the highest rates of (Hosonuma et al. 2012). loss occurred in tropical, then subtropical forests, while Mining represents the fourth-largest driver of forest temperate and boreal forests showed minimal change loss. The impacts of mining occur particularly during over the same time period. In terms of composition, the pretransition phase (although this is partly due to most of the losses were in natural forests, while planted the influence of some resource-rich, high forest cover forests have increased. Net reductions in natural forest countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and varied from 6 million to 8 million hectares per year Guyana) and impacts are higher in Africa and Asia than in between 1990 and 2015, while net changes in planted Latin America (Hosonuma et al. 2012). forest area increased by 3–5 million hectares per year. Forest degradation has also been a factor, with important implications for biodiversity loss, carbon flux, or further conversion. Using partial canopy cover loss as a proxy 2 Deforestation tends to follow a pattern described by the four for degradation shows degradation has likely affected 9 phased “forest transition model.” Pre-transition countries have high percent of the tropical forest since 2000 and 2 percent of forest cover and low deforestation rates. Early transition countries boreal and subtropical forest over the same time period. show rapid forest loss; late transition countries show a slowing of forest loss; and post-transition countries show an increase in These trends are all expected to continue for at least the (degraded) forest cover through reforestation (GSSB 2016). next 10 years (World Bank 2016). 16 FOREST-SMART MINING Figure 1-2 Drivers of Tropical and Subtropical Deforestation a. Percentage and Area by Continent b. Percentage and Area by Forest Transition Model Phase Source: World Bank 2016. The World Bank Group recognizes the role forests play 1.4. Introduction to Mining in Forests in sustainable development and has taken steps to ASM is common in some countries with significant forest specifically include forests in its decisions. The Bank’s cover that show poor performance in the protection of current position on forests is guided by its Forest Action such ecosystems. Some documented examples of ASM Plan for 2016–2020, which builds on the 2002 Forest activities occurring within or near forest areas include Strategy. The action plan identifies two priority areas Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone (Villegas, for the Bank in forests: investment in sustainable forest Turay, and Sarmu 2013), and forests in Madagascar (Cook management and forest-smart interventions to ensure and Healy 2012), Liberia (Small 2012), Suriname (Peterson work in other sectors doesn’t just erode forest capital but and Heemskerk 2001), Gabon (Hollestelle 2012), and also generate forest-positive outcomes (Gemval 2017). the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (Weinberg et al. 2013). Hirons (2011) argues that “Deforestation and forest degradation are among the most significant environmental impacts associated with ASM.” ASM threatens the environment in four key ways (Levin 2014): Figure 13 The Four Spheres of How ASM Impacts the Environment FOREST-SMART MINING 17 Figure 1-3 The Four Spheres of How ASM Impacts the Environment DIRECT IMPACTS DIRECT IMPACTS • ASM in protected areas • Deforestation • ASM in critical ecosystems • Topsoil stripping • Habitat destruction, • Tailings disposal biodiversity impact, • Land scape change etc. DIRECT IMPACTS DIRECT IMPACTS • Timbering for houses, • In-migration mining pits and • Increased demand for fuelwood food, goods, services • Bushmeat hunting • Charged social structures • Access roads Source: Levin 2014. The environmental impacts of ASM can thus be direct Direct environmental impacts can include “acidification and indirect (primary and secondary). It has been argued and contamination of waters; degradation of air quality; that mining activities have a relatively minimal direct erosion and contamination of soils; loss or degradation impact on forest cover compared to other industries. of habitat and landscape values and introduction of Conversely, the comparatively inefficient methods of invasive species and pathogens” (Kyngdon-McKay et al. ASM, such as shallow diggings and the common lack 2014). of mechanization, limit the productivity of ASM. This can result in a higher footprint per unit of production Compounding the cumulative environmental impacts than some forms of mechanized or industrial mining.3 of ASMers is their often-inadequate knowledge of the ASM’s cumulative impacts also can cause notable scale of the harms caused by their behaviors, their low environmental harms (Megevand et al. 2013). profit margins, and their latent status—defined by their atomistic nature, and the “tragedy of the commons” Direct impacts by ASM are caused by the practice those three factors help to create and maintain within of mining and the location in which it occurs (coast, mining communities. For example, mercury usage in waterway, forest, rain forest, savanna, steppe, desert). ASGM can have devastating human (Gibb and O’Leary Indirect impacts are a product of the need for miners 2014) and environmental impacts, including at the forest (and often their families) to be accommodated, fed and level; studies have shown that mercury can harm plant housed, at or near mine sites (often located outside of life by reducing “photosynthesis, transpiration rate, and residential areas), and the need to transport machinery water uptake and chlorophyll synthesis” (Azevedo and and mined goods to and from the mine site. Indirect Rodriguez 2012). That mercury often causes water and impacts can include the hunting of animals and the topsoil toxicity in and around mining areas means that harvesting of plants, and the destruction of habitats this heavy metal can be readily available to plants and to establish roads and other thoroughfares (ASM- animals in polluted areas (Veiga, Maxson, and Hylander PACE 2012). That ASMers classify food security as their 2006). However, many miners are not aware of the number one concern (Agyemang 2011; Green et al. seriousness of these impacts (diamond industry expert, 2015) suggests that those operating within or near pers. comm.). Informal ASGM is also potentially more forests are highly likely to rely on the ecosystem services likely to use mercury than its formal counterparts. In they provide, including for bushmeat (Spira et al. 2017). Mongolia, for example, where ASGM activity is largely informal, ASGM is estimated to release 11.5 tonnes of 3 Confidential report. mercury annually, making Mongolia one of the top 18 FOREST-SMART MINING ASGM mercury polluters in the world. The link between protected areas are often unsuccessful: “ ‘fortress’ or ‘stick informality in ASM and mercury usage is largely a product and pen’ approaches to protected area conservation, of the sector being out of reach of government attempts which are defined by physical or legal barriers to entry, to curb mercury usage via educational outreach and/ do not prevent incursions from the ASM sector if viable or the application of fines (GI TOC and Estelle Levin Ltd. mineral deposits are known to exist therein (Dondeyne et 2016a). al. 2009). The formal establishment of dedicated mining zones (in or outside reserves) are also only effective if Furthermore, the economics of ASM, in terms of the they encompass actual mineral deposits that can sustain subsistence living it often provides, and the low profit miners (Dondeyne and Ndunguru 2014). Furthermore, margins otherwise typically associated with the practice, governments that elect to outlaw ASM activities, or do means that investing in environmentally conscious not provide viable options for miners to mine outside mining and processing techniques may not be deemed key conservation sites, do not stop the practice from financially feasible by ASMers (SDC 2011). The latent occurring; rather, workers may instead be incentivized to status of the ASM sector also means that it does not access more isolated and remote protected areas, such as make social or economic sense for an individual ASMer World Heritage sites, which large-scale or junior mining or group thereof to repair the environmental damage entities have agreed to avoid (Turner 2012), suggesting their mining and/or processing activities cause: the that such measures do not prevent the ASM sector’s personal costs associated with doing so would not justify environmental impact but only change the pattern of its the benefits gained in the aggregate (Olson 1967). And impact (Robbins et al. 2006).” These findings are relevant finally, the enforcement vacuum that often exists in ASM for understanding how forest-smart ASM can be better communities and the sector’s low barriers to entry mean enabled by government and civil society, an issue this that the opportunity costs of abandoning mines and report will explore in greater detail in the case studies. migrating elsewhere are extremely low; thus, abandoning mined-out areas without performing rehabilitation is a low-risk option for ASMers (Kyngdon-McKay et al. 2014; 1.4.1. Ecological Ramifications of Mining- African Mining Vision 2011). As summarized by the Related Forest Impacts World Bank, “Miners who lack a long-term perspective in The impacts of mining on forests are not only restricted to relation to their small-scale mining activities pay little or changes in total forest cover. Because they are complex no attention to environmental concerns” (SDC 2011). ecological systems, forests can respond in a variety of The prevalence of informality in the ASM sector means ways to different impacts. that the typical mine life cycle differs from that in the LSM sector. Informal ASMers are highly unlikely to For example, edge effects are diverse physical and biotic engage in extensive pre-planning activities, including changes associated with the often-abrupt verges of forest the development of environmental impact assessments clearing, roads and linear clearings, and are particularly (EIAs) or social impact assessments (SIAs). They are also important in tropical rain forests. Various edge-related more vulnerable to short-term factors that may make changes in forest structure, microclimate, and forest continuing mining financially unviable, such as local dynamics have been observed near linear clearings in the weather events, trade disruptions, or mine site safety Amazon, the Caribbean, and tropical Australia. Forests issues. In such cases, ASMers may be forced to abandon within 50–100 meters of edges experience greater deposits. When informal ASMers do exhaust a deposit, diurnal fluctuations in light, temperature, and humidity, it is unusual for them to engage in the any kind of mine being typically drier and hotter than forest interiors, with site rehabilitation or mine closure activities. In contrast, elevated tree mortality, numerous canopy gaps and a formal ASM operations can have a similar life cycle proliferation of disturbance-adapted vines, weeds, and to LSM activities (see LSM report for a typical LSM life pioneer species. Such changes can alter the community cycle), although the legal requirements for mine site composition and abundance of many different faunal rehabilitation may be less onerous. groups (Laurance, Goosem, and Laurance 2009). Informal ASMers fearful of being identified by local Pollution is often considered one of the main ecological authorities or of conflict with other land users may impacts of ASM, with severe implications on ecological feel compelled to operate in protected areas to evade and human health. The artisanal gold sector is the identification and arrest. Protected areas can be national main source of mercury releases into the environment, parks, World Heritage sites, and other demarcated areas of estimated to release about 1400 tonnes/year (UNEP high biodiversity value. The management of this problem 2018). In aquatic ecosystems, mercury is converted has been the focus of several studies. A summary of the to more toxic compounds, which are taken up by literature by Kyngdon-McKay et al. (2014) shows that aquatic organisms, accumulated in their tissues, and government attempts to reduce the incidence of ASM in then transmitted up the food chain, with mercury’s FOREST-SMART MINING 19 concentrations being amplified up trophic food levels. edges. In addition, roads have a major role in opening Elevated concentrations of mercury affect reproduction up forested tropical regions to destructive colonization and other cell functions in fish (Sandheinrich and Wiener and exploitation. Although essential in many cases for 2011), and can be lethal if it reaches as high as 5–10 human activities and economic development, poorly µg/g (Wiener and Spry 1996). In terrestrial ecosystems, planned or excessive road expansion can result in elevated concentrations of mercury can disrupt essential irreparable damage to, or destruction of, forests. Roads microbial activity in soils (Mahbub et al. 2016) and that penetrate into remote frontier regions often lead to disrupt vital cell functions in vegetation (Nagajyoti, Lee, forest encroachment and destruction. Paved highways and Sreekanth 2010). are particularly damaging because they tend to spawn networks of secondary roads that can increase the spatial The presence of miners and their associated mining scale of their impact (Laurance, Goosem, and Laurance communities in forested areas can introduce some 2009). human pressures that may compromise the ecological integrity of forests. For example, some species suffer Linear clearings can also facilitate species invasions heavy mortality near ASM sites due elevated human in the tropics—for example, fire ants (Wasmannia hunting pressure. In societies where the consumption auropunctuta), exotic earthworms, and non-forest of bushmeat is common, evidence shows that the vertebrates; fungal dieback, caused by Phytophthora presence of artisanal miners in forested areas can drive spp.; and myriad weed species. Repeated spraying, hunting, creating informal markets to cater for the burning, or mowing of vegetation in linear clearings demand for bushmeat (Spira et al. 2017). If such effects favors exotic and disturbance-adapted species at the are strong enough, the site could become a population expense of native species. Road-borne invaders affect sink, contributing to local extinctions of species. Species not only native biota in the tropics. In Ecuador, for that are rare, such as apex predators and large-bodied example, levels of human enteric pathogens were two mammals and birds, and that require large home to eight times higher in villages near roads than in more ranges or have low reproductive rates are generally remote areas. Likewise, increased incidences of dengue most vulnerable to hunting pressure, and artisanal fever, malaria, and HIV have been reported in people mining is known to be linked to the consumption of living near roads in India, Brazil, and Uganda, respectively. highly endangered species such as chimpanzees (Pan By facilitating invasions of novel and potentially lethal troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) (Spira et al. 2017). pathogens, roads penetrating into remote frontier areas also pose a threat to indigenous groups attempting to Clearing for roads using a cut-and-fill approach can live with limited or no contact with outsiders (Laurance also have knock-on effects. Unless frequent culverts 2015). are installed, filled areas impede drainage, especially in tropical regions that receive heavy wet-season rainfall. This can lead to extensive flooding on the upstream 1.5. The Importance and Definition of a side of the road, killing large patches of inundated “Forest Smart” Approach to Mining vegetation. On the downstream side of road fills, water The importance and growth of mining and the flow can be impeded, causing small streams to fail and importance and loss of forests mean that we need desiccation stress to vegetation, especially during the dry to ensure future mining in forest landscapes is “forest season. Roadcuts and local sand- and gravel-quarrying smart.” PROFOR defines forest smart as “a development operations can also be major sources of erosion and approach that recognizes forests’ significance for sustaining stream sedimentation (35–500 tonnes hectares per year), growth across many sectors, including agriculture, energy, further impacting aquatic ecosystems and biota and infrastructure, and water. It is sustainable and inclusive increasing the likelihood of landslides (Laurance 2015; in nature, emphasizing that forests are part of a broader Laurance, Goosem, and Laurance 2009). Finally, roads landscape and that changes in forest cover affect other can alter natural disturbance regimes: in fire-maintained land uses as well as the people living in that landscape. It tropical woodlands and savannas, for example, roads can transforms how sectors operate by identifying opportunities create artificial fire-breaks, leading to a proliferation of for mutual benefit and creating practical solutions that can mesic vegetation at the expense of fire-adapted species be implemented at scale” (PROFOR 2016). (Das 2004; Barber et al. 2014). Mining best practice, where relevant to forest, generally Forest species are especially vulnerable to mining-related refers to the avoidance and/or minimization of direct impacts such as linear infrastructure and forest clearing negative impacts and the creation and/or maximization because they include many ecological specialists that of positive impacts on forest cover or select forest avoid even narrow (<30 meters wide) clearings and forest 20 FOREST-SMART MINING species. A forest-smart approach to mining needs to go To achieve this, a forest-smart approach needs to be beyond this. It needs to consider the following: carried out at the appropriate landscape level that includes the following: • The full range of impacts that mining can have on forests, not only direct impacts but also indirect and • The full range of habitat types present in the cumulative impacts landscape and the way each part interlinks with the forest • The full range of environmental consequences of these impacts, not only changes in forest cover or • The full range of sectors operating in the landscape, key species but also wider ecological composition, not only other large-scale or small-scale mining structure, and function—and including recognition concerns but also other industries of the whole gamut of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services that flow from this, from timber • The full range of time scales over which interactions and medicine to greenhouse gas emissions and flood can occur defenses to cultural and spiritual values • The full range of people impacted by the environmental changes, particularly lower-income communities with higher reliance on forest services Bolivia, San Ramon 6, by Manuel Salinas FOREST-SMART MINING 21 2. GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF ASM IN FORESTS 2.1. Presence of Minerals in Forests Figure 2-1 shows the occurrence of major deposits of: usually relatively young deposits (formed between the Gold, Gems, Diamonds, Columbium (Niobium), Tantalum; mid-Tertiary to the mid-Quaternary periods), resulting as proxy for ASM in low and middle-income countries, from the leaching of parent sedimentary rocks, which in combination with global forests and intact forest requires repetitive wet and dry seasons to create the landscapes. Note that, unlike for LSM, no global spatial necessary tropical weathering conditions (Dalvi, Bacon, data set of ASM mines exists; therefore, this figure only and Osborne 2004). Tropical weathering conditions may shows an indication of where ASM hotspots could be also upgrade some near-surface primary deposits such expected. More details regarding the minerals targeted as gold deposits, and possibly some gems. by ASM and their occurrence can be found in Annex 1. The root systems of big trees can act as traps where heavy While Figure 2-1 shows significant regions where mineral minerals such as gold and gems, including diamonds, deposits and large forest areas overlap, no evidence preferentially settle and form placer deposits. There is also suggests a causal relationship between mineralizations evidence that suggests that recent biological processes and forest occurrence. Areas defined as forests cover 43 may create gold deposits, and practical evidence seems percent of the global land area, while 42 percent of the to suggest that gold nuggets may be formed in close mineralizations selected as proxies for ASM (gems, gold, association with tree root systems, and such nuggets are coltan) occur in the same forested areas. This suggests often sought by ASM operators (Lintern 2007). there is no overrepresentation of such mineralizations within forests. 2.2. Projections for ASM in Forests The lack of a causal relationship is not surprising given Increases in Global ASM that the formation of most significant ore deposits is the result of geological processes operating over Consumption of mineral resources has increased millions to billions of years. Conversely, modern-day exponentially over the past 100 years and further growth flora is comparatively young and has largely developed is expected. Some studies predict that more metals will during the Quaternary period (MacArthur 1972). Thus, have to be produced by 2050 than over the past 100 the patterns that control where primary ore deposits years (Vidal et al. 2017). Moreover, new technologies now are found and where forests are located are unrelated, require new mineral resources than the ones mostly in and any spatial overlaps are largely coincidental. There demand at the beginning of the 20th century. Cobalt are, however, some exceptions to this general rule. These mining, for instance, has been growing because of market relate to mineral deposits that form in tropical climates, demand for electric vehicles and electronics (IIED 2017) and to some situations where vegetation is thought to and is expected to grow by 70 percent until 2020 (Martin have a role in forming actual mineralizations, notably et al. 2017). ASM is predicted to follow this increase in with regards to gold. demand for high-value minerals often mined by ASM and will continue to respond to fluctuations in commodity Some recently developed mineral deposits are more prices, such as that of gold (IIED 2017). Estimates for the likely to be present in tropical regions, which in turn growth of ASM globally vary significantly and cannot be make them more likely to overlap with significant tropical stated with accuracy, but some indicate that in the past forests. Thus, this relationship does not represent a direct two decades ASM has grown at least six times faster than link to the presence of vegetation but rather a link to the average population growth (ASM Inventory 2017). tropical climate. Examples of these include laterites, which may contain bauxite or nickel ores. Laterites are Despite the global increase in demand for raw 22 FOREST-SMART MINING Figure 2-1 Intact Forest Landscapes, Tree Canopy Cover, and Deposits of : Gold, Gems, Diamonds, Columbium (Niobium), Tantalum; as proxy for ASM in low and 23 middle-income countries FOREST-SMART MINING minerals, as previously explained in this report, ASM is Increases in Global ASM in Forest Hotspots primarily a poverty-driven activity; therefore, its extent would decrease if poverty is alleviated above a certain Figure 2-1 points to some general hotspots of potential threshold—for ASM to reduce, incomes need to be ASM activity in forests. In the Congo Basin, for example, high enough for ASM to be a less attractive livelihood the rising demand for minerals such as cobalt and the altogether and not act as a source of capital for more 3TG can be expected to drive increased ASM activity in investment in ASM and its mechanization. The lack of the area. With no signs of significant political stability, understanding on how to break the poverty cycles in poverty relief, or an end to the conflicts that have which ASMers are trapped has limited the success of prevailed for decades, Central Africa is a region that must many development programs (Hilson and McQuilken receive increased attention in terms of the forest impacts 2014). Many poverty reduction projects have focused on of mining. the provision of alternative livelihoods, but there is little The Amazon Basin also stands out as an area where evidence of alternative livelihood programs successfully impacts of ASM on forests must be monitored, reducing ASM activities (Hilson and Banchirigah 2009). particularly given past research that correlates increases Nowadays, however, alternative livelihood programs are in gold prices with mining-led deforestation in the being replaced with diversified livelihood projects that Amazonian forests (Swenson et al. 2011). Countries such recognize the value of diversified income-generating as Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru have relatively high levels activities (IIED 2017). Diversified income-generating of organization in their ASM sector and all have detailed activities have shown some promise in poverty national development policies that include the upscaling reduction, but not ASM reduction (IIED 2017). Global and technical improvements to their ASM sector. Such trends such as climate change, conflict, and large-scale shifts from artisanal to small- and medium-scale mining immigration are all additional background trends that must be closely monitored, as there is the potential both can drive more people toward ASM at a large scale if they to contribute to better mining methods and to amplify become exacerbated in the future as globally predicted. the scale and severity of forest impacts. ASM growth, however, might not be as high as expected because LSM is expected to cover areas commonly 2.3. Managing ASM in Forests exploited by ASM (IIED 2017). Technology developments and the exhaustion of highly prospective deposits 2.3.1. Policy and Regulatory Landscape for are driving mining companies to explore previously ASM in Forests neglected lower-grade and hard-to-access resources (IIED 2017), some of which (the most accessible ones) A number of existing key policy and regulatory having been predominantly mined by ASM to date. It frameworks have or could have an impact on the has been observed that some LSM companies follow promotion of forest-smart mining. These are on a scale ASM miners during the exploration phase to identify between voluntary and compulsory, national and global potential new claims, obtain the license, and then evict regulations. Some contain explicit references to ASM; the miners (Luning 2014), which could spike conflict and others indirectly link to ASM. In the following section, force even more ASM operators to encroach protected a variety of global and regional frameworks as well areas. Globally, intact forest landscapes are spread over as national regulations and industry frameworks are Russia, Canada, South-East Asia, Central Africa, and South analyzed for their potential contribution to managing America, and we can see how reserves of gemstones, the forest impacts of ASM. gold, and columbite, in some cases, are located within Global Frameworks those forested areas (see Figure 2-1). A number of global frameworks and standards address As detailed previously in this report, currently about environmental conservation, sustainable forest 70–80 percent of ASM activities are unregulated. A management, and protection of biodiversity and growth in informal ASM activities, which would occur protected areas. Some of them explicitly refer to ASM; if ASM continues to grow as a sector, would potentially others do not, but they form part of the frameworks that raise more questions about the sustainability of this guide countries’ actions in forest management and can production sphere. However, at the end of the day, be applied to ASM. ASM regulation will be limited by the willingness of all stakeholders in the supply chain to pay more for what Frameworks That Explicitly Apply to ASM is produced and engage with certification schemes, law enforcement, and monitoring. Without those put into The Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted place, informal ASM will clearly expand and create even in 2013. As of June 2017, this international treaty counts more long-term challenges to our forested landscapes. 128 signatories and 55 parties. Its goal is to promote the 24 FOREST-SMART MINING protection of human health and the environment from • WCC-2012-Rec-175 – Strengthening the mercury emissions and releases. It refers to artisanal and autonomy of Colombia’s black communities small-scale gold mining that uses mercury to amalgamate for sustainable natural resource management in gold. State parties are called upon to reduce—and, where their regions, with special emphasis on mining: The feasible, eliminate—the use of mercury in gold ASM and WCC asks the Colombian government to grant local the emissions and releases to the environment from communities artisanal gold mining concessions mining and processing. It encourages the cooperation taking into account environmental aspects.2 between states to build capacity, promote mercury-free technologies, provide technical and financial assistance, Relevant Frameworks without Explicit Mention of and exchange knowledge. As the convention only came ASM into effect in August 2017, its effectiveness to promote Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15, on better practice in gold ASM cannot yet be assessed, managing forests sustainably, restoring degraded although several countries have begun to design lands, reducing degraded natural habitats, and ending National Action Plans according to the convention. biodiversity loss, is relevant in relation to how state The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, parties manage their ASM sectors. Especially relevant Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development targets are 15.1 on the conservation, restoration, and (IGF) is a group of almost 60 countries committed to sustainable use of forests, and 15.2 on sustainable forest promote the positive impacts of mining on sustainable management, stopping deforestation, the restoration of development and eliminate the negative ones. In its degraded forests, and reforestation. guidance document on ASM (IGF 2017), released in REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and early 2017, the IGF Secretariat recommends its member Degradation) is a global payment for ecosystem services states provide technical training to artisanal miners to scheme whereby developing countries are rewarded improve productivity and safeguard the environment, financially for reducing greenhouse gas emissions via and develop and enforce regulations with a particular the reduction in loss of forest stocks. National REDD+ emphasis on water sources, deforestation, and the use programs are designed to result in less forested land of mercury. Being a relatively new standard, its uptake being converted into other land uses, which could and implementation are yet to be assessed, but by mid- impact the availability of land for ASM in forests (Hund, 2017 several member states had requested assistance for Schure, and van der Goes 2017). implementation from the IGF Secretariat. The Aichi Biodiversity Targets, part of the Strategic The International Union for Conservation of Nature Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 under the Convention (IUCN) World Conservation Congress 2000 adopted on Biological Diversity, establish a framework for state the Recommendation 2.82 on the Protection and parties to contribute to, and to base their national conservation of biological diversity of protected biodiversity targets on. Managing ASM could contribute areas from the negative impacts of mining and to targets such as these: Making people aware of the exploration. It calls upon member states to prohibit value of biodiversity and how they can contribute mining in certain protected areas, and recommends (Target 1); fostering “conservation and sustainable use of strict planning, operating, monitoring, and post-use biodiversity”(Target 3); promoting sustainable production restoration conditions for authorized mining that affects (Target 4); reduce deforestation, forest degradation, protected areas. and fragmentation (Target 5); and sustainable forest At the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) 2012, management (Target 7). The upcoming UN Biodiversity the IUCN Members’ Assembly adopted resolutions and Conference of 2018 will focus on mainstreaming the recommendations on different topic areas, two of which biodiversity agenda in the energy, mining, infrastructure, are relevant for ASM in forests: manufacturing and processing, and health sectors. • WCC-2012-Res-037 – The importance of nature State Parties to the Paris Agreement are called upon conservation criteria in land use planning to conserve and enhance forests and to provide positive policies: This resolution proposes that land use incentives and policy approaches for sustainable forest planning, including mining activities, be done “in management and the reduction of emissions from harmony with the conservation of biodiversity and deforestation and forest degradation. With ASM one of the natural heritage.”1 the drivers of deforestation, the Paris Agreement gives the mandate for ASM to be addressed under its articles. 1 IUCN WCC-2012-Res-037, Art. 3. 2 IUCN WCC-2012-Rec-175, Art. 3(a). FOREST-SMART MINING 25 The New York Declaration on Forests of 2014 is a includes the harmonization of environmental and forest nonbinding framework endorsed by governments, civil policies, sustainable forest management, conservation society, and private sector actors. It aims to halve the and sustainable use of biodiversity—to be achieved rate of loss of natural forests by 2020 and end it by 2030; through training and capacity strengthening, research, therefore, it can provide a targets-based framework for and sensitization and awareness raising. reducing ASM-driven deforestation. National Regulations Regional Frameworks At the national level, ASM in forests is governed by The Regional Certification Mechanism (RCM) of national regulations. This section gives a snapshot of the International Conference on the Great Lakes how different countries around the world address this Region (ICGLR) asks member states to require ASM issue. The case study countries’ national legislations are mine sites to progressively comply with the following analyzed in more detail in the respective subchapters provisions: conducting environmental impact studies and country profiles. and implementing environmental management plans, managing and treating dangerous substances and toxic Often, ASM is an informal or illegal activity, without laws chemicals, and having a plan and the funds in place in place for ASMers to obtain licenses. In other cases, for mine closure including rehabilitation. The RCM’s when ASM is included in the legal and regulatory system, effectiveness and reach is currently limited; only the DRC no specific environmental measures are applied to them. and Rwanda have implemented it into national law. In those latter cases, it is safe to assume that they must comply with the general environmental regulations for In 2009, the African Union published the Africa Mining the mining sector at large. Vision, which mentions the importance to better address the environmental and health impacts of ASM Several African countries have laws in place regarding while promoting ASM for development. ASM and environmental protection. The following countries require general compliance of artisanal and The Yaoundé Vision Statement was aimed at reducing small-scale miners with environmental legislation and/or poverty and improving livelihoods in ASM communities avoidance of environmental pollution: Angola, Burkina in Africa by 2015, the end of the Millennium Development Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Goals. It mentions the adoption of appropriate and Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Some enforceable environmental guidelines. While it is countries have additional rules. For example, in Burkina regarded as a seminal global commitment, the extent of Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, the use of chemical substances its success has been debated. such as cyanide and mercury are prohibited for artisanal mining. Sierra Leone has provisions for rehabilitation The Southern African Development Community and reclamation of artisanal and small-scale mine (SADC)3 adopted in 1997 the Protocol on Mining, sites. In South Sudan, artisanal miners must evaluate with the objective to harmonize national policies and the environmental impact of each mineral mined at a procedures and foster knowledge sharing on the mining specific site, and forest products cannot be removed sector. It calls for encouragement and assistance of small- from the concession area unless authorized. scale mining, while also focusing on environmental protection, encouraging regional collaboration and Some countries, including Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and information sharing regarding environmental impact Colombia, have special laws on the formalization and assessments, protection and rehabilitation, and the regulation of ASM that require ASMers to hold mine training of environmental scientists. In order to be permits and abide by the respective environmental effective, however, the protocol has to be domesticated norms. In Ecuador and Colombia, artisanal, SSM, through regulatory reforms. medium-scale mining (MSM), and LSM are clearly differentiated and defined in the law according to After the first summit on forests in Yaoundé in 1999, variables such as concession size, use of machinery, and the Central African states agreed on the Yaoundé volumes of production. Environmental as well as fiscal Declaration, a commitment to sustainable forest responsibilities increase proportionally with the scale of management in the region, including joint management mining to account for higher income, technical capacity, of transboundary areas. From this declaration emerged and potential for environmental degradation. In Bolivia, the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) mining is permitted in protected and forest areas if the Convergence Plan, revised and adopted in 2014. It environmental regulations are respected and the mining 3 Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, activities do not negatively affect the objectives of the Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zim- protected areas. babwe. 26 FOREST-SMART MINING The Philippines has a separate law on SSM, the People’s sources from that production sphere. PS1, requiring Small-scale Mining Act, which makes the granting of the implementation of environmental and social a mining contract dependent on compliance with management plans, is broad enough to include ASM environmental regulations, with a focus on control as an environmental risk to be considered by LSM of deforestation and pollution.4 Furthermore, the companies. Other provisions within PS1, PS2, and government is asked to invest in a Protection Fund for particularly PS6, which deals with habitat protection, information dissemination and training of small-scale ensure that any subscribing company that includes miners on environmental protection and other issues.5 ASM in its supply chain is responsible to undertake The Indonesian Mining Law refers to People’s Mining as appropriate due diligence on the environmental impacts mineral exploitation by the local population.6 While there of ASM, including risks of pollution and loss of habitat. is a formal process for obtaining licenses for such SSM, no specific provisions are laid out for these miners in terms Industry-Led Upstream Standards of environmental management. Industry-led standards for upstream mining operations Next to mining laws, environmental and forestry laws can predominantly target LSM companies. Voluntary be relevant frameworks for managing mining in forests. standards such as IRMA Standard (IRMA 2016), the In many countries, such as Brazil and the Philippines, Responsible Mining Index (RMI) (RMF 2017) and the ICMM forestry codes specifically regulate any forest conversion 10 Principles (ICMM 2017) contain provisions on matters activities, including by ASM. They are considered for the relating to ASM, but these are almost exclusively focused case studies where applicable. on the social issues of conflict, access to resources, and community relations. Almost no provisions within While the above overview shows that several countries these standards specifically require LSM companies to have provisions in place to frame artisanal and small-scale assess or mitigate the impact that ASM can have on the miners’ obligations in terms of environmental protection, effectiveness of their environmental management plans. these regulations rarely refer to forests in particular. While the IRMA Standard is still under development, Furthermore, the pure existence of regulations is far from the ICMM 10 Principles have to be implemented by any sufficient for achieving forest-smart outcomes. Often, member company of the ICMM (currently 25 members). unclear or contradicting regulations or a lack of political will or capacity to enforce such regulation are barriers Two certification schemes specifically apply to artisanal to forest-smart mining. The ASM sector is characterized upstream operations: the Fairmined Standard and the by high informality even where regulations exist, often Fairtrade Standards for Fairtrade and Fairmined gold because of bureaucratic processes or lack of capacity of and silver. These are only applicable to legal, stable, ASM operators to achieve compliance. and formalized ASM organizations as opposed to rush situations or newcomer mining in environmentally Industry Frameworks sensitive areas. The environmental compliance requirements of Fairtrade and Fairmined are almost International best-practice expectations are partly identical (Fairtrade International 2013; Fairmined 2014). benchmarked by industry frameworks such as Fairmined requires ASM organizations to assume certification standards, voluntary industry guidelines, responsibility for forest conservation, in collaboration with and compliance conditions set by financial institutions. local community groups and authorities. Fairtrade has a very similar provision and requires ASM organizations to While industry-driven standards are a leading source of not damage ecosystems, which includes forests. Both best-practice guidelines in the LSM sector, very few are standards include the option to comply with more directly applicable to the ASM sector. However, some stringent environmental requirements for obtaining the best-practice guidelines aimed at LSM operations may additional “Ecological” Fairtrade or Fairmined Gold label indirectly promote good practice in ASM operations. Regarding mercury use, these certification standards For example, while companies bound to the IFC prohibit whole ore amalgamation using mercury and Performance Standards (PS) (IFC 2012b) through encourage ASM organizations to contain mercury conditions on financing agreements are typically large- use away from water bodies. Amalgam burning must scale companies, the provisions of the IFC Performance be done using recovery techniques such as retorts to Standards that apply to a company’s supply chain have minimize air pollution and exposure to fumes. Nitric the potential to trickle down to ASM if the company acid for dissolving amalgam and cyanide leaching of 4 Philippines Republic Act 7076, Section 13. unprocessed amalgamated tailings are both forbidden. 5 Philippines Republic Act 7076, Section 20. 6 Indonesia Law Number 11/1967 on the Basic Provisions of All mining operations must comply with national Mining, Art. 11. FOREST-SMART MINING 27 environmental laws and have valid environmental precious mineral sector, but not mining. Reporting licenses, and by implication must not be located in standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative protection areas where mining is not permitted (unless (GRI) Standards require subscribing companies to impacts are proven to be insignificant through permits report on their management approach for assessing or environmental impact assessments). Refilling of the environmental performance of suppliers and open pits upon termination is required, proper waste for screening potential new suppliers based on management practices must be implemented, and plans environmental criteria. for rehabilitation and restoration upon mine closure must be developed. Restoration measures must aim to However, the potential for the downstream sector to enhance local biodiversity as appropriate for the native drive environmental best practice is limited because ecosystem, or to convert the area into an alternative land the OECD Guidance, which has become the major due use. diligence guideline that most standards are aligning with, does not call for any environmental due diligence. Fairtrade and Fairmined Gold and Silver certifications, and the opportunity to access premium prices for gold What Does This Mean for Mining in Forests? and silver through it, provide an incentive for ASM to Most of the above mentioned laws, standards, policies, formalize in order to be eligible for certification. In turn, and guidelines have not had their impact measured. formalization of the ASM sector facilitates the effective This is a key data gap that should be addressed in a control and regulation of its social and environmental separate research project. Nonetheless, the existence of impacts. these laws, standards, policies, and guidelines provides Fairmined and Fairtrade minerals are gaining traction in actors with some meaningful direction regarding the industry, but because of low production volumes and minimizing mining’s environmental impacts. Expressly high entry requirements, they are still a niche product in defining forest-smart mining, and advocating and the market and only a very limited proportion of the ASM normalizing its operationalization around the world, sector has the capability to participate. remains a requirement, however, if the specific features of responsibly mining in this type of biome are to be Industry-Led Downstream Standards understood, and properly fulfilled. Best practice in the ASM sector is also driven through voluntary standards targeting responsible sourcing by 2.3.2. Existing Mechanisms for Managing ASM the downstream sector. While leading due diligence in Forests guidelines such as the OECD Due Diligence Guidance With the ASM sector being characterized by a high for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from degree of informality, few established mechanisms exist Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (OECD for managing ASM and mitigating its forest impacts. To Guidance) (OECD 2016) are specifically concerned begin addressing ASM, the international community with conflict-free sourcing rather than environmental has strongly pushed for ASM formalization over the protection, guidelines such as the new Chinese past decades. Formalization is important for the dual Due Diligence Guidelines for Responsible purpose of bringing the ASM sector into the legal sphere Mineral Supply Chains (CCCMC 2015) have added so that its methods and environmental impacts can be environmental due diligence to the OECD Guidance to regulated, and making it so ASM operators can benefit include the risks of compliance with air, water, and soil from technical support, capacity building, and financial regulations; implementation of the mitigation hierarchy incentives that the relevant authorities cannot provide if throughout the mining life cycle; mining in protected the sector remains illegal or informal. areas; and the violation of indigenous rights. The presence of these risks in a supply chain should trigger ASM Zones enhanced due diligence procedures and may result in the termination of sourcing agreements with the specific Zoning and land use planning can be used to legally ASM source. allocate ASM zones. These must contain viable mineral deposits, must not overlap with other mineral concessions Other downstream standards such as those of the or with protected areas according to the law, and Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) (RJC 2013) should be designated after careful consideration of the require members to assess the environmental impacts potential ecological implications on other ecologically of the ASM producers they source from. The RJC Code sensitive areas and ecosystem services. As the decision of Practices certification is obligatory for RJC members, on where to designate ASM zones should form part of which number many of the large companies in the a general land use strategy for a wider region, strategic 28 FOREST-SMART MINING environmental impact assessments (SEIAs) should As part of the requirements to obtain a mining license, inform the decision on where to designate ASM zones ASM operators should perform an environmental impact and under what conditions to allow it to operate. assessment (EIA) to identify the potential impacts of their proposed operation. In cases where capacity for ASM zones are already part of the law and have been this is low, a SEIA done by the government at a regional implemented in several countries, including the DRC, level can identify the likely impacts and mitigation Indonesia, and Colombia. But the application of this mechanisms for ASM in the region. Once impacts are approach has had limited success because of several identified, an environmental management plan (EMP) barriers: that outlines how impacts will be avoided, minimized, or compensated for should be required from miners. In • Not enough ASM zones are being designated to several countries, such as Ecuador and Colombia, these meet demand. requirements for artisanal operators are as simple as a • ASM zones are not always chosen based on form to be filled in with the support of the government. appropriate geological assessment; therefore, they In these countries, the requirements for complying with may not contain mineral deposits accessible to ASM. EIAs and EMPs get progressively more demanding for larger-scale operations (small-scale and medium-scale • Extensive mineral-rich areas remain frozen in LSM mining). concessions if mining authorities do not follow through with the requirement for devolution of an Rehabilitation of ASM areas is an often-overlooked area that is not explored within a certain time frame. aspect of environmental management, partly because of unclear tenure and ownership of land, unclear Environmental Impact Assessments and Environmental allocation of responsibilities for rehabilitation between Management Plans state and miners, and lack of technical capacity to do so. Rehabilitation requirements should be embedded Certain ASM operations have the capacity to take within the law and be required as part of EMPs. This has more responsibility for managing their environmental been successfully done in Mongolia, where the Frugal impacts. These tend to be mines that are formalized and Rehabilitation Methodology was developed and applied organized into cooperatives, whereas ASM sectors where specifically for rehabilitating areas mined by legal ASGM mining is informal or highly individualized are less likely organizations and has since been incorporated into to have the means to do so. Mongolian mining law.7 7 Please see the Mongolia case study for further details. FOREST-SMART MINING 29 Noyod Mine in Mongolia, prior to rehabilitation (Credit: Jonathan Stacey) 30 FOREST-SMART MINING 3. CASE STUDIES 3.1. Case Study Selection • Integrated natural resource planning • Use of geological information Global ASM Database • Poverty as a driver of ASM A desk-based review of published information on ASM • Security and conflict occurrences worldwide led to a database of countries Additional criteria upon which countries were ranked where ASM is thought to occur. ASM has previously include whether the country is a World Bank client been identified in at least 70 countries. These 70 country, whether the case study is likely to illustrate countries and any other countries where the researchers good or bad practice, and whether ASM is known to have experience working with ASM were not further occur alongside LSM. investigated for evidence. For the remaining countries where the presence of ASM was unknown, an Internet search was undertaken for any reports, national laws and 3.2. Case Study Methodology policies, news articles, blogs, or photographic evidence The case study research utilized desk-based and field of ASM occurring in a given country. For this research, research techniques. The desk-based research included artisanal salt and sand mining were not included. document analyses and interviews with relevant experts Criteria for Case Study Selection to fill noted information and/or data gaps. Documents were assessed for relevance, validity, and reliability prior Countries for potential case studies were narrowed to their inclusion in the study. The experts interviewed down according to sets of predefined criteria. The first were chosen based on their qualifications, relevant two criteria applied were “sufficient online data available” expertise, and level of experience. Field-based interviews and “access to local expertise.” These acted as a feasibility and site visits were undertaken for a selection of the case screening, and any countries that did not meet these studies. criteria were eliminated from the list of potential country case studies. The desk and field research utilized a common framework that guided researchers with key questions Other criteria were then set to ensure that the selection about the country and the specific sites. This framework of case studies was representative geographically, was semi-structured, and researchers could deviate from ecologically, and geologically, and so that the case the framework when deemed beneficial to the study— studies would cover as many issues of interest as possible. namely, during the field research when richer data were Countries were categorized based on continent, main available. forest habitat, and main mineral being produced. The ASM sector of each country was then classified according Each case study gathered information in four aspects: to the following stages in the life cycle of ASM: • Contextual information at the country level • Prospection, exploration, or rush scenario • Specific information at the site level • Established and stable ASM production • Forest change data at the site level • Mine closure or productivity decline • Lessons learned The following issues of interest were identified, and each The following contextual information was collected for country was marked according to its potential to yield each country: valuable lessons learned on each of these issues: • Country income level (GDP, GNI) • Mining and exploration methods and technologies • Population living in poverty • Illegality and formalization • Unemployment FOREST-SMART MINING 31 • Resource Governance Index (RGI) narratives are available in the separate Annex 2). An • Strength of EIA regulation overview of the results relating to the above country and site-level variables is presented in a series of tables • Biodiversity rating in section 3.15. • Mining as % of GDP • Population employed in ASM 3.2.1. Site-Level Deforestation Maps and Data • Level of organization in the ASM sector For each ASM case study, the following maps were • ASM legislation produced: • Land tenure systems a) Forest loss and gain between 2000 and 2016 on a • Indigenous populations’ rights local (circa 30-kilometer radius) and regional (circa • REDD+ status 150-kilometer radius) scale • Protected area coverage b) Color-coded yearly forest loss between 2000 and • Forests policy 2016 The maps additionally include a global intact forest data The following specific information was collected for each set, global protected areas data set, and, in some cases, site: country-specific forest extent data sets. • Mineral deposit type The intention was to support analysis of the patterns of • Degree of mechanization forest loss in relation to ASM activity, and in relation to other human activities such as agriculture, forestry, and • State of ASM (rush, stable, declining) settlement. • Legal status of ASM The extent of ASM activity at each site was defined using, • Level of environmental compliance wherever possible, the following: • Land tenure of ASM areas a) Interpretation of satellite Google Earth images • Presence of ASM in protected areas b) Mining exploitation license extents • Effectiveness of evictions c) Descriptions and maps of activity in existing • Presence and influence of LSM published studies • Mercury use The identification of ASM extent was undertaken without The following forest change data were collected for each ground truthing; therefore, it should be understood as site: being generally reliable but not necessarily precise. ASM is not always unambiguously visible in satellite images, or • Degree of forest cover mappable from indications in published studies. Further- • ASM forest outcomes at selected sites (affected area, more, ASM is often a dispersed activity, with scattered deforestation rate in mining area, deforestation rate excavations and processing sites distributed among in 5-kilometer buffer zone, regional and national settlements, agricultural land, and forest landscapes. In deforestation rates for comparison) cases where ASM extended along many kilometers of riverbeds, delimitation to a segment of riverbed was • Derivation of an ASM deforestation severity index made. based on intensity of deforestation in the mine For each site, buffer zones of 5 kilometers around the working area and surrounding 5-kilometer buffer ASM activity zone were defined. Calculations on total zone compared with the regional background rate area of forest loss (2000–2016) were made for the site and the buffer zone, as well as for the country and other • ASM relative to other drivers of forest loss (for administrative levels (district, province, or protected example, agriculture) area where applicable). The forest loss in each target • Forest Health Index and ranking for the potential spatial entity was expressed as a percentage of area of area of influence around the mining site loss (2000–2016) in relation to the area of forest extent in 2000. The difference between the deforestation All research was carried out in adherence with Levin rates at the site/buffer zone level and the average Sources’ Research Ethics Policy. Case study summaries national deforestation rates was expressed as an ASM are presented in this report (more detailed case study deforestation severity index. 32 FOREST-SMART MINING The purpose of the calculations of forest loss was to do study research was carried out on the “desktop” or “visit” the following: sites to explore what factors from the mine management or the political and ecological environment might a) Compare forest loss in ASM sites with loss in explain the differences between sites. surrounding administrative districts or protected areas, where applicable An important point to note is that these forest health b) Compare forest loss between various ASM sites scores and rankings are unique to this analysis. Because and establish whether particular conditions are each AOI surrounding a mining site was only assessed more likely to lead to more deforestation at ASM relative to other such AOIs and sites in the study, the sites. scores and rankings are relative and only show how forest health scores compared to other AOIs in the The 2000 forest extent, 2000–2016 forest loss, and 2000– analysis. The forest health indexes say nothing about 2012 forest gain data sets were obtained from Hansen the absolute health of forests and forest ecosystems et al. (2013); the intact forest data set was obtained from in the AOI or how those forests and ecosystems might Potapov et al. (2008). be performing on a global basis. It is also important to note that the study is exploratory in nature—because 3.2.2. Forest Health Index the relationships between the mining site and the surrounding landscape are so complex, it does not set out Area of Influence to provide a quantitative analysis of the extent to which mining activities result in different forest health results. For every ASM case study a Forest Health Index score was calculated for the area of interest (AOI) surrounding In the context of the ASM study, the Forest Health Index the mining area, using the same methodology as for the for the AOI provided an additional indication of the LSM study. The AOI describes the geographical area over extent of pressures on forests in the region surrounding which the mining activities might potentially be exerting the ASM mining area to complement the analyses of an influence. This influence might be environmental or forest change in the 5-kilometer buffer zone and in socioeconomic, direct or indirect, and include negative the administrative district around the ASM mining area or positive impacts. The AOI implies nothing about a based on Global Forest Watch data. causal relationship between mining and deforestation; it simply recognizes the area over which influence may be exerted. The AOI was calculated based on a minimum circle of 50-kilometer radius from the mining location— based on evidence that LSM mines and ASM can exert influence over distances at least this far (for example, Sonter et al. 2017; UNESCO Buffer Zones1)—plus the subbasins of any rivers passing through this region since this is a key way LSM mines can exert influence over long distances. The area of each AOI, therefore, varied substantially. Forest Condition Variables Forest health for each AOI was then assessed by looking at 12 different variables associated with forest condition and ranking the sites according to their scores. Some variables were then weighted and the rankings combined to give an overall forest health score and rank. Weightings were agreed by the report authors and reflect perceived importance (Table 3-1) . The results generated a forest health score from 0 to 1 and a ranking from 1 to 23 (lowest ranking being better performance). Once the scores were calculated, the case ------------------------------- 1 World Heritage and Buffer Zones - UNESCO World Heritage Centre - https://whc.unesco.org/document/101965. FOREST-SMART MINING 33 Table 3-1 Summary of the Variables Used to Calculate the AOI Forest Health Scores Variable Influence Weighting Notes 1 Area of intact forest a Positive 5 See note a 2 Area of core forest Positive 3 >80% canopy density 3 Area of ecologically viable forest Positive 2 60%–80% canopy density 4 Area of secondary forest Positive 1 10%–60% canopy density 5 Forest connectivity Positive 2 See annex 1 6 Deforestation in protected areas Negative 3 See annex 1 7 Deforestation in biomes b Negative 2 See annex 1 8 Other deforestation Negative 1 See annex 1 9 Forest fragmentation Negative 2 Fragmented by infrastructure 10 Population change Negative 2 Since mine opening 11 Total population 2015 Negative 1 See annex 1 12 Road density Negative 2 See annex 1 a. An unbroken expanse of natural ecosystems within areas of current forest extent, without signs of significant human activity, and having an area of at least 500 square kilometers, as defined by Potapov et al. (2008). b. Biomes are recognized ecological types of forests. Biome forest may occur inside or outside protected areas. Non-biome forest would refer to degraded forest that cannot easily be categorized into a recognized ecological category and would generally be of lower biodiversity value. 3.2.3. Historical Deforestation Rates The extracted data was used as a basis for the discussion and recommendations (chapters 4 and 5), and a summary In addition to the regional forest health calculations, of key headlines is presented in Table 3-24 in the results historical data were collected on deforestation rates in section. Further recommendations were extracted after protected areas, biomes, and “undesignated” areas, as further feedback from experts present at three events: well as on key ASM events in the study area. These were used to plot deforestation from 2000 to 2014. However, - 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly on Forest- in the light of the finding that the effects of ASM on smart Mining to Advance the New York Declaration forests are typically highly localized (sometimes not even on Forests and Sustainable Development Goals, New discernible within the 5-kilometer buffer), it was decided York, September 25, 2018 that it would not be justifiable to present historical data on ASM events on the historical deforestation plots and - “Forest-Smart Mining” brown bag lunch, World Bank, thereby imply a relationship between ASM events and Washington, DC, September 26, 2018 patterns of deforestation in the AOI; therefore, key dates of ASM activity are not indicated in the plots. The plots - Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals rather serve as an indication of background pressures on and Sustainable Development (IGF) Annual General forests at a regional scale to set against the analysis of Meeting (AGM), Geneva, October 17, 2018. deforestation around ASM sites at the smaller scale of the 5-kilometer buffer. 3.2.5. Limitations to the Methodology It is important to note that the time and resources 3.2.4. Case Study Data Analysis available for the study did not permit an assessment Lessons Learned and Recommendations of the forest ecosystem impacts of ASM other than remotely measurable deforestation and a qualitative Both country-level and site-level case studies were appreciation of impacts on the forest ecosystem based analyzed using a qualitative coding method to extract on information obtained from reports or interviews, the lessons learned under the following categories: extent and nature of which varied between ASM sites. For most ASM sites, no ESIA or other formal social and 1. Extent of forest impacts of ASM environmental assessment was available documenting 2. Political and economic barriers to forest-smart ASM the subtle impacts and influences of mining on forest 3. Governance barriers to forest-smart ASM ecosystems, their integrity, resilience, and function. 4. Solutions and mechanisms for achieving forest- smart ASM 34 FOREST-SMART MINING Moreover, because of the lack of longer-term data, the Forest Health Index methodology can only measure short- to medium-term changes in forest health variables: forest cover and forest loss (1–15 years). Therefore, longer-term changes in the forest health variables, such as those occurring in forests in developed nations with functioning forest management policies (for example, mandatory reforestation in conjunction with commercial logging), are not captured in their entirety. 3.3. BOLIVIA Country Overview World Bank development status Lower middle income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 7,248 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 7,120 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 7.1 2015 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 45.8 2015 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 3.5 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 71.1 2016 Bolivia is a lower-middle-income country highly Bolivia’s GDP (USGS 2016). The main products are silver, dependent on natural resource extraction, especially zinc, gold, and tin. The sector is organized into three natural gas and metals. The country has a varied main parts: the government-owned sector; small mining geography, large forested areas, and very high biological cooperatives; and medium- and large-scale private diversity. There are three main geographical areas: the enterprises. Whereas most of the production comes Andean region in the west; the lowlands in the north from private companies, ASM employs the vast majority and east; and the inter-Andean, which is the transition of the workforce, commonly organized in cooperatives. between lowlands and mountains. Approximately 80 The mining sector is governed by the Ministry of percent of forests are found in the lowlands. Mining and Metallurgy, and the most important piece The Andean region is known to be geologically highly of legislation is the Mining and Metallurgy Law (2014). prospective, and some lowland and inter-Andean areas Mineral ownership is vested in the state and mining are now increasingly proven to also be prospective, rights are provided through negotiated contracts. especially for gold. However, Bolivia is seen as Overall, mining and industrialization are prioritized, and comparatively unattractive for international mining- procedures for how to obtain community acceptance/ related investments, primarily due to a recent history of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) are clearly resource nationalism and an unfavourable investment outlined. Royalties are set up to promote benefits at the climate. Most gold is produced by ASM in forested areas. local level. Environmental stipulations exist that are both comprehensive and detailed. Mining is a well-established sector with considerable public support, currently contributing to 9 percent of FOREST-SMART MINING 35 Bolivia is undergoing a process of land reform, with the it is still worthwhile to promote forest-smart behavior aim to address the unequal distribution of land and by ASM miners through better education and improved insecurity of tenure. Land ownership and control have enforcement of Bolivia’s well-developed laws. varying patterns in different parts of the country. In the Both private and public land tenure can give rise to low eastern lowlands, there are large private landowners; environmental stewardship by ASM in different ways. In in the Andes and in areas inhabited by indigenous the Mapiri and Madidi case studies, ASM occurs on land communities, plots are smaller and land is more often that is either controlled by the state or by indigenous held communally or by the state. communities, which may give rise to “tragedy of the Bolivia has a rather unique constitution that recognizes commons” like situations, where miners take insufficient the collective and customary rights of indigenous care of the land that they use. Conversely, in San Ramón, communities to utilize and exploit renewable natural land is mainly privately held and mining is often done resources in their respective territories, as well as their in close cooperation with landowners. This could mean right to a share of profits from nonrenewable natural that insufficient consideration is given to environmental resources. The constitution is coupled with a framework regulations, compared to the landowner’s own priorities. law for protecting the environment, the Law of the The importance of the nature of land ownership and Rights of Mother Earth. The law refers to combined control over how mining is conducted should be ecological and human systems as “Mother Earth.” This considered and investigated further. approach means that Bolivia, after initially having been ASGM is ongoing in natural management areas an important UN-REDD partner country, now opposes (multi-use protected areas), but also in national parks. the scheme because it represents a commodification Whereas mining is permitted in the former, it is not in of nature, which is not in line with the constitution. The national parks. The results of the case studies research national system of protected areas covers 31 percent suggest that mining can be an appropriate land use in of the land, and much of this consists of “multi-use” multi-use protected areas if the intensity is kept low. protected areas in which mining is allowed (Protected However, impacts can cumulatively grow to become Planet 2017). Similarly, large parts of protected areas are locally significant, even if they remain insignificant at the inhabited by indigenous groups who retain rights to use landscape level. Therefore, the level of impacts needs to the areas in traditional ways. In such areas, mining may be carefully monitored, and overall a better knowledge only occur after a fairly extensive process of community of the geological prospectivity of such protected areas is consultation has been performed. needed to ensure their future adequate protection and Bolivia experienced forest loss at 0.6 percent per year management. (2000–2015) (GFW 2018). Bolivian policy is, however, Moreover, the use of mercury and destruction of river not to achieve zero deforestation but rather to ensure habitats should be assigned a comparatively higher the organized and planned expansion of agriculture priority for the allocation of preventative or remedial (and other land uses) through legal conversions of resources. forests. As a result, some parts of Bolivia—especially in the lowlands—are currently undergoing large-scale, Lessons Learned landscape-wide conversions of forested land into agricultural land. • Formalization of the ASM sector is important, but it is not an automatic solution for mitigating forest impacts. A formal sector requires suitable legislation, Is Bolivia’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? committed law enforcement, and capacity building of cooperatives as well as government authorities In spite of Bolivia having a comparatively well organized to be truly forest smart. ASM sector with strong cooperatives that usually hold formal licenses, no signs indicate this will lead to adequate • Forest-smart mining can achieve little forest compliance with environmental, or other, formal protection if other sectors implement poor policies, requirements of how mining should be performed. This such as the agriculture sector. Therefore, at a points toward fundamental challenges in successfully policy level, forest-smart mining can only achieve supervising and controlling the ASM sector, even when positive forest outcomes if other sectors also take formalization is achieved. responsibility for a forest-smart approach. ASGM does not cause significant impacts on forests at a landscape level at any of the locations studied, and 3.3.1. San Ramón, Bolivia with regards to deforestation, the importance of such mining compared to other drivers, such as agricultural The ASM area of San Ramón is located in Ñuflo de Chávez expansion in Bolivia’s eastern lowlands, is small. However, Province, in the department of Santa Cruz, eastern Bolivia. 36 FOREST-SMART MINING Most gold mining occurs within 8 kilometers of the town informal mining, to a great extent involving foreign of San Ramón, although there is also dispersed mining nationals (Brazilians). The Bolivian authorities intervened activity in a wider area (50-kilometer radius from the in 2001, after which mining has been done mostly by town). Widespread ASM is a rather recent phenomenon, Bolivian nationals and in a more formalized manner but the greater region has had some gold mining since (Estremadoiro 2012). the 1800s. Around 2000, there was a rapid increase in Photo 3-1 Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Operations near San Ramón Credit: Manuel Salinas All mining operations are exploiting secondary deposits but seldom have they fulfilled environmental obligations of placers in paleo-channels of rivers. Typically, heavy according to Bolivian mining and environmental law. machinery performs deep excavations, followed by There is widespread use of mercury. mechanized dredging and processing. Miners operate with varying forms of organization and degrees of Mining occurs within Chiquitano dry forests, part of legality. In this part of Bolivia, much of the land is in the Amazon biome. The area is rich in biodiversity. The private hands, which means that in addition to mining closest Key Biodiversity Area is 150 kilometers to the being conducted by cooperatives and individual east (Reserva Forestal Alto Paraguá), and areas reserved artisanal workers, there is another type of organization, for managed forestry (Tierras de Producción Forestal one where mining investors associate with landowners. Permanente) are present about 20 kilometers from San Mining operations may be both formalized and licensed, Ramón. FOREST-SMART MINING 37 Credit: Manuel Salinas Credit: Manuel Salinas 38 FOREST-SMART MINING Credit: Manuel Salina FOREST-SMART MINING 39 Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-1 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around San Ramón, 2000–2016 40 FOREST-SMART MINING The overall landscape is severely disturbed by is higher than average deforestation rates in Ñuflo de anthropogenic activities, as it is located on the Chávez Province (12.4 percent) and of Bolivia as a whole northeastern frontier of an area undergoing a near- (6.3 percent). complete conversion to agriculture and an associated explosive population growth. Thus, the area to the Table 3-2 Forest Health Score of the AOI around west and south of San Ramón is now dominated by San Ramón agriculture, with cattle ranching occurring in some more forested areas. Forest health score of AOI 0.122 Rank 21/23 Analysis of recent satellite data suggests that the total area where ASM occurs is very small, covering no more than At the landscape scale, there has been extensive 248 hectares (Figure 3-1). Analysis of spatial deforestation deforestation (Figure 3-2), with no protected areas within data from 2000–2016 reveals high deforestation rates (65 the AOI. Because of this recent and extensive forest percent) within the defined mining areas. Deforestation clearing, the forest health score is very low (Table 3-2) rates within the 5-kilometer buffer zone are also high, with the main negative driver being population change with 44 percent forest loss during the same period. This and the strongest but still weak positive driver being the amount of core forest. Figure 3-2 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around San Ramón, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 41 Conclusion 3.3.2. Mapiri, Bolivia The size of the overall forested area where ASM occurs The case study area is situated along tributaries of the in San Ramón is very small and the impacts on forests— Mapiri River, within about 10 kilometers of Mapiri town, though severe at the mining sites—are centered on the which is located in the province of Larecaja, about 130 actual deposits, so mining is not particularly relevant to kilometers north of La Paz. It is a sparsely populated landscape-wide deforestation. Large-scale, landscape- area, and the town has a population of 3,000. Mining wide deforestation in the San Ramón area is due to the occurs in tropical forests of the Amazon biome. The expansion of agriculture and rapid population growth. land is either controlled by the state or by two local These, in turn, are the result of a state policy to encourage indigenous communities. In the latter case, mining may agricultural expansion into forested areas. only occur after a fairly extensive process of community consultation. The northern bank of the Mapiri River In San Ramón, much of the land is privately held, which forms the southern border of the Apolobamba Natural means that mining is often done in close cooperation Management Area, a multi-use protected area in which with landowners who may not have a strong incentive to mining is allowed. Most of the ASM areas are designated ensure that environmental regulations are followed. The as being available for forestry. There is also small-scale importance of the nature of land ownership and control agriculture, which is a livelihood that may be combined over how mining is conducted should be considered with mining. and investigated further. Gold mining in and around Mapiri started in 1985, but Lessons Learned considerable expansion has occurred in the past decade. Activities are concentrated along rivers; miners target • ASM organizations, particularly when operating fluvial deposits as well as deposits on riverbanks and through formal structures such as cooperatives, slopes. The mining technology ranges from the use of should be treated as responsible for their impacts— heavy excavation and dredging equipment (formal small- lack of capacity needs to be addressed through scale mining) to panning (artisanal, largely informal). training and management support, but compliance In some areas, deposits have been found at depths of is not unattainable if the regulations are appropriate. some meters, which miners exploit by digging shafts and lifting loads to the surface for processing. Legal • Forest tenure is an important consideration regarding and formalized mining cooperatives dominate, with who has accountability over forest protection. Private an unknown number of informal artisanal miners also or public ownership structures can both have positive being active. The cooperatives arrange for participation and negative outcomes, so the effects of land tenure of informal miners who reprocess the cooperatives’ need to be examined on a case-by-case basis. tailings (barranquilleros). Few if any of the operators fulfill environmental obligations according to Bolivian mining and environmental law. There is widespread use of mercury. 42 FOREST-SMART MINING Photo 3-2 ASM gold mining operations near Mapiri Credit: Manuel Salinas FOREST-SMART MINING 43 Credit: Manuel Salinas Credit: Manuel Salinas 44 FOREST-SMART MINING Credit: Manuel Salinas FOREST-SMART MINING 45 Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-3 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Mapiri, 2000–2016 46 FOREST-SMART MINING Analysis of recent satellite imagery suggests that the cause of deforestation. The demographic growth of area where ASM occurs is extensive, covering 49,423 the Mapiri area and this associated expansion of the hectares (Figure 3-3). Analysis of spatial deforestation road network will most probably include a considerable data from 2000–2016 reveals low deforestation rates component of mining-driven growth. within the defined mining area (3.8 percent) occurring in an irregular pattern, although mostly concentrated in At the landscape level, there has been some significant river valleys. Deforestation rates within the 5-kilometer deforestation (Figure 3-4), with population change being buffer zone are low, with 2.1 percent forest loss during the main negative driver of forest health within the AOI. the same period. This may be compared with an average However, the forest health score is still overall high, deforestation rate in the Larecaja Province of 2.8 percent, owing to strong positive drivers of forest health, the main and in Bolivia as a whole of 6.3 percent. one being the extent of intact forests. The data points to significant deforestation in the mining Table 3-3 Forest Health Score of the AOI around area, including in the parts that are situated in the natural Mapiri management area. Inspection of the road network and the extent of associated clearing in available satellite Forest health score of AOI 0.676 images suggest road construction to be a significant Rank 3/23 Figure 3-4 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Mapiri, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 47 Conclusions • Multi-use protected areas can potentially encompass ASM as an acceptable use, but this The size of the overall forested area where ASM occurs in must be underpinned by stringent zoning that Mapiri is large, but the impacts on forests are small and considers the underlying geology as well as concentrated along rivers, so mining is not particularly ecological sensitivities at the local scale. relevant to landscape-wide deforestation. The use of mercury and destruction of river habitats, however, are 3.3.4. Madidi, Bolivia more severe impacts and should be assigned a higher priority for the allocation of preventative or remedial The Madidi case study focuses on an ASM district located resources. in a remote and very sparsely populated area of hilly rain forest in the Franz Tamayo Province, 250 kilometers Some of the mining takes place in the Apolobamba north of La Paz. Alluvial mining occurs in tropical forests Natural Management Area and appears to be causing of the Amazon biome, and activities are centered on the significant impacts on forests in restricted areas. It is Tuichi River and its tributaries. To the south of the Tuichi therefore questionable if mining at current levels and River is the Madidi Natural Management Area, and to the as it is currently being performed should be seen as north is the Madidi National Park, both consisting of land an acceptable activity in this multi-use protected area. controlled by the state. By law, mining is allowed in the This issue requires better knowledge of the underlying natural management area, but not in the national park; geology of the protected area and an adequate however, mining is occurring in both, although more so ecological sensitivity assessment to designate zones of in the natural management area. Much of the area is also acceptable use within the protected area. designated as being available for forestry. There is also small-scale agriculture, which is a livelihood that may be ASM is also occurring on designated indigenous combined with mining. territories, and the strength of population change as a negative driver of forest health suggests that a Gold mining dates back to the 1980s, but with considerable number of non-indigenous people may considerable expansion in the past decade. Activities have settled in the area in recent times. Indigenous rights are concentrated along rivers, and miners target fluvial to use renewable resources, and to have a share in profits deposits as well as deposits on riverbanks and slopes. The made from mining, may be jeopardized as a result. mining technology ranges from use of heavy excavation and dredging equipment (formal small-scale mining) to Lessons Learned from Mapiri (ASM in Multi-use panning (artisanal, largely informal). Mining operations Protected Area) may be both formalized and licensed, but they seldom • The forest impacts of ASM tend to be localized fulfill environmental obligations according to Bolivian at the mining site, with less discernible indirect mining and environmental law. There is widespread use impacts over a wider area. Conversely, impacts on of mercury. watersheds can be acute and widespread. 48 FOREST-SMART MINING Photo 3-3 ASM gold mining near Madidi Credit: Rio Tuichi, A. Aguirre FOREST-SMART MINING 49 Zona de Apolo, Credit: M. Uzquiano Zona de Apolo, Credit: M. Uzquiano 50 FOREST-SMART MINING Credit: Manuel Salinas FOREST-SMART MINING 51 Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-5 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Madidi, 2000–2016 52 FOREST-SMART MINING Analysis of recent satellite imagery suggests that the agricultural (Figure 3-5). This pattern makes it difficult area where ASM occurs is fairly large, covering 12,175 to discern between mining and agriculture-induced hectares (Figure 3-5). Analysis of spatial deforestation deforestation, and whether the two are related drivers. data from 2000–2016 reveals low deforestation rates (1.4 The data suggest that deforestation due to mining is percent) within the defined mining areas. Deforestation near negligible at the landscape level and appears to be rates within the 5-kilometer buffer zone are low, with less significant than regional patterns of deforestation 0.6 percent forest loss during the same period. This is caused by other drivers. comparable to average deforestation rates in the Franz Tamayo Province of 1.1 percent, and of Bolivia as a whole Table 3-4 Forest Health Score of the AOI around (6.3 percent). Madidi These patterns are concordant with government data stating that in 2016 there were 41 mining operations Forest health score of AOI 0.721 in Madidi National Park and its contiguous biosphere Rank 2/23 reserve Pilon Lajas, covering 1 percent of the total area of the two parks (Pagina Siete 2016). At the landscape level there has been some deforestation (Figure 3-6), with protected area deforestation being the Inspection of satellite images reveals fairly numerous strongest negative driver of forest health within the AOI. clearings in and around the mining district, mostly However, the forest health score is overall high (Table along river valleys, but also some on higher ground. 3-4), with the main positive driver being the extent of Comparatively more deforestation has occurred in areas intact forests. to the east and north and some distance away from the mining areas, and these clearings are likely to be mainly Figure 3-6 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Madidi FOREST-SMART MINING 53 Conclusions The size of the overall forested area where ASM is occurring As mining is conducted on land controlled by the state, in Madidi is considerable, but because the impacts on this may contribute to a “tragedy of the commons” forests are small and centered on the direct areas where situation where miners take insufficient care of the land mining is happening, the mining is not particularly that they use. The importance of the nature of land relevant to landscape-wide deforestation. The use of ownership and control over how mining is conducted mercury and destruction of river habitats, however, are needs to be investigated further. more severe impacts and should be assigned a higher priority for the allocation of preventative or remedial Lessons Learned from Madidi (ASM in Multi-use resources. Protected Area) Mining is ongoing in both a natural management area • The forest impacts of ASM tend to be localized and a national park. Whereas mining in the latter is at the mining site, with less discernible indirect not allowed, and therefore should be made to cease, impacts over a wider area. Conversely, impacts mining in the natural management area is causing fairly on watersheds can be acute and widespread. insignificant impacts on forests. This suggests that ASGM • Multi-use protected areas can potentially at the current levels may be an acceptable use allowed encompass ASM as an acceptable use, but within the Madidi Natural Management Area; however, this must be underpinned by stringent zoning the level of impacts needs to be carefully monitored. which considers the underlying geology as well Improved knowledge of the geological potential of the as ecological sensitivities at the local scale. two protected areas should underpin and be included in the measures needed to ensure their future adequate protection and management. 3.4. COLOMBIA Country Overview World Bank development status Upper middle income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 14,181 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 13,920 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 5.5 2015 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 51.1 2015 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 9.1 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 75.9 2016 Colombia is an upper-middle-income country with a Orinoquía, and Amazon. diversified economy. Its exceptional biodiversity puts it among one of the 17 “megadiverse countries.” Its territory Colombia holds a variety of mineral resources within is divided into six distinct biogeographic regions, its five major geological provinces, the main ones from west to east: Insular, Pacific, Caribbean, Andean, being gold, silver, platinum, and emeralds. It is also 54 FOREST-SMART MINING a significant producer of coal and oil. Mining and percent), cattle ranching (8 percent), and mining (7 quarrying contributed to 7 percent of the GDP in 2016; percent) (MinAmbiente and IDEAM 2017). however, Colombia is highly affected by illegal mining and therefore this represents an underestimation of the Colombia’s armed conflict has dominated politics for overall mineral production. In 2011, only 35 percent of decades, with implications on both the environment and mining units paid royalties and 63 percent did not hold a mining. Armed groups have profited from illegal gold mining license (Ministerio de Minas y Energia – Colombia mining, and the withdrawal of the Revolutionary Armed 2012). The artisanal and small-scale sector dominates, Forces of Colombia (FARC) following the peace deal has with 72 percent of formal and informal mining operations opened up space for rival groups to compete for control having up to five workers and 26.4 percent of the mining over gold resources even though the government has workforce being employed in ASM (Ministerio de Minas responded by deploying 80,000 soldiers and police to the y Energia – Colombia 2012). vacated FARC territories (International Crisis Group 2017). Illegal mining causes severe deforestation and pollution, Colombia has attempted to formalize the sector with but there are also concerns that the unavoidable rural limited success in past decades. One barrier has been development that will follow after the peace deal should that the Mining Code did not differentiate between be done in a sustainable way, particularly in the forested different scales of mining, posing high entry bars for but underdeveloped regions of Chocó and the Amazon. ASM. The 2013 National Formalization Policy recognized these barriers and Decree 1666 (2016) defined the Is Colombia’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? categories of subsistence and small-, medium-, and Colombia has sophisticated laws and policies governing large-scale mining based on the size of concession (for mining, forests, and the sustainable development of its licenses in the exploration phase) and on the volumes mining and forestry sectors. However, the application of of production (for licenses in the exploitation phase) laws and policies has been constrained by factors such (Republica de Colombia 2016). as lack of clarity over permissible activities within each Colombia has over 58,000 hectares of forests covering forest designation, inadequate government presence over 50 percent of its land mass (FAO 2015c), mostly in the remote but mineral- and forest-rich departments, concentrated in the Pacific (Chocó) and Amazon regions. and lack of clarity over the mandates of different mining Its national system of protected areas covers 14 percent entities. of its terrestrial area (Protected Planet 2017). In 2017, Colombia launched the new Peace Parks initiative, which In principle, the provision for area subtractions from will prioritize the protection of areas affected by its history forest reserves under strict environmental control can of conflict. Overall, the management effectiveness of be a way for forest communities to profit from ASM protected areas ranged between 60 and 80 percent in sustainably. The requirements for mining subtractions an evaluation done in 2007 (Pardo and Valenzuela 2007). are stringent and include environmental management Colombian law allows for the subtraction of portions plans, restoration plans, and resource use plans. In out of a forest reserve for mining purposes if it can be practice, however, this has meant few subtractions have justified for public benefit, provided an environmental been requested and even fewer have been approved. management plan is produced and approved. Informality and illegality continue to plague the The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Colombian mining sector. It is important to differentiate Development governs the forests, according to the between the two: informality refers to ASM entities Forest Policy of 1996. Colombia has a high proportion that have been unable to formalize, largely because of its public forests under community management of unfriendly legislation and poor implementation of (over 50 percent in 2010) (FAO 2015c), and a third of formalization policies. Illegal mining in the Colombian the country is held in indigenous reserves (IWGIA 2018). context is of much higher concern regarding forest The law recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples to impacts, as it refers to medium-scale mechanized mining administer their own territories. that is often a source of finance for armed groups and a cause of displacement of people, contamination of Colombia experienced a mean forest loss rate of 0.4 rivers, and deforestation. Efforts toward halting mining- percent between 1990 and 2015; however, deforestation induced deforestation in Colombia should focus on this rates increased by 44 percent from 2015 to 2016, proportion of the mining sector. predominantly in the Amazon region. According to the government, the main drivers of this deforestation have The informal ASM sector in Colombia does not receive been land grabs (45 percent), illicit drug plantations adequate capacity building, partly because of the lack (22 percent), infrastructure (10 percent), forest fires (8 of government representation throughout the country. FOREST-SMART MINING 55 There is a role for civil society and NGOs to step in Civil society has a strong role in regional government. and support ASM in technical training, environmental Via Law 70 (1993), Afro-Colombian and indigenous education, and monitoring, provided that the populations are given priority in rights to their traditional government intentionally directs these actions. territories (Congreso de Colombia 1993). As such, Afro- Colombian Community Councils (Consejos comunitarios) Lessons Learned get priority when requesting a special mining zone within their territory for use by their communities, and • Good laws and policies need to strike a balance this includes priority over forest protection. Currently, 10 between comprehensiveness and simplicity and Community Councils own mining concessions in Chocó must be accompanied by adequate government (Defensoría del Pueblo Colombia 2010). presence in remote or marginalized areas to help the ASM sector comply with environmental Chocó contains significant deposits of gold, platinum requirements. and copper, but 99 percent of mining occurs informally • The rise of semi-mechanized mining calls for a with no license (Ministerio de Minas y Energia – Colombia shift of focus from artisanal miners to small- and 2012). Artisanal mining, which has been a traditional medium-scale mining. Severe negative forest livelihood for centuries, has in recent decades given way impacts occur particularly because of ASM’s to illegal mechanized small-scale mining, often done mechanization combined with its typical illegality by migrants who do not obtain environmental permits and criminality. but pay informal fees to landowners for access to the deposits (Navarrete 2017). Given these challenges, there is a stronger role to be played by regional government in 3.4.1. COCOMACIA Community Council, Chocó, protecting community land rights and in ensuring that Colombia such rights are not subject to extortion or corruption. The department of Chocó lies in the Tumbes-Chocó- An example of this occurs in the municipality of Medio Magdalena biodiversity hotspot and consists of a diverse Atrato, an area of Andean forest under the jurisdiction array of ecosystems. A large part of the department lies of the Community Council COCOMACIA, where mining within a forest reserve, and other protected areas present with heavy machinery has largely replaced traditional include national parks, World Heritage sites, and special artisanal mining. Under Law 70, COCOMACIA has management areas. obtained legal mining rights despite it being within Chocó has the highest poverty indexes in Colombia a forest reserve—however, these rights only allow (39.1 percent living in extreme poverty compared to traditional artisanal mining, not mining with machinery a national average of 8.1 percent), and 75.68 percent as is currently being done. of the population is Afro-Colombian, Amerindian, or Attempts to mitigate the environmental impacts of indigenous (Gobernación de Chocó 2017). The area has mining in Chocó have been limited but include efforts been historically marginalized and impacted by armed such as payments for ecosystem services through the conflict owing to its strategic importance for the illicit BanCO2 program and mining roundtables to increase production and commercialization of drugs and minerals dialogue among stakeholders. that have financed decades of conflict (Serra-Horhuelin and Schoeller-Díaz 2014) and displacements of people by armed groups with mining interests still occur today (Unidad Nacional de Protección del MinInterior, pers. comm., 2017). 56 FOREST-SMART MINING Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-7 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Bebaramá, 2000–2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 57 Analysis of recent satellite imagery has identified a Table 3-5 Forest Health Score of the AOI around representative mining area of 2,638 hectares (Figure 3-7). Bebaramá This represents one of many areas where mining of similar nature occurs, so the regional mining footprint of mining Forest health score of AOI 0.483 in the region is larger. Analysis of spatial deforestation Rank 8/23 data from 2000–2016 reveals low deforestation rates (1.4 percent) within the defined mining area. The At a landscape level, there has been some deforestation deforestation rate within the 5-kilometer buffer zone is (Figure 3-8) and the forest health in the AOI around low, with 0.3 percent forest loss during the same period. Bebaramá scores relatively high (Table 3-5). The strongest This is lower than the average deforestation rate for the positive driver of forest health is the high amount of core department of Chocó (1.6 percent) for the same time forest found in Chocó, whereas the strongest negative period, and also lower than the average deforestation driver is population change. rate for Colombia as a whole (4.0 percent). Figure 3-8 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Bebaramá, 2001–2014 58 FOREST-SMART MINING Even though Chocó contains large extents of core forest Lessons Learned owing to its extensive habitat of dense vegetation, • While indigenous rights are rightly regarded as community authorities in Medio Atrato note that a tool for forest protection, they can be misused illegal mining has increased deforestation and loss of with negative outcomes on forests if not properly biodiversity, caused contamination to rivers, and created designed and monitored. roads and infrastructure that have opened up previously remote areas (Defensoría del Pueblo Colombia 2010). • Marginalized regions where ASM takes place Agriculture, fishing, and the use of forest resources are require renewed attention from central the top three livelihoods in the municipality (Municipio government in order to capitalize on actors and del Medio Atrato 2016); therefore, impacts on forests initiatives that show interest in responsible mining, have a particularly high implication for societies reliant even if these are relatively isolated cases. on such ecosystem services. The biggest challenge community authorities face in addressing the problem 3.4.2. La Cascada Mine, Caldas, Colombia of illegal mining is the difficulty of access to the areas (Corporación Autónoma Ambiental, Agencia Nacional The department of Caldas contains mineral deposits of de Minería, Unidad Nacional de Protección MinInterior, strategic importance and has a widespread ASM sector, pers. comm., 2017). albeit with a high degree of informality (Corpocaldas 2016). The department also has an economically Conclusions important agriculture sector, being the second-largest coffee-producing area of Colombia. Caldas contains The long-standing marginalization of minorities in over 15 types of protected areas, including national Colombia (Chocó, in particular) and the resulting high parks, national and regional forest reserves, and special levels of poverty have prompted the granting of a series management areas. Its largest, the Reserva Forestal of indigenous and Afro-Colombian rights as a means Central, which traverses eight other departments, is to repair historic wrongdoings. One of the measures divided into three zones, each restricting activities to a implemented is the creation of Community Councils, various degree, but national regulations allow for the which get priority in land claims within their traditional subtraction of an area from its protected status for low- territories, including the right to designate mining zones impact and regulated projects. within such regions. In a review of its mining licenses, the government of Caldas found that more than 100 licenses overlapped While granting indigenous rights is a positive policy, the with areas of ecological importance (Corpocaldas 2016). implication is that mining rights can take priority over As a result, the department was rezoned into zones of forest protection. This is problematic, especially set in the mining, restricted mining, and no mining. However, context of a biodiversity hotspot. The regulation of the most ASM miners in Caldas operate informally and have Community Councils’ rights must be strengthened and impacted watersheds and forests (Corpocaldas 2016). the environmental requirements clarified, in a way that The regional government is committed to addressing guarantees their autonomy but allows for a stronger role this high level of informality by designating legal of the regional government in overseeing the mining ASM areas near mining communities where miners sector. commit to certain low-impact mining methods, and by implementing training programs that have benefited up The autonomy of Community Councils can make their to 1,400 miners to date (Unidad de Desarrollo Minero land rights susceptible to extortion by illegal mining de la Gobernación de Caldas, Corpocaldas, pers. comm., operators, of particular concern because of their heavy 2017). machinery, if the government does not provide sufficient presence and backing. Often these operations are tied La Cascada is a Fairmined-certified ASM mine located to armed groups and the illicit drugs trade. Government in the Caldas department, near the city of Manizales. authorities do not have a strong enough presence in A formalized cooperative holds a concession of 220 Chocó, enabling illegal operators to proliferate. It also hectares where hard-rock gold mining is done with means that Community Councils that show interest on-site processing using gravimetric methods and in responsible mining practices are not receiving the cyanidation. The concession sits in tropical montane necessary support that they require to implement best forest and parts of the concession overlap with the practice, respond to the threat of illegal mining, and forest reserve of Rio Blanco and with páramo habitat, but address the needs of impoverished communities. none of the operations occur in those areas of overlap (Operational manager of La Cascada mine, pers. comm., 2017). FOREST-SMART MINING 59 The mine dates back more than 50 years and is • Using certified wood for infrastructure rather than located in an exceptionally biodiverse portion of the wood logged from surrounding forest Caldas department. The cooperative has progressively • Becoming mercury-free and taking steps to phase implemented substantial improvements in health and safety, employment systems, provision of training, out cyanide and environmental protection. In recognition of their • Using closed-loop cyanide plants and good practices, La Cascada was awarded the Fairmined sedimentation tanks to remove suspended solids certification in 2017 and is now able to commercialize from effluents their gold internationally at premium prices (Fairmined 2017). • Filtering gray water from the mine for reuse to avoid using water from freshwater sources Mechanisms implemented to reduce their footprint and environmental impacts include the following: • Bi-yearly monitoring of emissions to water, soil, and noise levels. • Limiting the extent of the mine, which has not expanded in the past 50 years • Giving up 18 hectares of their concession, which was in an ecologically sensitive páramo habitat (alpine tundra) Cambodia, by Angela Jorns, Levin Sources 60 FOREST-SMART MINING Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-9 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around La Cascada, 2000–2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 61 The concession of La Cascada covers 195 hectares. Table 3-6 Forest Health Score of the AOI around La Noting that mining only occurs in an unknown subset Cascada of this area, analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals low deforestation rates (0.3 percent) Forest health score of AOI 0.265 within the concession. Deforestation rates within a Rank 17/23 5-kilometer buffer zone are equally low, with 0.9 percent forest loss during the same period. These deforestation At a landscape level, there has been significant rates are lower than the average rates of deforestation in deforestation (Figure 3-10) and the forest health scores the Caldas department (4.0 percent) and in Colombia as relatively low. The negative score is most strongly a whole (4.0 percent). affected by a high population change over the past 50 years, while the strongest positive driver is the high amount of core forest left. Figure 3-10 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around La Cascada, 2001–2014 62 FOREST-SMART MINING La Cascada is set in a highly biodiverse area with a high ASM that shows the potential to adopt good practices potential for impacting forests. However, field visits and seeks to support it as a vector for local development. undertaken for this study confirm that the impacts of this Concrete programs such as the designation of legal mine have been extremely limited and that its mining ASM areas should continue and grow to achieve wider methods, organizational structure, and small footprint formalization. as an underground mine are examples of international best practice in ASM. It is unknown whether any of the An exceptional entity, La Cascada demonstrates that limited deforestation within its 5-kilometer buffer area best-practice ASM in forests of high biodiversity is (Figure 3-9) or that evidenced within the 50-kilometer possible. While the reasons behind La Cascada’s success AOI (Figure 3-10) is indirectly related to the La Cascada might be site- and context-specific, such cases should mine or to the mining sector in general. Caldas is a be supported by regional government and their models significant region for Colombia’s mining sector, notably replicated in other contexts, potentially through peer- in that it produces 17 percent of the national silver learning mechanisms. Market-based initiatives such production (Agencia Nacional de Minería, pers. comm., as Fairmined can be a valuable additional mechanism 2017). However, Manizales (found within the AOI) is also through which to drive best practice in ASM. Such a center for the production of Colombian coffee and a schemes are most successful when combined with hub of higher education. Given that the city houses 39 strong governance, but they may also provide a valuable percent of the department’s total population (Dirección alternative mechanism in areas where governance and Territorial de Salud de Caldas 2011), these pull factors are regulation are lacking. likely to be higher contributors to the population change that is driving a low forest health score. Lessons Learned Conclusions • In settings where informality is particularly high, the legalization of the ASM sector must be addressed Levels of informal mining in Caldas are high, and poor first so that more options for minimization of forest and unregulated operating practices are associated with impacts are available. negative environmental impacts. Besides the legal and environmental consequences, this has engendered a • Responsible ASM is possible—mines certified by negative perception of mining in Colombia, which must standards such as Fairmined provide a learning be addressed for meaningful engagement with the opportunity for how this can be achieved. sector. While more could be done to tackle illegal mining, the regional government in Caldas appears to recognize 3.5. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Country Overview World Bank development status Low income     Indicators Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 804 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 790 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 77.1 2012 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 42.1 2012 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 3.6 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 42.1 2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 63 The Democratic Republic of Congo is a low-income The DRC’s forests are at risk from artisanal mining, country with a population of 79 million in the Congo small-scale agriculture, and artisanal and industrial Basin of Central Africa (BBC News 2017). The country has logging. Between 1990 and 2012, the DRC experienced significant mineral wealth, including globally significant estimated average annual rates of deforestation of 0.2 deposits of copper, cobalt, cadmium, diamonds, gold, percent, which equates to 311,000 hectares of forest silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, germanium, lost annually (FAO 2011). Today, more than 13 percent columbite-tantalum, bauxite, iron ore, and coal. Mining of the country is classified as protected areas, but their contributes to 22 percent of the GDP (Radley 2018) and management is lacking and they are often inaccessible supports 14–16 percent of the population (Andrews, to authorities because of the presence of armed forces Bocoum, and Tshimena 2008). Minerals are owned by the (Mongabay 2006). There have been issues surrounding state, and access is controlled through a concessionary the designation of categories to forest areas without system. The Ministry of Mines governs mining and is appropriate consultation or consideration of preexisting responsible for designating Artisanal Exploration Zones community rights and public consent. (AEZs) for legally registered artisanal miners. In practice, however, most mining occurs informally. The Mining Code prohibits any activity within designated protected Efforts to reduce deforestation include a moratorium areas; however, mining still persists in numerous national on new logging concessions to limit deforestation and parks because of a lack of law enforcement, low funding review existing logging titles, active since 2002. To date, for control, and lack of capacity (Walmsley and Patel the review process and legal reforms have not been 2006). completed and nearly 90 percent of logging is illegal or informal small scale to supply domestic and regional markets (Chatham House 2014). The REDD+ program is The DRC’s mineral wealth and low production costs are active in the DRC; the largest REDD+ agreement, worth attractive to investors, but issues such as the presence $200 million, was signed by the DRC in April 2016. of armed groups, and weak governance have prevented substantial development of the large-scale mining Is the DRC’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? sector (US Department of State 2018). It is estimated that 90 percent of all minerals are artisanally mined, and The DRC is a country of significant mineral and that much of this is smuggled to border countries such environmental wealth, both of which have the potential as Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda. State and non-state to be resources for development. However, the country is military groups have a strong presence in the mineral also beset with a persistent history of conflict, one of the sector in the DRC, including direct control of mines and highest indexes of poverty, and strong financial interests sale of the minerals, illegal taxation of miners, or illegal in illicit economies—these factors have consistently taxation at roadblocks along transport routes (D’Souza prevented mining and forests from existing in harmony. 2003). The international community and downstream actors have focused almost exclusively on halting There is a lack not only of designated AEZs for legal the sourcing of conflict minerals, such as the OECD artisanal mining but also of suitable and profitable Guidance, the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism, AEZs to incentivize miners. In order to incentivize and regulations such as the European Union Conflict miners to abandon profitable deposits in protected or Minerals Law or the Dodd-Frank Act Section 1502. other forested landscapes in favor of legal areas, the alternatives should be equally profitable and accessible. Congolese authorities and international donors should The DRC has the greatest extent of tropical rain forests invest in better geological data to be made accessible to in Africa—over 100 million hectares—and exceptional the Ministry of Mines and the artisanal mining sector, and biodiversity (Mongabay 2006). Forests are owned by the this information should underpin decisions on where to state and tenure is controlled by the Directorate of Forest designate new AEZs. Management (WRI 2013). The forestry sector is relatively underdeveloped in the DRC compared to its neighbors Strong opportunity exists for the international com- and illegal logging is prevalent. The DRC government munity to expand its scope beyond conflict minerals has implemented a variety of different measures to try to include environmental considerations in their and protect the country’s forests. The most significant is due diligence regulations, standards, and guidelines. the 2002 Forest Code, which establishes basic principles For example, due diligence guidelines such as the for forest policy and the protections for local people in OECD should equip down-stream actors to check the production forests (WRI 2013). These measures, however, environmental footprint of the minerals they source. are not seen to be very effective, and deforestation continues to be a significant issue for the country. 64 FOREST-SMART MINING Lessons Learned claiming territory in KBNP; some refused to leave when evictions were attempted in 1975 with a view to extend • A minimum critical level of political stability and the park. Communities continue to mine, hunt, farm, poverty alleviation is needed before minerals and fish, and graze cattle within the park boundaries (Rainer forests can contribute to sustainable development 2013). One of the areas most at risk of human encroach- or before conservation investments can maximize ment is the narrow corridor linking the highland and their impact. lowland sections of the park, which is a crucial habitat • The international focus on conflict minerals has, corridor for large mammals. to an extent, obscured the environmental impacts KBNP has been affected by conflict since the Rwandan of ASM. With the right awareness raising and genocide in 1994 and the First Congo War (1996–1997), influencing, downstream players could increase when it received influxes of hundreds of thousands of demand for not only conflict-free minerals but refugees and displaced people (USAID 2016). Conflict and forest-friendly minerals. acute population pressure led KBNP to be categorized as a World Heritage Site in Danger in 1994 (Rainer 2013). In 1996, armed groups settled within the park boundaries 3.5.1. Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DRC and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP) is located in eastern lost control of many parts of the park (Spira et al. DRC and makes up part of the largest intact forest in the 2016). Illegal hunting, habitat loss, and deforestation all Congo Basin area. ASM has been present in KBNP since continue alongside artisanal mining in the national park the 1970s, predominantly mining coltan, wolframite, and limit the capacity of conservation actors to protect gold, and cassiterite. ASM in KBNP has been associated biodiversity in the region. Armed groups such as the Raia with the ongoing lawlessness and violence, including Mutomboki continue to have an established presence in the financing of conflict, illegal hunting, and habitat the park and maintain smuggling routes for the trading degradation (USAID 2016). There are many mining of minerals, arms, bushmeat, and wildlife products villages outside the park whose inhabitants mine outside through the porous borders with Rwanda (USAID 2016). the boundaries but also are known to penetrate the While several international conservation organizations protected area for mining. and donors have supported conservation work in Rush situations are not uncommon, such as in 2002 KBNP—including the Wildlife Conservation Society, the when 12,000 coltan miners moved into KBNP after an Jane Goodall Institute, and UNESCO—the international international price spike. Miners usually clear vegetation community has heavily focused its attention on reducing to access shallow deposits that outcrop on the surface. conflict minerals, thus somewhat obscuring the also The International Peace Information Service (IPIS) (2017) pressing need for environmental action. has documented at least 13 mines within the national park, with many more around its boundaries. Mine sites can vary in size between 2.5 to over 40 square kilometers. Contested land in and around the park is a major issue, with many communities, including indigenous groups, FOREST-SMART MINING 65 Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-11 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Kahuzi-Biega National Park, 2000–2016 66 FOREST-SMART MINING Deforestation data was examined for a section of Table 3-7 Forest Health Score of the AOI around approximately 35,000 hectares (Figure 3-11) along Kahuzi-Biega National Park the southern boundary of the park, where mining has been documented by IPIS (2017). This represents one of Forest health score of AOI 1 many areas where mines exist in and around KBNP, so Rank 1/23 the total footprint of ASM in the area is larger than that. Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 At the landscape level, Kahuzi-Biega has the highest reveals high deforestation rates (35.6 percent) within the forest health score among all case studies (Table 3-7). defined mining area. The deforestation rate within the This is strongly driven by the presence of the largest 5-kilometer buffer zone is moderate, with 5.3 percent amount of intact forest. Despite this, deforestation in forest loss during the same period. This is comparable and around protected areas does take place (Figures to the average deforestation rates of the South Kivu 3-11 and 3-12). Population change scores as the Province (6.3 percent) and to the DRC as a whole (5.3 strongest negative driver of forest health, which is likely percent) for the same time period. to reflect the large influx of refugees and displaced people that the region has received since the Rwandan genocide and the Congo Wars. Overall, deforestation, pollution and loss of endangered biodiversity is being driven by a combination of interlinked drivers, including mining and poaching activities, conflict and the availability of arms, and population increases due to conflict, poverty and the attraction of mining. Figure 3-12 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Kahuzi-Biega National Park, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 67 Conclusions such as the gorilla is critical and should also be addressed with more short-term solutions. Rather than attempting Disputed land tenure is an overarching issue for KBNP to eradicate mining, “softer” approaches that have shown and has significant impact on park conservation. The some success to date include introducing alternative area around KBNP is densely populated and many people protein sources, microcredit schemes, and community exert claims on park land. The rights and needs of these conservation strategies. These efforts have been local people must be adequately addressed in DRC law and and limited in extent to date, and there is potential incorporated into the strategy of conservation efforts so for the international community to scale them to a that people do not continue activities including mining, landscape level. agriculture, and hunting within park boundaries because Lessons Learned of a lack of viable alternatives. • In areas of conflict with strong political interests in Kahuzi-Biega is a case in point where, humanitarian, the mining sector, political and humanitarian issues economic, and environmental factors compound must be given priority even from a conservation to create a highly complex situation. Environmental perspective. Conservation efforts are unlikely to degradation of KBNP and increased mining activity within succeed, even if they entail appropriate community the park are closely linked to conflict and instability in involvement, if powerful interests in mining and the the region, which ultimately obstructs the success of armed conflict are not addressed first. conservation efforts. Conservation investments will be more fruitful if efforts to increase stability precede • Poor demarcation of park boundaries continues to them or are weaved into their strategy, including the manifest itself in land disputes over 40 years later. demilitarization of mines. In turn, illicit financing and It is essential to follow appropriate FPIC procedures protected or abetted criminal activities heavily underlie from the start in issues regarding land tenure as conflict and mining in the DRC and it is essential that land claims and loss of trust become increasingly these be tackled. complex over time. Bearing in mind that the above would require a long- term strategy, the state of certain endangered species 3.6. ECUADOR Country Overview World Bank development status Upper middle income     Indicators Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 11,264 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 11,050 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 4.8 2015 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 46.5 2015 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 5.2 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 66.6 2016 Ecuador is an upper-middle-income country with a coastal plain, and Galápagos Islands, with the most fairly diversified economy. It has a varied geography forest being in the Amazon. Ecuador has a national and very high biological diversity. It is divided into four system of protected areas covering 20 percent of land. distinct biogeographic regions: Amazon, Andes, Pacific The government may also set aside so-called intangible 68 FOREST-SMART MINING zones where extractive activities are not permitted, mining, and infrastructure. Reducing deforestation is to safeguard areas of great cultural and biological a national priority and initiatives to achieve this form importance. Such intangibles zones include areas in the part of the National Development Plan and the National Amazon that may be prospective for petroleum, and Afforestation and Reforestation Plan (2012), which where uncontacted indigenous group still live. Overall, also aims to increase the economic importance of the the management effectiveness of protected areas has forestry industry. been rated as moderately unsatisfactory. Scores on indexes that relate to good forest and environmental Is Ecuador’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? management are similarly modest. The two large mines due to open are situated in a sparsely The Andean region is geologically highly prospective, but populated, underdeveloped, and remote province with despite this Ecuador has been seen as unattractive for a sizable indigenous population, dense forest cover, international mining-related investments, although this and high biodiversity. In developing these projects, it reputation has improved in recent years because of a new is vital that best environmental management practices Mining Law (2009) and associated reforms. While mining are used, and that the mitigation hierarchy is applied to currently contributes less than 1 percent to Ecuador’s manage impacts at the site level. However, at a landscape GDP, with the output almost exclusively produced level, it is even more important to manage and control through ASGM, there is now a clear government strategy the secondary impacts that may be caused by economic for attracting foreign investment and promoting the development and population increase. A range of efforts development of LSM. Two large mines are due to open and initiatives is needed in this regard (safeguarding in the Zamora-Chinchipe Province, which is a densely protected areas, ensuring responsible and clear land use forested and comparatively less developed area of planning, sustainable levels of logging, and safeguarding the country. These two mines are part of five so-called the rights of indigenous groups), which is mainly strategic projects that the government has been the responsibility of national or regional authorities. promoting in various ways. The other three projects Substantial efforts must be focused on ensuring that are situated in the provinces of Azuay (two projects) these authorities have the requisite capabilities, and this and Morona Santiago, both of which border Zamora- should entail partnership and close coordination with Chinchipe. the LSM companies. In this regard, it is also advised that strategic environmental studies are needed, possibly in a The mining sector is governed and regulated by the process led by the provincial authorities. Ministry of Mining, an entity created in 2015. Minerals are owned by the state and mining rights are awarded ASM continues to dominate the mining sector and its through concessions in a bidding-based system. The impacts on forests must not be neglected. Ecuador’s distinction between artisanal and small-, medium-, and policy for ASM centers on upscaling artisanal miners to large-scale mining is clearly articulated in the Mining small-scale miners and formalizing them into organized Law and is based on volumes of production, size of groups. In the long term, this is an appropriate strategy, mining area, and machinery used. Each type of mining is but in the short and medium terms, it may cause associated with environmental and fiscal responsibilities, substantial problems: small-scale mining can be very which become more stringent with increasing size. destructive to forests owing to the combination of Ecuador’s policy on ASM has since at least two decades mechanization, poor environmental awareness and been centered on attempts to formalize the sector and capability on part of the miners, and weak environmental improving the technical capabilities of miners. supervision and control on part of the authorities. Any efforts to upscale the industry must be accompanied by The Ministry of Environment governs the forests and improved environmental supervision and control on the forest tenure is held by the state, private landowners, or part of the authorities, and capacity-building efforts that indigenous groups. Overall, the forestry sector is rather are directed toward the relevant authorities as well as the significant, although its products are mainly for the miners. domestic market with only little being exported. The Although mining remains a small sector of the economy, timber industry is characterized by a high number of small it has been receiving considerable interest from backers operators. The largest owners of forests are indigenous (industry and sometimes government) and those that communities, and the protection of indigenous rights oppose it (indigenous groups, environmentalists). The features strongly in Ecuadorian law. political seesaw between these opposing camps has Ecuador has experienced forest loss at a mean rate of led to widely contrasting mining sector policies to be 0.6 percent per year (2000–2015). The principal driver of adopted over the years. It has also caused misalignment deforestation is agriculture, followed by others that vary in between provincial government policies, which have importance depending on the region, including logging, often opposed mining because of concerns over FOREST-SMART MINING 69 indigenous rights and environmental health, and national The discovery of the Nambija gold deposit in 1980 led to policies that have aimed to attract large mining projects a gold rush attracting up to 20,000 people from within in mineral-rich regions. It is important for Ecuador to the country and abroad who organized themselves arrive at a policy for the sector that can be stable in the into informal cooperatives. They extracted gold in an longer term, and that strikes the right balance between unplanned manner using rudimentary and inefficient promoting responsible economic development, with technology, reaching gold recovery rates of between 40 appropriate environmental and social safeguards. and 60 percent. Despite Ecuador receiving donor-funded technical assistance in mining methods, Nambija miners Lessons Learned continued to mine illegally and inefficiently throughout • Countries new to attracting large-scale mining the 1980s and early 1990s (Sandoval 2001). projects must ensure that mining policies are consistent across political camps within the A deadly landslide in 1993, which killed 400 people, drew nation, to avoid the risk of being met with internal national attention to Nambija and its informality, health conflicts or being perceived as an unstable political and safety risks, and social degradation. Several attempts environment. to modernize mining methods followed, but these were met with little uptake from the mining cooperatives • Environmental requirements must be proportional (Sandoval 2001). to the capacity of mining entities. Clearly defining mining types on a scale from artisanal to large In parallel to a nationwide focus on formalization and scale and assigning incrementing environmental on the eradication of illegal mining, a new process responsibilities to each level can reduce the burden of attempted formalization began in 2010 when the of compliance on small-scale actors. Ministry of Nonrenewable Natural Resources (since renamed the Ministry of Hydrocarbons), together with • The upscaling of artisanal miners should occur the participation of the population of Nambija, created proactively as a controlled drive toward responsible an intervention plan based on a social and environmental and formal mining practices before mechanization diagnostic study (PRAS 2015). Legalization of the mining occurs haphazardly with little control over forest operations was the first step of the intervention plan, and impacts. this was successfully achieved in 2015 when the formal association ASONAMBILE was created and granted the 3.6.1. Nambija, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador rights to the concession. The association currently has 300 members, and mining operations are ongoing. The small-scale mine of Nambija is located in southeastern Ecuador, in Zamora-Chinchipe Province. It sits on one of The following steps of the plan have been implemented the largest gold deposits found in Ecuador. After nearly or are planned: three decades of illegality, Nambija was formalized in 2015 when a concession of 69 hectares was awarded 1. Technical studies to determine the size of mineral to the small-scale mining cooperative Asociación de reserves and to obtain an environmental license, Producción Minera Nambija Legendaria (ASONAMBILE). subject to approval of the EIA, which has already Nambija is found within a tropical evergreen montane been submitted. forest that shows medium to high existing levels of 2. The social intervention required in order to anthropogenic disturbance (PRAS 2015), but extensive relocate the settlement of Nambija, following intact forest and five protected areas exist within a public consultation and presentation of relocation 50-kilometer radius. alternatives for the affected community (PRAS 2015). This is required because it is illegal to have a Mining in Nambija is hard-rock gold mining, extracted settlement within a mining concession. from underground tunnels using explosives. Mineral processing is done on-site and includes the use of The above plans were all being implemented with some mercury and attempts at using cyanide have been success and with the authorities allocating considerable made (SES 1999). A settlement of over 300 houses resources. In 2016, however, a severe earthquake with a population of some 800 inhabitants currently struck another region in Ecuador and this drew both exists within Nambija’s concession, and rudimentary government funding and interest away from Nambija infrastructure serves the mine and miners (PRAS 2015). with the result that the relocation came to a standstill. Demographic assessments of the population indicate a Progressively declining gold prices have also prompted very small number of people identifying as indigenous many to abandon Nambija, and its population has (Ministerio del Ambiente – Ecuador 2010). dropped to 790 inhabitants (Sandoval 2001). 70 FOREST-SMART MINING Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-13 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Nambija, 2000–2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 71 Analysis of recent satellite imagery and verification via Pollution of water bodies with mercury and other waste published sources (PRAS 2015) suggests that mining from the mining process is of severe concern to the activities cover an area of approximately 1,079 hectares environmental authorities (PRAS 2015). (Figure 3-13). Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals low deforestation rates (2.6 percent) Table 3-8 Forest Health Score of the AOI around within the defined mining areas. The deforestation rate Nambija within a 5-kilometer buffer zone is equally low, with 1.5 percent forest loss during the same period. These are Forest health score of AOI 0.574 comparable to the average deforestation rates of the Zamora canton (1.7 percent) and lower than the average Rank 7/23 deforestation of Ecuador as a whole (3.6 percent) during At the landscape level, forest health within the AOI the same time period. scores relatively high (Table 3-8), with the extent of Despite the presence of protected forest and intact forest intact forest being the strongest positive driver. However, landscapes within the 5-kilometer buffer area, most of deforestation has occurred (Figure 3-14), and population the forest around the mining sites consists of secondary change is the strongest negative driver of forest health. forest predominantly made up of pioneer species, which While this is to be expected given that mining has indicate a high level of anthropogenic disturbance. attracted substantial influxes of migration into the Nambija district over the years, the mining settlement has historically remained concentrated around the mine and is not expected to have had a landscape-wide effect on forests. Figure 3-14 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Nambija, 2001–2014 72 FOREST-SMART MINING The latest attempt at formalization of mining at Nambija compliance and forest management. was widely acclaimed, particularly for significantly improving the precarious social conditions that prevailed Lessons Learned earlier. In terms of managing environmental impacts, • The geology of deposits can constrain the direct the formalization of operations is a too-recent event to impacts of a small-scale mine—underground notice any positive changes in practices, but the fact (hard-rock) mines tend to have a lower footprint on that an EIA is being approved is encouraging. However, vegetation than surface or alluvial mines. a perception exists among cooperative members that the environmental requirements for small-scale miners • Attempts to formalize need an appropriate legal under the new Mining Law of 2009 are still too onerous sector that sets attainable requirements from for their scale and capacity (Information from an Nambija small-scale miners. Formalized small-scale mines engineer, pers. comm., 2017), and this signifies a risk of still require committed assistance in designing and noncompliance. implementing environmental management plans. Conclusions • To be forest smart, mining methods must be clean but also efficient and achieve high recovery rates, Even though Nambija attracted up to 20,000 miners at its so that mines remain open for as short as possible. peak, the forest degradation that occurred was restricted to a small area. This partly has been due to the mine being underground with a reduced footprint and due 3.6.2. San Luis, Podocarpus National Park, to the reliance of the settlement on imports rather than Ecuador on forest-derived products. However, the sector is clearly The ASM site of San Luis is found in the center of beset by other serious environmental and social issues, Podocarpus National Park. This part of the park falls under which have been perpetuated by decades of illegality. the administrative domain of the Zamora-Chinchipe Province, with other portions of the park belonging to Ecuadorian mining policy is supportive of ASM and strives the Loja Province. Podocarpus forms part of the Condor- to formalize it and improve its technical performance. Cutucú conservation corridor, a global biodiversity Legal reforms have created favorable conditions for hotspot, and the San Luis area is found within tropical formalization, setting more realistic expectations that ASM rain forest and montane forest. According to national organizations are now able to meet. Nambija represents law, ASM is illegal inside national parks. how this regulatory framework has been applied in practice through the development and implementation Mining in San Luis is predominantly hard-rock gold of an intervention plan. While successes, such as mining; however, in recent years miners are increasingly producing an EIA, have progressed, there is potential turning to alluvial gold mining in dispersed streams for formalization to drive improved environmental in locations not known to park authorities. Mineral practices and forest management if Nambija receives processing is done on-site and includes the use of the appropriate guidance and technical assistance. A mercury. Related infrastructure and supporting services serious commitment by the authorities to implementing are limited to nonexistent; miners survive on provisions the intervention plan, especially the adequate relocation brought to the site on foot via an arduous roughly 12- of the Nambija residents, is important in order to reduce hour journey, and the extracted gold is transported out the impacts of the mine, as well as to rebuild trust in the in the same manner. government after decades of a turbulent history. Mining in San Luis dates back to 1985, when a large- Mining at Nambija has been characterized by inefficient scale mining concession was granted within Podocarpus methods, lack of geological knowledge, and low to Cumbinamasa S.A., a subsidiary of the Norwegian recovery rates. Inefficient recovery rates can have direct company Ecuanor, despite Podocarpus having been implications on environmental and forest outcomes as declared a protected area in 1982. Ecuanor sold the project they would prolong the time taken for a deposit to be to Rio Tinto, which then abandoned it in 1993, allegedly mined out, therefore extending the time over which a once evidence of the illegality of the concession became rush is active. Introducing more efficient and responsible evident (De Leon 2009). However, ex-workers of the mining methods should be a priority following company remained on the site operating at an artisanal formalization, with the twofold objective of introducing scale. Artisanal miners claim to have been mining in San cleaner technology while simultaneously increasing Luis since 1974 before the park’s creation (Melo et al. recovery rates that would improve the commercial 2013), but park authorities say that artisanal miners first viability of the association, allowing for more financial entered the area using the 32 kilometers of roads that resources to be invested in proper environmental were constructed during Ecuanor’s prospecting phase FOREST-SMART MINING 73 from 1985 onward (O. Peralta and J. C. Ortega of the Despite repeated attempts since then to voluntarily and Ministry of Environment, pers. comm., 2017). forcefully evict miners, invasions continue to recur shortly after evictions. Armed forces have been deployed on Concerns about the growing illegal ASM led to the occasions in an increasingly militarized approach. Both creation of an Inter-Institutional Committee of Defense miners and park authorities have behaved aggressively, for Podocarpus National Park, which achieved the with park rangers receiving death threats from miners peaceful eviction of 800 miners in 1994, when ASM in San and authorities torching confiscated equipment and Luis was at its peak. In exchange for their voluntary exit, camps. It is worth noting that, even though miners have miners were granted amnesty from legal prosecution not been fully removed from the park, the number of and promised a formal mining concession outside miners in recent years has been only about 60 people park boundaries. However, such concession was never in comparison to previous years when numbers have granted, in part due to disputes over which groups of averaged at 200 (O. Peralta and J. C. Ortega of the Ministry miners were entitled to the new mining rights. Efforts to of Environment, and F. Lopez of the Universidad Técnica assist miners with diversifying their livelihoods toward Particular de Loja, pers. comm., 2017). agriculture or fisheries were equally unsuccessful (López, Torres, and Beltrán 2003). As a result, artisanal miners Forest Health and Impacts returned to the park. Ecuador, by Theodora Panayides, Levin Sources 74 FOREST-SMART MINING Figure 3-15 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Podocarpus, 2000–2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 75 Published geological information suggests that the Despite the impacts from mining being small, the mining in San Luis occurs over approximately 97 hectares authorities do not tolerate illegal mining within (Figure 3-15). Analysis of spatial deforestation data from Podocarpus out of respect to the law and in order 2000–2016 reveals low deforestation rates (0.1 percent) not to set a negative precedent. However, the park within the defined mining area. The deforestation rate management is not adequately equipped to completely within the 5-kilometer buffer zone is equally low, with eliminate illegal mining. Park rangers consider that the 0.1 percent forest loss within the same time period. proportion of Podocarpus that falls within the Zamora- This is lower than the average deforestation rates in Chinchipe region is understaffed in comparison to the the Nangaritza canton (1.1 percent) and in Ecuador as a part of the park under the Loja administration, which is whole (3.6 percent) for the same time period. able to maintain a stronger deterring presence (O. Peralta and J. C. Ortega, Ministry of Environment, pers. comm., The impacts observed by Ministry of Environment staff 2017). Owing to the remoteness of the site, entry to the during evictions are localized and include logging in park can be done only via helicopter and in favorable the surroundings, inorganic waste disposal, and the weather. In addition, the police need the authorization construction of simple camps (Villavicencio Onofa of the district attorney to make arrests, which in turn 2016). It is known that effluents containing mercury are means that a high degree of coordination and planning discharged into rivers, and water levels of streams have is required for every eviction. been reduced by the extraction of water for processing the gold. While the impacts on rivers may be discernible Table 3-9 Forest Health Score of the AOI around further downstream, impacts on forest and biodiversity Podocarpus are unlikely to be wide-reaching based on the minimal deforestation footprint (Figure 3-15), the localized extent Forest health score of AOI 0.611 of the impacts observed by Ministry of Environment Rank 5/23 staff (Villavi-cencio Onofa 2016) and observations made during an environmental expert’s site visit in 1999 (A. Flachier, pers. comm., 2017). Detailed studies of At the landscape level there has been some deforestation environmental impacts have not been done because of (Figure 3-16), with population change being the strongest the site’s remoteness and difficult entry. negative driver of forest health within the AOI. However, the forest health score is overall high, with the main positive driver being the degree of forest connectivity. Figure 3-16 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Podocarpus, 2001–2014 76 FOREST-SMART MINING Conclusions requires substantial efforts by the authorities in terms of mineral prospecting. In fact, it is unlikely that the state The history of Podocarpus highlights that LSM-related has either the expertise or the resources needed for such prospecting activities, when conducted in protected or an initiative to be successful. An alternative, to provide otherwise sensitive areas, can unintentionally pave the artisanal miners with concessions in areas already held way for ASM to establish in undesired locations. This by others, is likely to encounter near-insurmountable possibility needs to be acknowledged and managed, legal problems. both by authorities and companies. Lessons Learned Repeated evictions have not been completely efficient but appear to have been partly successful as a deterrent, • The decision of where to allow LSM to occur has indicated by a decrease in number of miners over the implications beyond its own direct or indirect years. In Podocarpus, however, the state has on occasion impacts and can open up previously unavailable failed to deliver on its negotiated responsibilities, making areas to activities such as ASM. Not allowing trust-based voluntary evictions unlikely to succeed and prospection in ecologically sensitive areas, augmenting the need for a militarized approach. therefore, becomes even more important when the social conditions of the area allow for the possibility Issues of understaffing and underresourcing of park of ASM becoming an economically attractive authorities and other government staff involved in activity. supervision and control of mining have prevented the park from maintaining a stronger deterring presence. • Significant investment in park management is Protected area managers need specific training and tools required after each eviction to prevent repeat for sustainable and responsible evictions or more general invasions. However, even if miners do return, repeat park management to address ASM threats to forests. evictions are still valuable as a deterrent to keep the The location and subsequent provision to artisanal number of miners to a minimum if understaffed miners of alternative mining concessions outside of park authorities are not able to maintain a strong park boundaries is a possibility that may hold some enough presence to prevent invasions in the first promise but is associated with some fundamental place. problems. The location and setting aside of such areas that are not already used or identified by other miners 3.7. GHANA Country Overview World Bank development status Lower middle income     Indicators Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 3,980 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 4,160 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 13.6 2012 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 42.2 2012 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 5.8 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 58.9 2016 Ghana is a lower-middle-income country with a long period of transition from state control to private control, history of mining, particularly gold, and the industry the LSM sector today is dominated by a relatively small represents a significant source of export revenue and is number of largely foreign-controlled firms. There is also the country’s highest source of tax revenue. Following a a significant ASM industry, mostly Ghanaian controlled, FOREST-SMART MINING 77 which has grown in importance from 2 per-cent to 36 but special provisions exist for mining in forest reserves, percent of production since 1989. ASM includes both including additional permissions from the Forestry hard-rock mining and alluvial mining (galamsey). Commission, limits on the proportion of reserves that can be allocated to mining, additional tax requirements, Historically, Ghana was highly forested, but it has lost 60 and a cross-department management committee. percent of its forests since 1950 and today only 20 percent Coordination between the MLNR commissions and the of the land is forested. Over half of the remaining forest EPA is weak. The World Bank does not rate Ghana as a lies within a network of forest reserves, most of which particularly easy place to do business (it ranks 120th are allocated to forestry production and are in poor out of 190) and environmental protection policies are condition, and many more are “off reserve” (outside the rated fairly poorly. However, mining companies perceive protected area system). Protected areas cover 15 percent Ghana as one of the easier places to operate. of the land surface. About 17 percent of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are in national parks and 66 percent in forest Because of the current galamsey crisis, the Ghanaian reserves. government banned all ASM in March 2017 (initially for six months, now indefinitely) and is promoting a $200 The key drivers of forest loss are agriculture (50 percent) million Multilateral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP) and wood removal (35 percent); mining accounts for 5 that will review the legal regulatory regime for ASM, percent of the losses. Forests play a very significant role including streamlining permitting processes for legal in the Ghanaian economy. Timber production alone ASM. The ban has temporarily reduced the pressures of contributes more to the economy than mining in terms ASM in all areas, including on forests. of GDP and employment, but there is also massive reliance on forests and their products in poor rural Is Ghana’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? areas, with over 1 million people living in forests and up to 70 percent of income derived from forest products, Forest reserve status is insufficient to ensure protection predominantly hunting, timber, and fuel. REDD+ is of forest against mining. The protected area (PA) fairly well developed in Ghana, with a national strategy network needs to be extended and reinforced, and published, but there is relatively little focus on forests more KBAs turned into national parks. In combination and mining. Ghana has also initiated a natural capital with reinforcing the PA network, the key area of focus accounting (NCA) system, including the preparation of needs to be on limiting mining in forest reserves and “off an implementation strategy. reserve” forests. LSM in natural forests is a relatively common occurrence, Forests are perceived as economically important, but mainly through the opening up of forest reserves to minerals are considered to be economically more mining in the early 2000s. ASM incursions to forest important. Most see forests as economically substitutable reserves or protected areas are reported to be very minor for minerals, without considering biodiversity or (although ASM significantly impacts plantations in some ecosystem services, and with the timber values simply regions). There are several LSM mines recorded in forests restored later through reclamation. A lack of locally in the Raw Materials Database and five licenses have based forest tenure is likely to be an important factor been granted to mine in forest reserves. At least one in the relatively low perception of forest value. In this forest reserve designated a KBA (Atewa Forest Reserve) is regard, Ghana is taking positive steps by initiating the threatened by a proposed bauxite mining project. implementation of a NCA system. The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR) The conversion of agricultural land to galamsey might controls both mineral resources (Minerals Commission) be driving indirect forest conversion into agriculture to and forest resources (Forestry Commission); however, meet demand for crops. Greater awareness needs to the former is significantly more influential than the latter. be developed on the long-term consequences of this Mineral resources are owned by the state, but private and policies put in place to incentivize better land use actors can be granted complete control over resources. decisions. Forest resources are also owned and traditionally Despite mineral and forest resources being managed by managed by the state. This is just starting to change the same ministry and environmental impacts managed now with the introduction of a number of community by an external EPA, there is scope for much better resource management schemes and delegation coordination and more evenly balanced relationships. agreements. Part of the appeal of Ghana to mining companies may be Environmental impacts in general are licensed and related to its relatively weak environmental regulations monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and enforcement. 78 FOREST-SMART MINING While the ban has been temporarily effective in reducing 3.7.1. Atewa Range Forest Reserve, Eastern the forest impacts of galamsey, there are indications that Region, Ghana legal ASM operators have obeyed and ceased operations, Atewa Range Forest Reserve is located near the East while illegal operators have restarted mining despite the Akim Municipal District in Ghana’s Eastern Region and ban. has been recognized as a Key Biodiversity Area by the Lessons Learned IUCN. It is also the source of three major rivers (Densu, Ayensu, and Birim) that provide drinking water for an • Interministerial coordination between the mining estimated 5 million people from the surrounding area ministry and the environment agency is necessary, and Accra, the Ghanaian capital (Triebert 2017). It was with both having equal standing and levels of gazetted as a national forest reserve in 1926 and a special influence across key decisions. biological protection area in 1994 (A Rocha Ghana, n.d.). The Atewa landscape is one of the Hotspot Intervention • Natural capital accounting is a promising Areas under Ghana’s Cocoa REDD+ program funded by mechanism through which to increase the visibility the World Bank (The REDD Desk 2018). The NGO A Rocha of the often-indirect economic value of forests is leading a campaign to have the Atewa reserve made relative to the direct economic benefits of mining. into a national park to better protect its eco-system from • Strong protected area networks are essential, human threats, especially LSM for bauxite (Osei-Owusu and the extent of coverage is as important as the 2016). Atewa forest is threatened by ASM, LSM, farming, degree of protection granted to the most common illegal logging, and hunting. protected area categories. Protected areas should Atewa has substantial gold and bauxite reserves, and the be promoted in landscapes where mining takes government of Ghana’s renewed interest in the bauxite place, and full protection levels should be granted sector has led to the granting of exploration concessions where possible. from a variety of LSM companies in and around the park • Extreme measures such as mining bans are reactive (Environmental News Agency 2017). Artisanal alluvial rather than a proactive and cannot be sustained in gold mining is a crucial form of livelihood in the region the long-term. and occurs primarily along the upper part of the Birim River (ENA 2017). Underground pit mining is also present in the reserve. Miners also remove patches of forest to create “resting areas” for miners around the site (Osei- Owusu 2016). FOREST-SMART MINING 79 Figure 3-17 LSM Exploration and Exploitation Concessions around Atewa Range Forest Reserve The national ban on all artisanal mining has reduced land rehabilitation of ASM sites, standard practice is but not eliminated the amount of ASM in the region, inadequate as it does not preserve the topsoil and only and serious forest health impacts are still caused by uses a limited number of tree species in replanting ASM, including water pollution, heavy metal poisoning, (Cooke 2017). The removal of topsoil and pollution have and pervasive sediment loading around the Birim River made extensive areas of land around the park unfit for (ENA 2017). Alluvial artisanal gold mining has polluted farming, impacting local agricultural lands that had a the downstream water supply through the washing of long history of cocoa production but are now only fit gold ore and use of mercury amalgamation techniques for low-value crops like manioc (Photo 3-4) (Cooke 2017; for concentrating and extracting the gold (Osei-Owusu Osei-Owusu 2016). 2016). Although there have been some attempts at 80 FOREST-SMART MINING Photo 3-4 ASM on alluvial plain, East Akim (top); Replacement manioc plantation after ASM has made the land unfit for cocoa, East Akim (bottom) Credit: A. Cooke Credit: A. Cooke FOREST-SMART MINING 81 Hunting of protected and traditionally sacred animals to reforest mined-out areas (Photo 3-5, right) appear within the reserve is widespread (A Rocha Ghana, n.d.). inadequate and unlikely to result in the reestablishment Logging in Atewa forest has not been permitted for many of forest. years, but illegal logging still occurs (A Rocha Ghana, n.d.). On some occasions, illegal logging has escalated to Forest Health and Impacts the point that the army has been called in to deal with The study examined a section of ASM mining activities at the issue (Osei-Owusu 2016). Subri, to the east of the northern half of the Atewa forest, In 2012, a three-year program called the Atewa Critical within the Kibi Goldfields industrial concession. The Conservation Action Programme (ACCAP) was launched mining area covers 95 hectares (Figure 3-18). Analysis to target threats to the reserve through awareness raising of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals activities and advocacy. This initiative did a lot to bring high deforestation rates (19 percent) within the defined international attention to the reserve and the campaign mining areas. Deforestation rates within the 5-kilometer resulted in subsequent work by IUCN Netherlands and buffer zone show 8.8 percent forest loss during the NGOs A Rocha and Living Waters from the Mountain (A same period. This is lower than the national average (12 Rocha Ghana, n.d.). percent) but higher than the average deforestation rates for the Eastern Region (5 percent), suggesting that ASM The local district has one of the most active District may be contributing measurably to deforestation in the Mining Committees, which endeavor to control illegal study area. mining and to resolve land use conflicts between mining and agriculture at the local level. Local leadership Nevertheless, Figure 3-18 shows that there has been appears to have a high environmental awareness, and much less forest loss in the Atewa forest reserve (only 1.5 the region boasts at least one replanted forest as well as percent) than in other areas; therefore, the forest reserve recent rehabilitation efforts by ASM operations. status has a significant protection effect. Atewa forest reserve management staff interviewed confirmed that In East Akim, one community reforestation initiative ASM incursions into the reserve had been very minor, dating back to 2000 stands out as a success (Photo 3-5, affecting no more than a few hectares (A Rocha Ghana left), whereas attempts nearby by mining operators staff, pers. comm., 2017). Photo 3-5 Community Reforestation Site Planted in 2000, East Akim (left); Recent Replanting by ASM Operators (right) Credit: A. Cooke 82 FOREST-SMART MINING Credit: A. Cooke FOREST-SMART MINING 83 Figure 3-18 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Atewa, 2000–2016 84 FOREST-SMART MINING Table 3-10 Forest Health Score of the AOI around Atewa Forest health score of AOI 0.324 Rank 12/23 At a landscape level, the AOI around the Atewa reserve has a mid to low forest health score of 0.324 and ranks 12th out of 23. The strongest negative driver of forest health is deforestation in undesignated forest; the most influencing positive driver is forest connectivity (Figure 3-19). Figure 3-19 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Atewa, 2001–2014 Conclusions Decentralized permitting/planning and empowerment of local government can help ensure better forest Forest reserves provide significant protection against outcomes from ASM, if district-level authorities show ASM; however, full protected area status is required a high capacity. Centralized and inefficient permitting for fully effective protection. On the other hand, forest procedures, when the ban ends, would discourage ASM reserve status appears to provide insufficient protection formalization and ultimately impede the establishment against the indirect impacts of LSM if concessions are of forest-smart mining. granted close to its boundaries (see LSM study). Lessons Learned Effective rehabilitation following mining should systematically be required for all ASM operations. • In areas where both LSM and ASM are present, forest Development of a national standard for rehabilitation management needs to address mining as a whole could help to encourage this. Furthermore, strong civil and take full consideration of indirect impacts. It is society participation in aspects such as rehabilitation can not always enough to not allow mining concessions help mitigate the impacts of ASM. within protected area boundaries. FOREST-SMART MINING 85 • Local government can take ownership of forest- forests are converted to agriculture to meet demand. smart mechanisms within its scope if decentralized This causes substantial deforestation when combined powers are granted to them, provided that they with forests being converted to mining pits (Doso et al. have the backing from civil society to protect forests. 2015). A land use study noted that, between 1986 and 2002, surface mining (LSM and ASM) in the Western Region of Ghana resulted in forest loss of 58 percent of all 3.7.2. Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal District, forests within concession areas, and that the main areas Western Region, Ghana affected were forest patches embedded within farmland Tarkwa in Ghana’s Western Region is a significant area (Schueler, Kuemmerle, and Schröder 2011). of evergreen forest mountain ranges, with three forest The University of Mines and Technology (UMAT) in reserves (Bonsa, Ekumfi, and Neung) that together Tarkwa is promoting improved agricultural technology represent 10 percent of the country’s closed forest (Obiri in association with alluvial gold mining. A feature of et al. 2018). Tarkwa is a center of gold and manganese ASM is returning to the same area for repeat mining, mining, but 70 percent of the local people are employed which discourages investment in soil improvement and in agriculture, growing crops such as cassava, maize, oil agriculture. If ASM methods were more efficient and palm, rubber, citrus, and cocoa (Yaaba Baah-Ennumh could extract more gold, repeat mining could be avoided and Ato Forson 2017). and land could be restored to plantation, safeguarding The Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal District produces agricultural capital. UMAT proposes a system of intensive approximately 35 percent of Ghana’s gold output and rotational quadrant mining and smart agriculture to ASM and LSM are both present in the region (Obiri et al. maximize efficient value generation from land while 2018). Opencast, underground, and alluvial mining are assuring land reclamation and return to productive all forms of ASM in the region (Yaaba Baah-Ennumh and plantations once gold resources are exhausted. Ato Forson 2017). Gold processing is generally carried ASM is often unregulated, and the mine sites found out on-site, with semi-mechanized production methods either to be exhausted or not to have economically viable and the use of mercury to treat gold concentrate and on- deposits are not rehabilitated, leaving large exposed pits site sale of gold to traders. Tailings are regularly shipped and making the land no longer suitable for other uses out for processing by industrial companies, who are like agriculture. Opencast mining is most common, able to achieve superior extraction rates compared to resulting in large pits, grading down of hills and removal ASM. Artisanal gold mining has been present in Tarkwa of trees and vegetation (Yaaba Baah-Ennumh and Ato for several decades, but tension between LSM and ASM Forson 2017). Agricultural capital is further eroded in has increased in recent years because of growing com- some areas because of the mercury contamination of petition over gold-bearing land (Calys-Tagoe et al. 2015). soils. Pollution of water bodies by acid mine drainage This has led to conflict over concessions and increased and cyanide spillage from gold mining has been found illegal artisanal mining on large-scale mines, protected to be a serious environmental concern for local residents. areas, and agricultural land because small-scale miners refuse to work in unprofitable land plots that the Because of surmounting concerns over pollution, government allocates to them (Hilson and Potter 2005). deforestation, and the informality of the sector, the Ghanaian government placed a blanket ban on small- Tarkwa has been an area of significant conflict between scale mining in January 2017 that is still in place. illegal ASM and agricultural communities. Tenant Through the Ministerial Small-Scale Mining Office, the farmers and landowners are readily bought off to allow government has been running training on sustainable miners to proceed, with the result that agricultural mining at UMAT in Tarkwa. An effort is also under way to lands become permanently degraded and suitable provide alternative livelihood ventures for illegal miners only for marginal crops such as manioc rather than for who have been displaced by the ban. more profitable cocoa plantations. Local people have had their land ceded to mining companies and lack of Forest Health and Impacts alternative livelihood leads many to illegal gold mining and processing gold from large-scale mine tailings (Obiri Analysis of recent satellite imagery suggests that alluvial et al. 2018). ASM is widespread in the region. A representative section of approximately 778 hectares of ASM along the Ankobra Surface mining in Tarkwa takes away land from agricultural River was chosen for this study, but the actual footprint use, decreasing agricultural production and reducing the of alluvial gold mining is larger than that (Figure 3-20). fallow period from 10–15 years to 2–3 years, depleting Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 the land further of nutrients (Hilson and Potter 2005). reveals medium deforestation rates (14 percent) within As agricultural concessions are lost to mining projects, 86 FOREST-SMART MINING the defined mining areas. Deforestation rates within the of Tarkwa) showed that between 1991 and 2008, ASM 5-kilometer buffer zone are high, with 16 percent forest degraded areas increased from 13 square kilometers loss during the same period. These are similar to the to 29 square kilometers (an increase of 16 square average deforestation rates of the Western Region (13 kilometers) and the amount of land available for cocoa percent) and for the country (12 percent). The presence production declined from 15 square kilometers to 11 of high deforestation rates and significant pockets of square kilometers (a decrease of 4 square kilometers). vegetation gain suggests the establishment of cocoa Nonetheless, the percent of forest cover actually and rubber plantations. Forest losses are thus likely to be increased over the same period from 18 percent to a mixture of forest clearing for agriculture and ASM, and 20 percent. This would suggest that ASM in the Wassa clearance of plantation for ASM. Amenfi East District is primarily affecting agricultural and scrubland areas rather than forest, or that the expansion Figure 3-20 shows the highly generalized nature of forest of plantations has exceeded losses of plantation and loss across the entire area, from evenly dispersed point forests caused by ASM and other activities (UMAT 2017). sources and relatively few, larger, continuous blocks of deforestation. There is no obvious concentration of losses A field visit was made to a hard-rock mine near Tarkwa associated with ASM areas, which occur primarily in a (Photo 3-6). The impacts of the mine were limited to small river basin. The map also clearly shows that deforestation areas of slope around the mine workings and sifting and is much reduced in the Angoben Shelterbelt Forest processing in the riverbeds. Impacts on plantations and Reserve, showing that forest reserves can provide natural forests appeared to be minor. The total footprint effective protection. of the 10-year old mine was stated to be about 10 hectares (mine manager, pers. comm.). Studies by UMAT in the Wassa Amenfi East District (north Hard-rock gold mine, Tarkwa , Credit: A. Cooke FOREST-SMART MINING 87 Figure 3-20 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Tarkwa, 2000–2016 88 FOREST-SMART MINING Table 3-11 Forest Health Score of AOI around negative driver of forest health being protected area Tarkwa deforestation. Forest connectivity was the strongest positive driver. Undesignated deforestation has shown Forest health score of AOI 0.279 marked increases over the period 2001–2014 (as was Rank 15/23 the case for the Atewa case study area. This suggests that deforestation in the Tarkwa area is in line with the At a landscape level, the forest health in the Tarkwa area common national trend and not significantly affected has a mid to low score. Significant deforestation has by ASM. occurred since 2000 (Figure 3-21), with the strongest Figure 3-21 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Tarkwa, 2001–2014 Conclusions previously cleared river basins, can serve to reduce the effective forest impact of ASM. However, due to high With Tarkwa being a key agricultural region, forests rates of mercury contamination of agricultural land, this are under pressure by both ASM and agriculture, but would need to be accompanied by strict requirements agriculture is also threatened by mining-driven pollution. on mercury-free methods. By incurring into plantations, mining is indirectly exacerbating deforestation as farmers who have been Effective rehabilitation and decontamination following displaced by mining turn to forests for available land. mining should systematically be required for all ASM The promotion of agroforestry, provided it is not at operations. Development of a national standard for the expense of natural forests, provides an economic rehabilitation could help encourage reforestation of incentive for alternatives to conversion of land to ASM mined-out lands. In parallel, incentives should be created or to agriculture—provided it is backed up by regulatory to maximize gold extraction in any operation to avoid protection and robust land tenure. Furthermore, repeat mining. Access to improved technology and payments for ecosystem services schemes could help to industrial processing methods allows greater gold to disincentivize conversion to mining, which promises extraction for the same impact. higher returns for a piece of land. The fact that training and alternative livelihood schemes Focusing alluvial mining in areas where there is already have begun in Tarkwa signifies some positive action high forest loss because of agriculture, such as long on behalf of the government to take advantage of the mining ban during this time of uncertainty. FOREST-SMART MINING 89 Lessons Learned • Mining is more profitable than agriculture or forestry in the short term. The incentive to convert forest or • ASM’s impacts on agriculture also need to be crop land to mining needs to be countered through addressed—by degrading agricultural land, ASM payments for ecosystem services, value-add can increase demand for new agricultural land and agroforestry techniques, or other financial methods. indirectly drive deforestation. 3.8. INDONESIA Country Overview World Bank development status Lower middle income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 11,632 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 11,240 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 6.8 2016 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 39.5 2013 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 5.6 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 65.9 2016 Indonesia is a significant player in the global mining one of the major contributors to Indonesia’s greenhouse sector, particularly for copper, gold, tin, and nickel. As gas emissions (GFW 2017a). Mining is not perceived as a contribution to national economic development, a major driver of deforestation at a national level given the sector has been falling in recent years in response the high rates of deforestation caused by extensive to some legislative reforms, but it remains close to 5 agricultural industries such as palm oil and rubber, but percent of the national economy overall—6 percent of it can have significant local impacts and does occur in GDP comes from mining (Wacaster 2014)—and often protected forests in some places. represents the largest contributor to local government revenues in the areas where large projects are present or The regulatory environment in Indonesia is complex, ASM is particularly prominent. Over the past two decades, with many strong laws, but also various over-lapping the nation has become an Asian epicenter of artisanal and contradictory legislations, a lack of a centralized mining. Of most prominence are the artisanal and small- land registry, and varying levels of enforcement and scale cassiterite and gold sectors (EITI Indonesia 2015). corruption. Government is increasingly decentralized, Despite the size of the ASM sector and the provision for with important institutions at the national, provincial, some licensed ASM operations, most miners in Indonesia and district levels. District government provides most operate informally, without the security of a license. of the services, but some issues, including mining and forests, are still largely controlled centrally. Main Indonesia is also one of the most important forested governmental efforts with regards to formalization of the countries, with about half of the country still forested and artisanal sector have focused on mercury eradication, millions of people directly reliant on forest resources (WRI given the severity of mercury pollution in many of 2017). However, these forest resources are declining fast, Indonesia’s gold mining areas. Other governmental and with Indonesia having some of the highest deforestation nongovernmental efforts have also partly addressed rates in the world and deforestation estimated to be the allocation of more People’s Mining Areas, evicting 90 FOREST-SMART MINING illegal miners from protected areas and rehabilitation to the growing international demand for commodities. of mined-out land. ASM can only take place in People’s Despite institutional challenges, Indonesia receives a lot Mining Areas unless a mining company provides written of international assistance and has a high capacity for consent allowing artisanal miners to work in their driving a more forest-smart ASM sector. concession. According to sources in Indonesia, there are not enough People’s Mining Areas compared to the Lessons Learned size of the artisanal mining sector (Stocklin-Weinberg, • At the local level, the need for forest-smart mining Haris, and Mitchell 2013). Key environmental legislation is often high due to significant local impacts. At the includes the Ministry of Environment’s Law No. 23/2008, national level, in countries where other industries which regards technical guidance on pollution control are driving larger forest impacts, forest-smart mining and environmental damage; Law No. 41/1999, which can only yield meaningful positive outcomes if is the primary law pertaining to forestry allocation and sectors such as agriculture and logging also commit usage; and Law No. 57/2016, which places a moratorium to addressing their impacts. on development activities of peat-filled wetlands. • Decentralization of authority can empower local At both the national and local levels, strong commitments government to take a more active role in promoting have been made toward green development, with the forest-smart mining, if lower-level administrative president announcing 25–42 percent targets for emission entities have the capacity to do so and resources are reductions. REDD is seen as a significant mechanism for properly redistributed from central government. achieving this and Indonesia is home to a multitude of demonstration projects. However, despite the public commitment, Indonesia has made little progress toward 3.8.1. Bangka Belitung, Indonesia actually reducing deforestation rates to date, due in Bangka and Belitung Islands, along with other part to the involvement of numerous, uncoordinated smaller islands, form the province of Bangka Belitung. institutions, failure to establish monitoring, reporting, Approximately two-fifths of the province’s land surface and verification (MRV) or finance mechanisms, and failure is covered by forests, including hardwood and ironwood, to enforce deforestation laws. However, with REDD now as well as mangroves on coastal areas (Encyclopedia under the remit of a single government ministry, finance Britannica 2017). and MRV mechanisms reportedly close to completion, and a major drive to increase community forestry Indonesia is the world’s second-largest producer of tin; in tenure, Indonesia may be getting close to addressing 2016 the country was responsible for a third of the global deforestation. tin supply (Kyngdon-McKay et al. 2016). Artisanal tin mining is widespread in Bangka Belitung, including both Is Indonesia’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? on- and offshore activities as well as alluvial and hard-rock Indonesia’s forest challenges are some of the largest in activities. Recent figures from local government estimate the world and are recognized as a national priority to 10,000 mining units on land and approximately 1,600 address. Mining is not a key driver of forest loss at the units offshore, each with groups averaging five miners, national scale, but it can have significant local impacts. giving a total estimate of 58,200 miners. Most of the mining takes place on Bangka Island. Belitung Island, on The recent changes in Indonesia’s mining laws have the other hand, has larger tourism and fisheries sectors been viewed fairly negatively by the international mining and thus a stronger lobby against mining (Stocklin- world. The changes themselves are not inherently bad Weinberg et al. 2017). As shallow ores get exhausted, for the relationship between mining and forests in mining increasingly takes place in previously unmined Indonesia; however, there could be a risk that they force forested areas, including in mangroves (Stocklin- out larger, international companies that are subject to Weinberg, Haris, and Mitchell 2013). international scrutiny and standards and replace them with local companies that may not be subject to the Artisanal tin mining began to proliferate in the early 2000s, same pressures. coinciding with the government’s decentralization and increased global demand. This period saw thousands of There is a good chance that the recent dip in large- people turn from agriculture and fishing to the mining scale mining activity in Indonesia will rise again when sector, including migration from other Indonesian the challenges the legislative changes present are islands (Ginting, Budi, and Khalid 2014). PT Timah, a overcome. If and when the sector does start to grow government- and industry-owned mining company with again, there is an opportunity to ensure any growth an integrated smelter, holds a concession covering three happens in a forest-smart manner. Conversely, the ASM quarters of the province (Ginting, Budi, and Khalid 2014). sector has grown steadily and will continue to respond Approximately half of the production from PT Timah’s FOREST-SMART MINING 91 concession comes from artisanal miners who are there At a provincial level, the mining authority has allocated without the express permission of the company, with only one People’s Mining Area in the East Belitung the exception of one area on Bangka where agreements Regency, but the area appears to be devoid of a viable exist (Kyngdon-McKay et al. 2016; Stocklin-Weinberg et deposit (pers. comm., 2017). al. 2017). International supporters such as the Tin Working Group PT Timah is responsible for rehabilitation in its and the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and concession, but efforts have been unsuccessful, partly Natural Resources are putting efforts into building a due to inadequate techniques but also because artisanal responsible mining scheme, demonstrating best-practice miners return to mine the reclaimed area. Local law reclamation, reforestation, and wetland restoration, and only requires reclamation after the resource has been generating knowledge-sharing mechanisms. completely exhausted. At a local level, the government resorts to forceful evictions or confiscation of equipment. According to several local government sources, it is very challenging to stop the mining activities, mainly because the enforcement capacity at the regency or district level has been handed over to the provincial level of government due to the recent implementation of Law No. 23/2014. Bangka Belitung underground mine, Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta 92 FOREST-SMART MINING Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-22 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Bangka, 2000–2016 a b FOREST-SMART MINING 93 Figure 3-23 Satellite View of ASM Activities in Bangka, 2000–2014 94 FOREST-SMART MINING Tin mining is so extensive in Bangka that it was Table 3-12 Forest Health Score of the AOI around impossible to identify a discrete mining area. Instead, Bangka all visible mining areas in the northeastern section of Bangka were delineated based on satellite imagery Forest health score of AOI 0.226 (Figure 3-22). Mining extends throughout the island, Rank 19/23 so the actual footprint is larger than that illustrated in Figure 3-22. In this section of Bangka Island, mining has a footprint of approximately 28,980 hectares. Analysis of At the landscape level, deforestation within the AOI has spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals high been consistent and increasing throughout the past deforestation rates (47.8 percent) within the defined decade (Figure 3-24). The forest health score within the mining areas. This is significantly higher than average AOI is low (Table 3-12), with undesignated deforestation deforestation rates in the province (34.2 percent) and in being the strongest negative driver of forest health. A Indonesia as a whole (14.3 percent). Because the ASM certain amount of core forest is the strongest positive activities spread all over the region, a buffer zone could driver of forest health; however, its influence is relatively not be meaningfully allocated. Figure 3-23 illustrates weak. the visible footprint of Bangka’s artisanal tin mining operations. Figure 3-24 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Bangka, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 95 According to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, legislations for the ASM sector, and low capacity for extensive mining activities take place in forest areas, enforcement and monitoring. including conservation forests (seven companies) protected forests (44 companies), and production • In such areas where ASM has already caused extensive forests (70 companies), despite it being illegal to mine impacts, rehabilitation should be a priority and the in conservation forests (cited in Ginting et al. 2014). As government must assume the responsibility for this of 2017, however, that number has decreased, with the as well as for ensuring that areas are not re-mined. ministry confirming that 22 mining licenses have been granted in forest areas. Recent figures from the Ministry 3.8.2. Central Kalimantan, Indonesia of Environment and Forestry estimate that over 220,000 hectares of critical land have been impacted in some The province of Central Kalimantan forms part of the way by mining activities. Other land uses, particularly three-nation region called Borneo, which is home to one agricultural activities such as palm oil, are likely to also of the world’s largest transboundary rain forests (WWF significantly contribute to forest degradation. 2017). There are three bio-physical regions in Central Kalimantan: southern coastal mangroves and inland Conclusions swamps; central plains and hills, much of which has been cleared for agriculture; and northern hills and mountains, ASM activities in Bangka Belitung have been proliferating whose forests remain generally intact (CIFOR 2015). since the early 2000s, drawing tens of thousands Central Kalimantan contains 3 million hectares of tropical of miners to the region. Mining is clearly a major peatlands, which is 8 percent of the world’s total (CIFOR disturbance of forest health and has a spread over an 2015). It is the pilot province of the REDD+ program. area uncharacteristically large for ASM. While extensive agriculture is also likely to be contributing equally or Mining in Central Kalimantan accounts for 25 percent more significantly to forest loss, the mining sector also of the provincial annual GDP, and palm oil holds a contributes to other serious social and environmental similarly important place in the provincial economy (26 issues (UNITAR 2016). percent of GDP). According to Stapper (2011), there were approximately 43,000 artisanal gold miners working The legislation of the mining sector in Indonesia does in Central Kalimantan, producing 13.3 tonnes of gold not adequately account for the artisanal mining sector. annually in both alluvial and hard-rock mining. Most of Although there are regulations around mining taking the artisanal mining sector operates informally and only place in forest areas, these are rarely enforced, or they around 5 percent of miners work in legal mining areas. are unclear. Moreover, weak governance and a lack Forms of permission range from official licenses to mine in of transparency is a significant barrier for forest-smart a designated People’s Mining Area to customary permits mining. handed over by local village cooperatives (Chairil 2006). Excavation and extraction equipment such as dredges, Bangka Belitung is, therefore, an example of how dredge-sluice combinations, suction pipes, and buckets regulatory, capacity, and transparency barriers affect are in use (UNITAR 2016). Mineral processing is done in forest health when in combination with a population a central facility and includes the use of mercury and, base prone to the pull factors of ASM and an extensive sometimes, mercury-treated tailings are then leached geology of high-value and accessible deposits. with cyanide (Telmer and Stapper 2007). Serious commitments by authorities to clarify the laws Central Kalimantan has a long history of gold mining, should be a first priority and local governments should as artisanal mining has taken place since the 18th have the mandate to monitor and enforce the law, century and it is the largest artisanal gold mining area in particularly for rehabilitation to be possible. Moreover, in Indonesia (WWF 2011; Nainggolan 2015). It experienced Bangka Belitung, legal mining should be made feasible a rush of 10,000 miners in the late 1990s (Sulaiman by allocating more and more viable People’s Mining 2007). Miners are native to the area, working in family Areas (one more is in the process of being designated). groupings with paid workers who are either from the province or have migrated from another part of the Lessons Learned country (Stapper 2011). Workers usually pay an “investor,” who then provides them with financing for equipment • ASM can have high forest impacts if geological, and supplies. The payment of bribes or entrance fees to social, and institutional factors create unfavorable the landowner or individual members of the police is a conditions for forest-smart mining: dispersed and frequent occurrence (Spiegel 2011). accessible high-value deposits, a population base willing to migrate for prospects in ASM, inadequate According to Spiegel (2011), the government is 96 FOREST-SMART MINING ambivalent about what approach to take when it comes a program of direct intervention, aimed at lowering to Central Kalimantan’s informal artisanal mining sector. the level of mercury used by gold processors and Overall, however, police crack-downs on miners seem to subsequent emissions from burning mercury amalgam be the most common approach. by introducing retorts and conducting awareness-raising campaigns (Agrawal 2015). The decentralization reforms of Indonesia have given districts (lower level) greater jurisdiction over land use than provinces (higher level). This has led to an issue Forest Health and Impacts of disputed forest zones such as the riparian forests of Central Kalimantan, where the two levels of government ASM activities are concentrated in several areas of Central disagree over which has jurisdiction. A presidential Kalimantan; Kahayan has been chosen as sample area for instruction in 2013 designated these contested zones as this analysis, covering 13,971 hectares (Figures 3-25, 3-26, “Holding Zones” so that the formulation of spatial plans and 3-27). Deforestation within the estimated mining for the rest of the area can proceed while the matter is area is high, with 5,499 hectares (45.3 percent of mining resolved (Gnych et al. 2014). area) lost between 2000 and 2016. Deforestation in the wider area within a 5-kilometer radius is also high, with In comparison to little governmental effort, NGOs and 10,302 hectares of forest (19.8 percent of the 5-kilometer international organizations in Central Kalimantan have buffer area) lost between 2000 and 2016. Deforestation focused on mercury reduction. In the first decade of within the 5-kilometer buffer is higher than average the 2000s, Central Kalimantan was one of the target deforestation rates in Indonesia as a whole (14.3 percent), areas of the UNDP-UNIDO-GEF Global Mercury Project but lower than Central Kalimantan deforestation rates (Sulaiman 2007). Between 2011 and 2015, the United (21.4 percent) over the same period of time. Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) sponsored Kalimantan ball mills Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta FOREST-SMART MINING 97 Bangka Belitung open pit mining Credit: Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta Kalimantan open pit mining Credit: Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta 98 FOREST-SMART MINING Dredging in Kalimantan Credit: Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta Kalimantan, Underground Indonesia mine dredging, in Kalimantan by Yayasan Tambuhak Photograph: Yayasan TamuhakSinta Sinta FOREST-SMART MINING 99 Figure 3-25 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Kahayan, 2000–2016 It seems that deforestation within the 5-kilometer buffer zone happened mostly between 2005 and 2010 (Figure 3-26). However, yearly deforestation within a wider area had further deforestation peaks, found mainly in 2003, 2007, and onward (Figures 3-26 and 3-28). Land cover time series done by UNITAR-UNOSAT have similarly demonstrated that alluvial gold mining in this catchment expanded between 2005 and 2015 (Figure 3-27). 100 FOREST-SMART MINING Figure 3-26 GIS Analysis of Annual Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Kahayan, 2000–2016 a FOREST-SMART MINING 101 Figure 3-27 Gold Mining in the Upper Kahayan Catchment, 2005 (left) and 2015 (right) Source: UNITAR 2016. 102 FOREST-SMART MINING Source: UNITAR 2016. FOREST-SMART MINING 103 Table 3-13 Forest Health Score of the AOI around driver of deforestation in the vicinity of gold-bearing Kahayan rivers. While this should be treated as an important driver of forest impacts, at the 50-kilometer buffer level and at the Central Kalimantan province level, extensive Forest health score of AOI 0.274 agriculture (particularly of palm oil) and logging are Rank 16/23 likely to be more significant than mining. Moreover, it is difficult to obtain a clear scope of the damage to the forest caused by ASM activities because there are so At the landscape level, the forest health score within the many artisanal mine sites located throughout Central AOI is overall low (Table 3-13), with biome deforestation Kalimantan and the miners work deep in the forest to being the strongest negative driver of forest health avoid raids from the police. However, pollution of water (Figure 3-28). bodies with mercury and other waste from the mining process is of severe concern, as well as is the increased Alluvial gold mining in Central Kalimantan has expanded levels of sedimentation and habitat fragmentation, significantly in the past 20 years and has become a major which impacts endangered species such as orangutans. Figure 3-28 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Central Kalimantan, 2001–2014 104 FOREST-SMART MINING Conclusions have resulted in the loss of a land-scape approach at a more adequate spatial level, such as the province rather ASM activities in Central Kalimantan are commodity than the district. driven and have attracted tens of thousands of miners to the region. Monitoring trends in gold prices should help Serious commitments by authorities should be made authorities to predict and prepare for future expansions in order to clarify the laws. Police corruption should of gold mining. be addressed, and priority should be placed on formalization and provision of education and training for Although mining clearly is a major disturbance of forest more responsible mining methods instead of cracking health in Central Kalimantan, extensive agriculture is down on miners. likely to be contributing more significantly to forest loss. However, the mining sector also poses a threat to Lessons Learned other serious environmental issues, such as mercury contamination, where it is likely to be the most severe • As artisanal gold mining tends to respond to driver. changes in gold prices, ecologically sensitive areas with extensive alluvial deposits such as Central The Ministry of Environment and Forestry struggles to Kalimantan should be closely monitored and given control the artisanal gold sector in Central Kalimantan. priority within limited budgets and resources for Lack of clear legislation, poor enforcement, lack of good law enforcement. governance, and limited budgets for environmental • Decentralization of regulatory mandates can education are major barriers. Central Kalimantan is a clear increase efficiencies and monitoring capacity, but example of how these elements have played out to affect there’s the risk of losing coordination with other forest health. Furthermore, the decentralization reforms administrative departments for a more strategic that gave more power to lower levels of government landscape . 3.9. LIBERIA Country Overview World Bank development status Low income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 814 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 710 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 38.6 2014 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 33.2 2014 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 4.0 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 43.4 2016 Liberia is a low-income country that has traditionally relied percent of export earnings and approximately 25 on mining—namely, iron ore, gold, and diamonds—as percent of GDP (Senkpeni 2018). At this time Liberia was a major source of income (though gold and diamonds ranked as the largest exporter of iron ore in Africa and have been mined at much smaller scales than iron ore). the third largest in the world, reaching a peak during Iron ore mining was the basis of the Liberian economy the mid-1970s. However, over the next 20 years iron between 1960 and 1980, contributing more than 60 ore production declined (Wilson et al. 2017) because FOREST-SMART MINING 105 of the diminished quality of the mineral resources and artificially generated forests on private land). Though this a weaker market. Coupled with the civil war of 1989– does not give the government ownership of the forested 1996, which destroyed much of the country’s productive land itself, it allows the government or those to whom it infrastructure, mining took a drastic downturn and the has sold use permits to exploit forest resources regardless last operating iron ore mine closed in 1992. of the legal or customary landowners’ wishes. This gap has now been addressed by the new Land Rights Law, After the end of the second civil war (1999–2003), revival which recognizes customary land rights as equal to of the mining industry became an explicit government private ownership and is thought to help prevent the objective in its efforts to reconstruct the country and uprooting of communities by foreign mining companies. to underpin growth, attracting $7.6 billion of foreign The implementation of the Land Rights Law, however, is investment, contributing to 58 percent of government seen to be difficult (Peyton 2018). revenues (2016) (BGS 2018) and creating about 10,000 jobs (1.6 percent of Liberia’s total employment) (Moore The Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy is responsible Stephens LLP and Parker & Associates Inc. 2016). But ASM, for the administration of the mineral sector, including which is not accounted for in employment statistics, is granting mining licenses, and it has statutory oversight thought to contribute more than five times as many jobs. of the sector. The minerals sector is regulated by the ASM accounts for over 88 percent of the total number of Mining and Minerals Law of 2000, though a new mining operations in the country, and LSM for less than Minerals and Mining Law has been drafted (still under 1 percent (5 percent are medium-size companies, and 6 review) that aims to improve the investment climate and percent exploration companies). The ASM sector for gold industry regulation. However, while there are regulations and diamonds in Liberia involves as many as an estimated in place, the adoption of environmental management 100,000 artisanal miners, and the sector remains largely tools such as EIAs is lacking; therefore, the pressure on underregulated and informal (World Bank 2018a). the environment from mining is still heavy. Furthermore, the administration of land in Liberia is hindered by the Liberia’s forests are a global hotspot for biodiversity, absence of a national land registry and by unclear and covering approximately 43 percent of the land area. It outdated land laws, and what constitutes public land contains approximately 40 percent of the remaining continues to be unclear. A review of land rights and laws moist forests of the Upper Guinea region—one of the was undertaken in 2013 and the Land Rights Policy was most threatened and least-protected forest ecosystems published in 2018; implementation of the policy could in the world—as well as many Key Biodiversity Areas, change the quantity and location of land owned by the Important Bird Areas, Ramsar Sites and Alliance for Zero government, and thus the amount of land available for Extinction sites. Deforestation of around 4 percent has allocation as concessions. occurred over the past decade (though these data do not distinguish plantations from natural forest), with Lack of a national land use plan in Liberia and poor key drivers of deforestation being shifting cultivation, coordination between sectors, with the forestry, charcoal production, logging, industrial oil and rubber agriculture, and mining sectors largely operating plantations, and mining. As well as supporting very independently of each other, has resulted in significant high levels of biodiversity, these forests provide a wide overlaps in the allocation of concessions, with concessions range of ecosystem services, including bushmeat, also being issued on community forest lands and medicines, and construction materials, and much protected forests. In an attempt to overcome this issue, of Liberia’s rural population is heavily dependent on in 2016 the government released a National Concession forests for their livelihoods and ecosystem services. Key Portal, which demarcates active commercial concessions forest legislation includes the National Forestry Reform and forested areas on a map. It is hoped that this Mineral Law (2006), which is the current legal instrument that Cadastre System will help to improve transparency and guides the management of forest resources in Liberia; land use planning of future concessions. Furthermore, the Community Rights Law of 2009, which defines and the formalization of the ASM sector in accordance to supports community rights in the management and a regulatory road map for the ASM sector, which was use of forest resources; and the new Land Rights Law developed in 2016, has been gaining traction with the (2018), which recognizes customary land rights. Under recent creation of Liberia’s first artisanal diamond miner the framework of these three laws, a variety of different cooperatives. Immediate technical training provided to permits and concessions types have been developed, the cooperatives is expected to focus on environmental dependent on the ownership and type of land, and the standards. resources to be extracted. The National Forestry Reform Law also removes forest resources from forested land, by Key government institutions are the Forestry stating that all forest resources in Liberia are the property Development Authority (FDA), responsible for managing of the republic (apart from communal forests and the forest resources of Liberia and establish and maintain 106 FOREST-SMART MINING protected areas network, and the Environmental use and land ownership for both government and Protection Agency (EPA), responsible for coordinating, communities are a positive approach, but they need integrating, and harmonizing the implementation of the to be accompanied by clearly articulated laws and Environmental Policy under the guidance of the National appropriate tools such as land registries. Environmental Policy Council. • Tools and concession allocation systems need to be Is Liberia’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? shared between all ministries with claims to land rights (for example, forestry, mining, agriculture) to More than 88 percent of Liberia’s mining operations are avoid the problem of overlapping concessions. ASM, and most are underregulated and informal. There is a need for improved environmental supervision and 3.9.1. Sapo National Park, Liberia control on behalf of the authorities and for capacity- building efforts that are directed toward the relevant Sapo National Park (SNP) is situated in the southeast authorities as well as the miners. of Liberia and totals 180,400 hectares. More than 50 communities with approximately 25,000 people are There are signs of poor coordination between sectors, located within 10 kilometers of the boundary of SNP (FFI with the forestry, agriculture, and mining sectors largely Sapo team, pers. comm., 2018). Sapo is one of the largest operating independently of each other. Land rights intact blocks of the Upper Guinean Forest, with high rates legislation also remains outdated and subject to varying of endemic species. In the past decade, the area around interpretations. This has resulted in significant overlaps Sapo National Park experienced multiple population in the allocation of concessions, with concessions also booms and gold rushes, which made the region a target being issued on community forest lands and protected for government interventions to evacuate miners from forests. Liberia’s forest and mining sectors would the park (mining activities in national parks are forbidden therefore benefit from a national land use plan, legal by law). There have been several planned voluntary reforms to clarify land tenure rights, and processes for departures or evictions of illegal settlers from within allocating rights of use of resources. SNP. Key differences between the three main evictions that happened since 2005 are summarized in Table 3-14. Lessons Learned ASM practices are reported to be alluvial and do not use • Legal systems allowing for the rights to forest resource heavy machinery or mercury (Small and Villegas 2012). Table 3-14 Key Differences between the Main Evictions in Sapo National Park 2005 eviction 2010 eviction 2017 eviction - Demographic survey con- - Demographic survey with - Demographic survey conducted ducted unverifiable methods - Social assessment using the social assess- - Well-documented eviction - Poorly documented evic- ment of protected area (SAPA) methodology process and planning tion process and planning conducted - Fairly positive relations of - Deteriorating community - Documented eviction process and planning FDA and communities and FDA relations - Tension between the community and FDA, - Follow-up livelihood proj- - Emergency Response Unit improved after multi-stakeholder conference ects planned and partially involvement held implemented, but not specifically targeted for - No follow-up livelihood - Community involvement ASM miners projects planned - Follow-up livelihood projects and law en- - Several NGOs and donors - Decreased NGO and donor forcement and governance support in prog- present in the area presence in the area ress; funding secured - Increased NGO and donor presence in the area FOREST-SMART MINING 107 Prior to the first eviction, 2,000–5,000 miners were A resolution to strengthen the effectiveness of SNP was estimated to be in two camps inside SNP. In 2005, the signed by local and national stakeholders. In addition, United Nations and the Liberian government executed as proposed in the revised management plan, a an evacuation of miners. Alternative livelihood projects community advisory committee is being set up by the were not successful in providing other economic FDA to promote collaborative management with the opportunities and patrolling capabilities were limited, communities and provide a platform through which resulting in miners returning shortly after in increased community grievances can be addressed. Following numbers. Violent tensions between miners and park on from the resolution adopted at the Sapo Multi- staff began to escalate. The conflict culminated with stakeholders Conference, there are plans to support the implementation of the 2010 eviction led by the FDA communities to manage the area around the park and the Liberian National Police. Artisanal miners were through support to local governance institutions. given three months to leave voluntarily, after which the remaining miners were forcefully evicted by the Disagreement and lack of clarity over park boundaries Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the police. following an extension to Sapo National Park has been an additional source of conflict between communities, The 2010 eviction had negative repercussions on the miners, and the FDA. To address this, the government communities around SNP, which suffered unintended is currently working toward flagging the correct park violence and damage to their properties in confrontation boundaries. with the ERU. Tensions culminated with the tragic murder of one forest ranger killed by illegal settlers in early 2017 Forest Health and Impacts (Small and Villegas 2012; Larson 2017). However, most Mining camps and communities in and around Sapo communities did not welcome ASM in the park and were National Park have been identified and mapped by keen to support a nonviolent eviction. Fauna and Flora International, covering an approximate With the involvement of the FDA, community area of 20,516 hectares (Figure 3-29). Analysis of representatives, and supporting NGOs, it was decided to spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals low proceed with a community-led voluntary eviction. With deforestation rates (0.1 percent) within the mining area. the active contribution of the communities, illegal settlers The deforestation rate within the 5-kilometer buffer zone were evicted non-forcefully. Community members is equally low, with 0.6 percent forest loss during the handed out information leaflets about the eviction to same period. These deforestation rates are lower than the miners and stopped providing goods and services to average deforestation rates in Sinoe County (4.5 percent) them. Most of the illegal settlers left voluntarily, with the and in the country as a whole (11.9 percent) for the same exception of a small group of less than 100 miners that is time period still found in the park. 108 FOREST-SMART MINING Figure 3-29 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Sapo National Park, 2000–2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 109 Table 3-15 Forest Health Score of the AOI around the protected area deforestation is likely to be caused Sapo National Park by artisanal mining activities. Mining and poaching in Sapo National Park have been identified as the main Forest health score of AOI 0.590 causes of habitat destruction via deforestation, lack Rank 6/23 of rehabilitation of abandoned mine sites, and water siltation (Collen et al. 2011). Pygmy hippo populations have been observed to decrease and increased elephant At the landscape level, there has been some deforestation migrations are believed to be a result of mining activities. (Figure 3-30), with undesignated area deforestation Rivers do not appear to be polluted as mercury is not being the strongest negative driver of forest health used in ASM operations. Deforestation is higher outside within the AOI. However, the forest health score is overall the park boundaries (Figure 3-29) particularly where high (Table 3-15), with the main positive driver being the communities have settled. While communities are likely extent of intact forests. to partake in artisanal mining, deforestation is likely to be Other than illegal mining and poaching, agriculture a result of several subsistence activities. and logging are not occurring in the park; therefore, Figure 3-30 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Sapo National Park, 2001–2014 110 FOREST-SMART MINING Conclusions proposed protected area in the region. The current case study will focus on the Liberian part of Gola, which has ASM activities in Sapo National Park have grown in the 98,000 hectares, and the surrounding area that connects past decades and, despite deforestation rates in the with the Foya Forest Reserve. Gola is one of the largest park being low, mining and poaching are thought to intact blocks of the Upper Guinean Forest. In total it is be the main causes of habitat fragmentation and forest home to 561 species of birds, mammals and amphibians health disturbance. of which 104 are listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List (Small and Villegas 2012). The initial approaches to ASM evictions have been militarized and have been met with conflict and severe The region has had a long-standing presence of gold violence. The last eviction used a human rights–based and diamond alluvial ASM, and, although activities approach and was done with the support and active were reduced during the Ebola outbreak, ASM remains participation of the community, who were empowered extensive in the area and is the main source of direct or to be stewards of their forests. The success of this eviction indirect income of many households (Wilson et al. 2017). is owed to several key elements: ASM in the area employs manual extraction techniques 1. Community involvement in decision making and using basic tools such as shovels and pickaxes as well the eviction process as labor-intensive, gravity-based processing methods. Mercury is not used in any step of the gold processing, 2. A refrain from resorting to forceful evictions using but child labor has been reported. the military or police 3. Consistent NGO support that acts as a neutral Since the area under study is not yet a national park, ASM mediator to convene all the relevant stakeholders is allowed and licensed artisanal mines exist. However, many mines remain informal. Despite governmental efforts to formalize the sector, severe legal and procedural Underresourcing and understaffing, in a national barriers prevent miners from formalizing. context where civil war and the Ebola outbreak have significantly set back conservation efforts, are major barriers to the appropriate follow-up investment and The act establishing the Gola Rainforest National Park patrolling that is required after each eviction. The risk of was passed in December 2016. The demarcation process miners returning to Sapo National Park is high; therefore, is currently under way, but recent media reports indicate the communities who supported the eviction must be that this has caused conflict over land rights between kept engaged and sensitized so that they continue to the FDA and the local population, many of which are step in and assume a role in monitoring and patrolling dependent on mining. the park. Recently, several Community Forest Management Lessons Learned Agreements have been issued to some communities of the region. The Community Rights law allows the creation • Community involvement in decision making, of community forests, whereby communities use and avoiding the use of force, and NGO support have manage certain forests and community consent must be been key factors toward the success of recent obtained for any forest conversion projects taking place evictions in Sapo National Park. on community forested lands. Despite its uptake, the • Underresourcing and understaffing are the major regulation has been criticized as unclear (Moore Stephens barriers that need to be addressed to make LLP and Parker & Associates Inc. 2016) and has been sure that return invasions do not occur and that subject to amendments, which are currently in progress. community support of the evictions and park management remains high. 3.9.2. Gola Rainforest National Park, Liberia The Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP) is situated in the northwest of Liberia and southeast of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leonean part of Gola became a national park in 2010, but the Liberian part remains a proposed protected area. The Foya Forest Reserve is another FOREST-SMART MINING 111 Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-31 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around the Gola-Foya Corridor, 2000–2016 112 FOREST-SMART MINING Mines and mining communities in the Gola-Foya corridor Table 3-16 Forest Health Score of the AOI around were identified and mapped by Levin Sources in 2015, the Gola-Foya Corridor covering an approximate area of 9,185 hectares. Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals Forest health score of AOI 0.368 low deforestation rates (2.1 percent) within the mining Rank 11/23 area. The deforestation rate within the 5-kilometer buffer zone is equally low, with 1.9 percent forest loss during At the landscape level, there has been significant the same period. These are lower than the average deforestation (Figure 3-32). Despite the presence of large deforestation rates in Lofa County (14.0 percent) and in tracts of core forest, which was the strongest positive Liberia as a whole (11.9 percent) within the same time driver of forest health within the AOI, the forest health period. score was average (Table 3-16). Population change was the strongest negative driver of forest health within the AOI. Figure 3-32 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around the Gola-Foya Corridor, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 113 There is limited information about the state of biodiversity, • Challenges with Community Forest Management ecosystems, habitat, flora, and fauna in the region. Water Agreements exist due to lack of clarity and sources are reported to be impacted by the deterioration incoherence in the Community Management of soil and land quality; however, little evidence exists of regulation, which lead to varying interpretations. chemical contamination (World Bank 2012). One interpretation could mean the involvement of communities in benefit sharing from commercial Although ASM is prevalent in the region, it is not possible activities of their land resources, whereas another to state to what extent deforestation is attributable to interpretation could be seen as restricted to mining activities, since subsistence timber production, noncommercial activities, leaving communities agriculture, and poaching are also present and restricted within existing rural economies. somewhat important in the area. Of notable difference is the markedly higher and more widespread deforestation Legal assistance to authorities in order to clarify the in the contiguous Sierra Leonean side of Gola compared Community Forest Management Agreements should to the Liberian part. be prioritized. Moreover, formalization process should be made more accessible to ensure that ASM, which is a significant provider of livelihoods in Liberia, can proceed Conclusions under proper environmental management. ASM activities in the Gola-Foya corridor are fairly widespread and are the main source of direct or indirect Lessons Learned income of many households. While demarcation in the Gola Rainforest National Park is essential in preserving • ASM in the Gola-Foya region is widespread. There the last remaining tracts of the Upper Guinean Forest, is a pressing need for the demarcation of Gola the process has already sparked conflict with artisanal Rainforest National Park to preserve the forest in the miners over land rights. It is therefore essential that the region, but the process has already sparked conflict approach is reassessed proactively rather than reactively, and it should proceed cautiously with more active and that community consultation/FPIC procedures are community consultations. adequately followed. • Community Forest Management Agreements have The Liberian government has used two main mechanisms the potential to be effective tools for a rights-based to promote forest-smart mining: formalization and approach to forest-smart mining. In Liberia, they are Community Forest Management Agreements. However, promising but require legal clarification. . both mechanisms appear to have had limited success for the following reasons: • Challenges with formalization exist due to the complexity, cost of the licensing system, the need for in-person applications in the capital, lack of access to finance, and limited knowledge on more sustainable recovery techniques, mineral valuation, and non- transparent supply chains (Tychsen et al. 2017). 114 FOREST-SMART MINING 3.10. MADAGASCAR Country Overview World Bank development status Low income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 1,509 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 1,450 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 77.8 2012 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 42.7 2012 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 2.4 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 37.1 2016 Madagascar’s mining history is dominated by informal amended in 2005 (World Bank, African Legal Support artisanal and small-scale extraction of gold and precious Facility, and African Union Commission 2017). The stones, with significant production of rubies and amended version includes a systematic requirement for sapphires. Since 2009, production has increased strongly mining projects to complete an environmental impact toward an estimated 8 to 12 tonnes per year. Estimates study and submit an environmental commitment plan put the number of artisanal miners in the country before being granted a permit, reinforcing an existing between 350,000 and 500,000 (Cook and Healy 2012). requirement for all investment projects to undertake an In the past decade, two large-scale mines have become EIA, in place since the early 1990s (IUCN and CI Ecuador operational in Madagascar: Ambatovy and QMM. With 2016; Ministère de l’Environnement des Eaux et Forêts that, the economic contribution of the mining industry 2004). Law No. 2001-031 from 2002 provides specific rules has grown to represent 4.2 percent of the GDP (2014) for large mining investments (Jurismada, n.d.). Plans to and $2.2 billion of export revenues (2014). Madagascar change the mining legislation in 2017 were abandoned ranks fourth in the Mining Contribution Index (ICMM because of concerns about threatening investment 2016a; EITI 2013; USGS 2015). stability (Stoddard 2017). In 2015, the ministry set up a National Gold Agency, Anor, to attempt to regulate, The timber sector has a very similar importance for the formalize, and extract revenue from the ASM gold sector. national GDP, namely 4.3 percent in 2011. The widely illegal commercial timber extraction is above all undertaken Under formal law, most of Madagascar’s forests are the in the country’s north-east, with export primarily to property of the state or so-called “non-titled” land, or China. The government and local communities only terrain domanial. Under customary law the status of receive little revenue from the industry. Ecosystem forests is unclear and occasionally leads to conflict. In services are, however, very important for people living 1990, Madagascar adopted the National Environmental in widespread poverty, in a country with 21.4 percent Action Plan (NEAP), mainstreaming environmental forest cover (of which only 24 percent is primary forest). considerations into key areas of sector development, and Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; it has one of the the Environmental Charter, which was revised in 2015 highest rates of endemism in the world and a worryingly to explicitly address new risks including biodiversity, high rate of deforestation, which reaches as much as 4 climate change, forest cover loss, and land degradation, percent annually in some regions (GFW 2016a; Neudert, among others. The new Protected Areas Code from 2015 Ganzhorn, and Wätzold 2017; The REDD Desk 2017; establishes the National Protected Areas System (SAPM), World Bank 2017a; WCS et al. 2015). which confirms integral natural reserves, national parks, and natural parks as the three categories of protected Madagascar’s mineral resources belong by law to the areas that have a strict prohibition for natural resource state, and mining companies are subject to a 2 percent use, and introduces two new categories (protected royalty rate on mineral sales, with some exceptions: in landscape, natural resource management area) with Ambatovy, refinement occurs in country and the rate greater management flexibility. The total area of is reduced to 1 percent on refined nickel and cobalt protected areas in the country tripled between 2002 and (Faure, Rakotomalala, and Pelon 2015). The mining sector 2009, from 2.1 to 5.58 million hectares, covering 6 percent is governed by the Mining Code, adopted in 1999 and of total land surface. The 1997 Forestry Law and the FOREST-SMART MINING 115 Decree No. 98-782 (on forest exploitation) govern forest Mining has existed in Ankarana since 1994. The park use and conservation, stating that any appropriation of was one of the country’s first major gem mining sites, products from forestry requires a government permit. containing important deposits of sapphires. The initial A small exception exists for customary usage rights operators were small foreign private mining companies of rural populations, or droit d’usage. The law on local that held mining permits outside the park’s northern management of natural resources (1996) (No. 96-025) sector. The first ASM rush took place in 1996, when and the decree on contractual management of forests artisanal miners discovered a deposit of alluvial sapphires (No. 2001-122) empower local communities to manage within the protected area. Within a few months, the forests under contract to the state (IUCN and CI Ecuador number of miners rose to 8,000 (Randria Arson 2017). In 2016). late 2017, about 2,200 miners were still digging in the reserve (MNP 2017). Is Madagascar’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? Miners sell their products to on-site local collectors, Madagascar has an institutional and legal framework some of whom sponsor miners, and then sell the stones that, if applied effectively and coherently, could provide on to foreign traders and collectors from Antananarivo, adequate protection of forests from mineral exploitation who export the products (Cook and Healy 2012). and associated development. However, a lack of institutional coordination and law enforcement coupled Illicit mining in the protected area results in deforestation with a largely informal mining sector and a lack of good and other forest impacts, including the felling of precious governance lead to a situation where illegal mining in timber trees, holes in the ground, and sedimentation of protected areas and high deforestation rates persist. This local rivers. Mining is also occurring on agricultural fields is particularly worrying given the extremely high level and in sacred sites in and around the park. of biodiversity in the country and the low percentage of natural forest remaining. Local communities and civil Both local communities and MNP park staff have been society should be more systematically involved in any unable to effectively prevent gemstone extraction in efforts toward more forest-smart mining, the legal basis the protected area. In 1998, the national police was of which and some capacity is already provided (Resolve deployed to evict miners and guard the park boundaries. 2017). However, as soon as law enforcement officers left the area, artisanal miners returned. Subsequent negotiated Lessons Learned evictions in which miners were paid compensation for quitting the site did not yield lasting results (MNP • Existing regulatory framework needs to be coupled Director of Operations, pers. comm.). with better implementation and enforcement in order to be effective. In 2016, a first regional dialogue was organized between government authorities, civil society, and around 50 • In environments of high biodiversity importance local miners with the support of the German Agency for and with few remnants of primary forests, International cooperation (GIZ). The stakeholders decided addressing ASM rushes in protected areas must to search for mining sites outside of the protected areas, prioritize the sites of most critical significance for as well as for agricultural land and land convertible for the preservation of endangered biodiversity and livestock projects, and to promote employment and primary habitats. economic alternatives, particularly for women heads of household. The income generated through these 3.10.1. Ankarana Special Reserve, Madagascar alternatives was not considered competitive, however, compared to mining. Stakeholders also planned to The Ankarana Special Reserve, established in 1956, is decommission a portion of the current operating land on located in northwestern Madagascar and comprises behalf of the association of sapphire miners, to introduce 18,225 hectares. It is composed of dry forest, other environmental education at schools, and to deliver the deciduous plant formations and scrubland vegetation available mining titles to local communities. However, at and houses threatened tree species (for example, the time of writing, a concrete plan of action was still not rosewood, a IUCN Red List species). The protected area in place. shelters 333 animal species, including 54 endemic bird species and 9 endemic lemur species. Local communities In 2017, the regional and protected area management cultivate rice, grow cash crops and collect certain plant authorities established a platform to support protected species for local consumption. Ankarana is managed by area managers of the region in dealing with illegal ASM. Madagascar National Parks (MNP). The platform agreed a series of measures including strict application of the law, cancellation of collection permits 116 FOREST-SMART MINING for the area, collaboration with the environmental deforestation rate (15.2 percent) within the defined and forestry services, reinforcement of forestry agent mining areas. Deforestation rates within the 5-kilometer status and the relaunch of ASM eviction operations. buffer zone are comparatively low but nevertheless To help finance the evictions, MNP requested special significant, with 6.8 percent forest loss during the same intervention funds from the Foundation for Protected period. These deforestation rates are comparable to Areas and Biodiversity of Madagascar (FAPBM) in 2017 the average deforestation rates of the Diana region (8.0 to carry out an eviction of miners and oblige evicted percent), but lower than average deforestation rates in miners to participate in alternative livelihood schemes Madagascar as a whole (16.1 percent) for the same time funded by GIZ. The eviction operation was conducted period. in November 2017 followed by two security operations in December 2017. Using a mixed team of about 70 The National Office for the Environment reported people including forest officers, mine police, gendarmes, a decrease in forest area of Ankarana park on the military, park agents, and local committees, all miners magnitude of 129 hectares between 1990 and 2010 were evicted, 11 arrested, and seizures made of carts, (Office National pour l’Environnement et al. 2013). The felled logs, sacks of charcoal, a truck, and other items World Bank (2013) reported that 1–10 percent of the (MNP Director of Operations, pers. comm.). protected area was impacted. Forest Health and Impacts Prior to the 2017 eviction campaign, MNP estimated that 250 hectares of forest were lost, 4 rivers and 8 lakes Analysis of recent satellite imagery and verification via dried up, and 13 springs were contaminated (MNP 2017), published sources suggests that mining activities cover amounting to about 1.4 percent of the park’s area. an area of 1,095 hectares (Figure 3-33). Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals a medium Madagascar, 2013, by Rupert Cook FOREST-SMART MINING 117 Figure 3-33 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Ankarana, 2000–2016 Figure 333 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Ankarana, 2000–2016 118 FOREST-SMART MINING Table 3-17 Forest Health Score of the AOI around At the landscape level, forest health scores are medium Ankarana toward low, with population change being the strongest negative driver (Table 3-17). The strongest positive driver Forest health score of AOI 0.303 for forest health in the region is the extent of secondary Rank 13/23 forest. Deforestation rates rose sharply in 2013 (Figure 3-34), a general effect also noted in the LSM studies for Ambatovy and QMM (cf. LSM report). Figure 3-34 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Ankarana, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 119 Conclusions forest degradation. The mining in Ankarana is partly happening in protected Previous rushes in the area happened on the sites areas, which is highly problematic from an ecological Moramanga Carrière for rubies in 2004, and in Ambohibe point of view. (Didy) in 2012. Since the discovery of secondary ruby and sapphire deposits in the Bemainty site, rushes have Several attempts of evictions have been trialed without become regular. In October 2016, around 45,000 miners success; the establishment of alternative livelihoods has moved to the area. This number subsequently decreased largely failed, too, mainly because of the lack of tangible to around 20,000. economic benefits. The extraction is done with simple handheld tools. The newest attempt for a solution has been evictions Miners dig up to a maximum of 2–3 meters deep. The through mixed teams, combined with alternative earth potentially rich in gems is then collected and sifted livelihood schemes. to collect the rubble that will be washed in the nearest stream to reveal the gems. Toward the end of 2017, most Lessons Learned miners began using water pumps, hoses, and sieves. Self- • Evictions should be well planned, targeted, swift, employed miners work in groups of four or five people. and adequately resourced, using mixed teams Miners are financed by investors and buyers (Malagasy, including mining and forestry officers, police, Guineans, and Sri Lankans). The financiers provide the military, park staff, and local authority members. miners with food, equipment, and fuel for pumps, and Follow-up operations to clear remaining miners and hire bodyguards and cooks, while expecting a profit secure the site are essential, and actions must be margin of 30 percent to 40 percent. At the start of the communicated to local communities. rushes, the miners had organized several independent “cooperatives,” but since the first half of 2017, most have • Evictions without permanent enforcement, or come from other mining areas in the country (Perkins compensated evictions, do not prevent recurrence. 2017). Foreign buyers, suspected to be supported by Attempts to establish alternative livelihoods are influential personalities, arrived in large numbers at the often ineffective because of the much higher beginning of the rush. income that can be generated by mining. Miners live in makeshift tents or huts; there is no • Multi-stakeholder dialogues open the opportunity sanitation infrastructure and drinking water is difficult for more promising results. Establishment of to access. Bottled water, fresh or canned beverages, and coordination platforms between park managers food are available in stores around the site at exorbitant and local authorities helps to develop effective prices. strategies for eviction. The local communautés de base, or Vondron’Olona Ifotony (VOI), community structures with a natural 3.10.2. Bemainty, CAZ New Protected Area, resource management contract for their land, have Madagascar expressed their powerlessness in the face of the large The Corridor Ankeniheny Zahamena (CAZ) created in number of miners and the progression of the illegal 2005, where the site of Bemainty is located, lies in the mining operations that have been rapidly advancing eastern biome of Madagascar and is surrounded by into the interior of the CAZ since October 2017. They fear four preexisting protected areas: Zahamena National that at this frantic pace, the entire forest of the corridor, Park, Mangerivola Special Reserve, Betampona Integral the crop fields, and rice paddies will disappear before the Nature Reserve, and Analamazaotra Special Reserve, end of the current year if the government and its partners which is part of Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. do not intervene (Gyre 2017). Some VOI members in the The CAZ extends over some 3,810 square kilometers, area even became involved in ASM activities. making it one of the largest remaining rain forests in the country. The forest is of vital biological importance, An attempt by the local police to evict miners failed, habitat to many endemic species of fauna and flora, and and the number of miners on the site even increased provides important ecological services (Conservation afterward. Protected area managers have used law International, n.d.). Communities bordering the corridor enforcement officers—namely, mixed brigades—to are heavily dependent on natural resources. However, proceed with the expulsion of miners and the closing slash-and-burn agriculture, a traditional practice, of shops, only to have them reopen shortly afterward. degrades and threatens this world heritage. Illegal forest Despite the roadblock set up by the security forces and mining operations are also important causes of in October 2016 to curb the illicit exploitation of the 120 FOREST-SMART MINING sapphire and ruby mines in Bemainty, mining operators Local community organizations (the VOI) are currently have continued to invade new sites in the vicinity, working with Conservation International (CI) to ensure such as Ambodivoangy (located a few kilometers from the “co-management” of this protected area. These Zahamena National Park) in November 2016; they were communities have followed training on biological again repelled by the officers and agents of the park inventory, ecological monitoring, systematic control present on-site. within the forest, and monitoring to be able to carry out forest patrols. They are involved in the protection The following preventative security measures have been and conservation of biodiversity and have become the put in place by the management of the neighboring new managers of the protected area. A change in the Zahamena National Park: behavior of the VOI is observed, namely the adoption of improved agricultural practices and the abandoning of • Control of the entry area at Antanandava (side slash-and-burn agriculture, bush fires, and mining traffic. Ambatondrazaka) and Vavatenina to monitor the situation closely Forest Health and Impacts • Reinforcement of patrols in risk areas Analysis of recent satellite imagery and verification • Collaboration with the prefect of Fénérive Est for the via published sources suggests that mining activities requisition of military in the event of a rush cover an approximate area of 111 hectares. Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals a • Information sharing and search for solutions with high deforestation rate (43.3 percent) within the defined the Regional Directorate for Environment, Ecology mining areas. Deforestation rates within a 5-kilometer and Forestry (DREEF) Alaotra Mangoro region and buffer zone are comparatively low (4.5 percent), and Prefecture of Ambatondrazaka to secure the sites below the average for the Alaotra-Mangoro region (8.0 percent) and the country as a whole (16.1 percent), • Establishment of mixed missions and exchange of indicating the absence of deforestation drivers other information on the situation of Zahamena National than the presence of ASM in these remote forest areas. Park in the face of the Bemainty/Didy rushes with the Regional Directorate of Mines • Operations requiring the withdrawal of buyers of precious stones from the town of Ambatondrazaka FOREST-SMART MINING 121 Figure 3-35 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Bemainty, 2000–2016 122 FOREST-SMART MINING At the start of the ruby rush in Didy in 2012, a loss of Table 3-18 Forest Health Score of the AOI around 20–30 hectares of forests was estimated (Courrier de Bemainty Madagascar 2012). However, deforestation associated with small mines is minor compared to other forms of Forest health score of AOI 0.198 deforestation, notably slash-and-burn agriculture. In Rank 20/23 CAZ, the mining operations take place mainly along river valleys in the non-forested buffer zones of the protected At the landscape level, forest health scores are low area and do not pose a major direct threat to the forests (Table 3-18), with protected area deforestation being the of CAZ (Perkins 2017). However, the high sedimentation strongest negative driver (to be expected given that most caused by the sifting of the excavated soil affects the of the AOI is protected). The strongest positive driver for local rice harvests during the rushes. forest health in the region is the extent of intact forest (also to be expected for a large, continuous forest block). Similarly to the AOI examined for the Ambatovy nickel mine (cf. LSM report), deforestation rates dipped in 2006, rose during 2007, and dipped again before rising sharply in 2013, thus following the general regional trend (Figure 3-36). No correlation with ASM activities is evident. Figure 3-36 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Bemainty, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 123 Conclusions streams is also used for the irrigation of rice fields further downstream (ECR 2015; Ministère de l’Environnement et ASM is not a major source of impact on forests in the area. des Forêts and Fanamby 2013). Forestry and slash-and-burn agriculture are responsible for most of the negative forest outcomes. Because the People in the area live mainly from agriculture, livestock, zone is a protected area, however, there is a certain gold mining, and exploitation of forest products (ECR urgency to tackle ASM rush situations. The rushes are 2015). Additional sources of income are ecotourism, often driven by demand from foreign buyers. Evictions crafts, trade, and growing vanilla and cashew nuts. have, as in Ankarana, not proven to be successful. Gold deposits are present in the form of veins or primary Information sharing between different authorities and deposits, and in sedimentary form following rock other actors has been used as a strategy for responding erosion or as secondary deposits formed by alteration to ASM in protected results. of primary deposits with reconcentration near surface waters (Cook and Healy 2012). To a lesser extent, there Lessons Learned are also deposits of crystal, sphene, and quartz in the area. ASM takes place in four rural communes (Daraina, • Without strong coordination and government Maromokotra, Ampisikinana, and Nosibe). Gold mining backing, security forces, NGOs, local authorities is a traditional activity in Daraina, but the first arrival of and community management organizations are migrants for gold mining dates back to 1980. It is one ineffective in the face of large ASM rushes. of the most important pressures and threats to the area. • The focus of control should be on the collectors In 2012, mining (mainly gold) was increasing with illicit and the market rather than the rush itself. Actions penetration into natural forests and protected areas. against traders and buyers are easier to achieve than In 2013, the municipality of Daraina reported more those against miners. than 2,000 miners, most of whom practice the activity • Community management of the environment, in a seasonal way, and independently for their own and strengthening their monitoring capacity, leads account. They reside in the operating areas, only rarely to more ownership and awareness among local return home, and are even included in the electoral list populations, and to changes of their practices. of the commune of Daraina. In 2016, miners increased in number and began to use acid, causing health problems. 3.10.3. Loky Manambato (Daraina), Madagascar Chinese nationals have also become involved. Around 100 collectors, 80 percent of whom are illicit, collect the The new protected area of Loky Manambato (IUCN products for resale to big buyers in Vohemar, Sambava, category V) covers 79,000 hectares of forest. Loky Ambilobe, and Antananarivo. Despite most actors not Manambato (also referred to as Daraina) presents a being declared at the level of the Bureau of Mining unique concentration of various habitats, ecosystems, Cadastre of Madagascar (BCMM), the municipality and species of Madagascar’s Sava region. This protected collects royalties from some of these illegal local area contains exceptional biodiversity with an endemicity collectors. The reported production of gold amounts to rate of up to 84 percent, including 10 species of lemurs, around 2 kilograms per week. The municipality collects the largest scorpion in Madagascar, 127 species of birds, 2–3 percent royalties on that production, and Ar 200,000 75 species of reptiles, 36 species of amphibians, and the of royalties on collectors’ cards. Miners who hold permits fossa, the largest carnivore on the island. The protected must pay a yearly fee of Ar 5,000 ($1.5) to the municipality. area also stands out by the presence of different types of With only around a fifth of collectors and some of the plant formations ranging from moist to dry, with 1,773 miners being registered, however, considerable income species of plants, of which some 50 species have only still slips through the authorities’ hands. recently been discovered. Three endemic species are classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Artisanal exploitation is done in five stages: digging The park is managed by the NGO Fanamby. using a crowbar; filling plastic bags normally used for rice or cement with a loaded weight of between 15 and 30 The forests of Loky Manambato serve the local kilograms; transporting ore from the sampling location population for a variety of purposes: as a timber source, to the sieving site; digging a well to obtain water; and to collect wood for fences, wood and coal as energy separating gold and impurities by sieving with water.2 sources, supply of products during the welding period, as a reserve of medicinal plants, and to produce coffins --------------------------------- 2 However, digging a well seems a one-time occurrence per of wood, which is considered sacred. The forest is the exploitation area, with multiple occurrences of the other stages. most important source of water of the region, used as drinking water in the village of Daraina. The water from 124 FOREST-SMART MINING Mining is responsible for school dropouts by children of The details of the work with local communities to control school age. In addition, it causes social conflicts in areas mining in the protected area are not divulged in official where the mines reach the agricultural fields. But above management reports for the protected area. According all, accidents due to gaping holes and landslides pose a to NGO representatives, this is because certain aspects real danger for miners. of the mining activities are technically illegal. While the management measures have helped reduce forest Between 1995 and 1999, the miners were bound to impacts, they may not be sustainable in the long term. follow certain rules, and gold mining corridors had been defined but were not respected. In 2004, miners were Other measures undertaken were the removal of evicted from the forest. New evictions were attempted drills to stop illicit activity, the arrest of collectors, the in 2011 and 2012, but these were blocked by individuals establishment of an environmental impact monitoring with interests in the mines. Control patrols are organized committee within the Miners Association for minimizing every 15 days at the expense of the park management. environmental impact, and the establishment of a strengthened monitoring committee for the protected In an alternative approach, the NGO Fanamby has area. worked toward empowering local communities. These communities have been organized in conjunction with The zoning plan for Loky Manambato includes strict the development of management rules, which include conservation areas that are important areas for the prohibition of the use of acid and mercury in the biodiversity and the biological cycle of species and/or mining process, respect of the corridors delimited for areas to ensure the maintenance of the integrity of the gold mining, registration of small miners and collectors composition, structure, and function of biodiversity and in the municipality, the prohibition of felling of trees ecosystems of cultural sites; and areas of controlled use without permit, and payment of duties and taxes. This including mining areas. The latter are those recognized by strategy has prevented chemical pollution of the site, the communities as having high mining potential (gold, especially that of water; on the other hand, the duties crystal, sphene). Most of these areas have already been and taxes levied by the municipality represent a measure assigned to permit holders (companies or individuals). of incitement to control this activity. The municipality is required to ensure the control and monitoring of the Forest Health and Impacts activities, to prepare the quarterly reports, and to send The exploitation of gold is one of the most important the registers for the traceability of the products (which do pressures and threats to the national protected area. not yet exist) to the BCMM. From 2004 to 2009, Fanamby Large-scale immigration occurs after the discovery of supported local communities in the development each new deposit. Mining activities reduce vegetation of a mining association with 60 artisanal miners. The cover, affect soil, and cause the siltation of waterways. delimitation of gold mining corridors to mining areas and the restriction of mining activities to these corridors has, to date, prevented miners from invading the core zone of the Loky Manambato protected area. FOREST-SMART MINING 125 Figure 3-37 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Loky Manambato, 2000–2016 126 FOREST-SMART MINING Spatial analysis of the impacts of mining was complicated deforestation rates for Antisarana Province (9.8 percent) by the fact that the protected area is a multi-use during the same time period, but it is higher than the landscape with multiple discrete protected parcels and average deforestation rate in the Daraina Protected Area a zoning plan that includes zones designated for mining (5.7 percent). (but which are not necessarily representative of where mining occurs) (Figure 3-37). It proved impossible to Table 3-19 Forest Health Score of the AOI around identify mining areas with sufficient confidence to Loky Manambato measure the ASM footprint. It was, however, possible to compare deforestation rates at the provincial and Forest health score of AOI 0.721 regional levels with the deforestation rates for each of Rank 2/23 the protected parcels and within the designated mining zones. At the landscape level, forest health scores are moderate (Table 3-19), with population change being the strongest Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000– negative driver. The strongest positive driver for forest 2016 reveals deforestation rates of 9.5 percent in the health in the region is connectivity between forests. designated mining areas. This is comparable to the Figure 3-38 shows a clear increase in the deforestation average deforestation rate of 9.0 percent for Loky of undesignated areas and protected areas when ASM Manambato Protected Area as well as to average resumed in 2009, and a rapid rise in 2013, consistent with the trend observed for Ambatovy and QMM (cf. LSM study) and for the CAZ region (Bemainty case study). Figure 3-38 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Loky Manambato, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 127 Conclusions Lessons Learned In Loky Manambato, the precious forest resources are • The spontaneous development of semi-formal used for multiple purposes, and the protected area is mining regulation involving the collection of taxes under threat not only from mining but also from logging by local authorities helps to develop local authority and local consumption. Miners, despite often operating ownership and support for measures to control in the illegal sphere, are still subject to the payment of ASM in protected forests. taxes and royalties. • NGO-led community engagement with local Evictions have been unsuccessful, due to, among other authorities and local miners to establish local reasons, a lack of political will. Other steps taken include mining rules and delimitation of gold corridors or the establishment of a monitoring committee, arrests, minable areas in a participatory process can show and confiscation of materials. positive results. However, the miners’ technical illegality is an impediment to central government The NGO Fanamby has had a positive experience in support and renders the community engagement working with local communities and creating ownership agreements fragile. over responsible management of the protected areas and the mining activities. This also includes assigning • Designation by the park management of mineral- delimited mining areas for exploitation, to prevent rich areas as mining areas with controlled use can incursion into other areas. take the pressure off other areas. 3.11. MONGOLIA Country Overview World Bank development status Lower middle income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 12,276 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 11,450 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 0.2 2014 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 32 2014 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 6.4 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 64.4 2016 Mongolia is a lower-middle-income country with a mining spectrum ranges from large-scale mining to population of just over 3 million. Nearly half of the GDP medium-scale mining, with an additional significant comes from services, 20 percent from mining, and 13 subsector of artisanal and small-scale mining. Coal, percent from agriculture (Focus Economics 2017). The copper, and gold are the principal reserves mined in 128 FOREST-SMART MINING Mongolia. The minerals boom of the past 20 years is in 2009 to address such local impacts, resulting in many the source of the rising incomes and most indicators for small-scale mining licenses being suspended. The human development, but it has also brought negative suspensions officially held until 2015, although mining impacts for some Mongolians (for example, herders often continued under the guise of “rehabilitation.” affected by transportation and mining infrastructure). Even under the general Law on Forestry (2007), forests The development of the mining industry has also within 1 kilometer of water sources are restricted; brought with it political turbulence as successive therefore, alluvial mining in such riparian forests was in government administrations adjust to the policies and contravention of this law. practices of joint venture, and as rural stakeholders are variously impacted across the country. A significant barrier to acceptance of the ASM community among stakeholders in the country-side Official statistics suggest that 38,000 ASMers are currently was the prevalence of abandoned and degraded ASM active in Mongolia, whereas unofficial estimates suggest lands that posed hazards and undermined the quality a number closer to 100,000, with an additional 400,000 of pasturelands. In addition, illegal ASM activities people indirectly dependent on the sector (SDC 2018). within protected areas and lack of commitment to Of the active artisanal miners, an estimated 10,000 rehabilitation resulted in further widespread opposition are formalized. The current term of legal reference for to ASM activity. To address this and improve the ASM mining in Mongolia is the Minerals Law of 2010. The sector’s license to operate, the Sustainable Artisanal most recent development of mining law relevant to Mining (SAM) Project, introduced by the Swiss Agency ASM has been the posting of revised procedures in for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in 2005, sought May 2017 to, among other things, “establish a registry to encourage ASM formalization in Mongolia. During of artisanal miners, provide effective regulatory tools to SAM’s third phase of implementation, the Engaging mitigate environmental impacts from ASM and raise the Stakeholders in Environmental Conservation II (ESEC requirement for the capacity of machinery.” In particular, II) project was initiated to address the environmental May 2017 saw the adoption of a revised Regulation impacts of Mongolia’s ASM sector in collaboration 151 on small-scale mining, within the Minerals Law, with all stakeholders. SAM’s collaborative effort helped introducing the Frugal Rehabilitation Methodology incorporate ASM into Mongolia’s revised Minerals Law of (FRM) for ASM. 2010 and was instrumental in introducing rehabilitation as a legal requirement for ASM. It is estimated that about 8 percent of Mongolia supports closed forest systems, and this percentage is extended Is Mongolia’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? where forest occurs in mosaic with forest-steppe and other open steppe habitats. Forest ecosystems in Central to the issue of encouraging environmentally Mongolia occur across the north-central parts of the responsible ASM is encouraging formalization through country, where the Siberian boreal taiga extends into enhanced capacity and responsibility. The presence of the northern provinces of Khovsgol, Bulgan, Selenge, international donors/supporters and the commitment and Khentii. Approximately 80–90 percent of Mongolia’s of the Mongolian government have been critical in forests are legally protected, both within and outside of the implementation of formalization and capacity protected areas. Mongolia has 21 priority protected areas building with the SDC SAM project. Since 2013, the for forest ecosystems that are vulnerable to ASM. They ESEC II project has successfully built environmental are either designated primarily for the representative technical and governance capacity across 45 soums, forest ecozones and habitats that they support, or with ASM organizations now applying environmental contain forest as a key ecological component of a forest- management and rehabilitation. steppe matrix. Such areas as the Kentii Mountain taiga forests buffering the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area Practical and affordable mechanisms now exist in are already experiencing alluvial ASM and medium-scale Mongolia for encouraging and realizing environmentally gold mining and continue to be vulnerable to such responsible ASM, particularly with respect to the mining developments. However, while the impacts of integration of frugal rehabilitation into the ASM mine ASM can be locally significant along riparian zones where cycle. With the ESEC II project’s closure in 2016, this alluvial gold mining is operational, it is not considered momentum needs to be maintained by the government to pose significant threats to forest cover in Mongolia by scaling up to other areas and continuing to address overall. the remaining barriers to formalization, such as certain legislations, license reviews, monitoring and The Long Name Law (“To Prohibit Mineral Exploration and enforcement. Mining Operations at River Headwaters, Protected Zones For example, lack of access to appropriate and suitable of Water Reservoirs and Forested Areas”) was adopted FOREST-SMART MINING 129 mining land for ASM will continue to be an obstacle to 2. Socially acceptable, so that the results formalization and will continue to engender illegal ASM in of rehabilitation address the concerns and forests and other protected areas. With over 3,500 extant requirements of local and national stakeholders exploration licenses, the potential exists to identify valid 3. Ecologically viable, so that degraded lands would license holders, their intent to mine within a given time be left in a condition that was technically stabilized scale, and whether such areas could be made available and set on the path to an ecological recovery to formalized environmentally responsible ASM. appropriate to locality and ecozone. While the Law on Forestry 2007 in theory can safeguard Frugal rehabilitation was piloted at 17 sites. These action- protected forest zones from inappropriate mining research demonstrations informed and contributed, developments, the Long Name Law 2009 appears to through a process of ministerial consultation, to a Frugal have had more legal leverage in protecting the forested Rehabilitation Methodology (Asia Foundation 2016b), headwaters of many river basins. However, the Long which has now been approved and endorsed as a Name Law has been frequently circumvented. If mining national methodology for the rehabilitation of ASM (SDC companies are to be licensed to operate, they should 2017) and formally integrated into the Minerals Law of now abide by revised Regulation 151 on small-scale 2010. mining and its attendant rehabilitation methodology (FRM). Selenge is a central northern province (aimag) of Mongolia. It is one of the most forested aimags, with Lessons Learned boreal taiga, forest-steppe, and riparian forests. The case study focuses on the activities of an ASM NGO operating • Sustained international support and a strong in Noyod, which demonstrated—through the ESEC II commitment from governments are crucial for project—their capacity and commitment to introduce a well-implemented formalization program. frugal rehabilitation into the mine cycle process (Asia Improvements in environmental performance of Foundation 2016a). The NGO has a legal mining license ASM organizations should be a priority objective to operate. Gold at Noyod is mined from hard-rock for formalization programs. deposits on a steep forested hillside, unlike the typical • National rehabilitation requirements and standards alluvial ASM common in Selenge. should be embedded into the legislation for small- scale operators, with adequate requirements for The ASM site had a limited footprint, extending to some their scale of operation. 2–3 hectares. Abandoned artisanal mining works— the subject of the frugal rehabilitation demonstration • Reliance on one law can be risky—it is preferable project—extended to over 1 hectare. The area has if both forest and mining laws have provisions for relatively abundant rainfall and deep forest soils that forest-smart mining, such as zone restrictions or retain moisture and were assessed to have a high rehabilitation requirements. potential for natural regeneration. The ASM site is located in a birch-pine forest, on the edge of mountain steppe 3.11.1. Noyod, Mandal soum, Selenge aimag, grasslands. The forest has been structurally changed by Mongolia fires that occurred in the 1990s. The Mongolian case study draws primarily from two The site was elected as a pilot for the FRM on the national initiatives: the SAM project (SDC 2018), and basis of meeting criteria for ecological representation, the ESEC II project (2013–2016) (Asia Foundation 2015, accessibility, ASM NGO capacity, and potential 2016b). The projects were established to address best for successful restoration. The application of the environmental practice in ASM and to strengthen the methodology at the site was based on an adaptive and process of ASM formalization. During the development opportunistic approach, utilizing all materials available phase of the ESEC II project, the concept of frugal for both affordable and effective technical rehabilitation rehabilitation was conceived as an accessible approach as well as optimal use of soils and organic and to environmental rehabilitation of ASM-degraded vegetative materials for taking advantage of the natural abandoned lands. Frugal rehabilitation adheres to be the rehabilitation potential of the area. following: In summary, the rehabilitation process consisted of the 1. Economically affordable, so that it can be under- following steps: taken by ASM with limited resources 130 FOREST-SMART MINING • Technical and health and safety training for miners The ESEC II shared responsibility for monitoring of to undertake rehabilitation. progress with local environmental officers, in line with a Memorandum of Understanding established at the • Technical rehabilitation: infilling of shafts, regrading outset. Monitoring visits during 2015 and 2016 indicated of slopes and topsoil restoration using heavy that the frugal rehabilitation demonstration (FRD) had machinery and manual methods. Because of the been successful beyond expectations and that the need for machinery, technical costs were high abandoned ASM area was on the path to ecological compared to other pilot sites ($5,996/hectare). recovery. • Biological rehabilitation: identification and planting of native target species and natural succession In 2016, the rehabilitation outcome was documented in colonizers. Biological rehabilitation costs were a formal Rehabilitation Action Plan that was submitted moderately low ($1,510/hectare). to local government; and approved and included in an environmental stakeholder-inclusive environmental management plan. Mongolia gold mine (Credit: Jonathan Stacey) FOREST-SMART MINING 131 Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-39 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Noyod, 2000–2016 132 FOREST-SMART MINING Analysis of recent satellite imagery and verification Table 3-20 Forest Health Score of the AOI around via published sources suggests that mining activities Noyod cover an area of up to 7 hectares (Figure 3-39). Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 suggests Forest health score of AOI 0.000 high deforestation rates (75 percent) within the defined Rank 23/23 mining area. However, due to the extremely small size of the mining area (7 hectares) and the relatively coarse At the landscape level, the forest health around Noyod resolution of the spatial deforestation data (1 arc-second, ranks the lowest out of the 23 case studies. This may or pixels of around 30 meters), the deforestation is being partly owe to the less densely vegetated nature of the significantly overestimated due to edge effects. This forest-steppe transition habitat, which increases the area is known to be in a stage of successional recovery negative fragmentation score, and to their vulnerability after a fire in the 1990s, which may also be amplifying to forest fires. However, the region is being affected the tree loss detected by remote sensing techniques. by illegal logging and the strongest negative driver is Deforestation rates within a 5-kilometer buffer zone protected area deforestation (Figure 3-40). Deforestation are high, with 46 percent forest loss during the same of protected areas occurs away from the Noyod ASM period—however, in actual hectares of forest loss, this site, but with no relation to ASM. Some illegal alluvial is again a smaller amount than it would appear (122 gold mining occurs in the Kentii Mountain taiga forests hectares) because the buffer zone is naturally not densely buffering the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area (Figure forested. These deforestation rates are higher than the 3-39). This has led to significant localized losses along average deforestation rates of the Mandal soum (4.5 riparian forests in the Yeruu catchment, further north in percent), the Selenge aimag (3.0 percent), and Mongolia Selenge, but the indirect impacts of ASM on adjacent as a whole (9.7 percent). forest are minimal. Figure 3-40 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Noyod, 2001–2014 FOREST-SMART MINING 133 Conclusions rehabilitation, and second in allowing ASM to access formal assistance from partners. An integrated ASM is not a significant driver of forest loss and degradation approach consisting of the simultaneous creation of in Mongolia, although there are undoubtedly locally appropriate toolkits along with capacity building of all significant impacts on hydrology and riparian forest loss. relevant stakeholders has been crucial for successful Widespread degradation and particularly protected area formalization and achieving widespread acceptance of deforestation is not strongly associated with ASM across the process (Figure 3-41). While Mongolia has prioritized Mongolia’s northern forests. the formalization of their ASM sector, greater incentives for conditional ASM formalization could be realized The success of the FRM owes to positive action at two through closer scrutiny of ASM in forested areas in terms levels: of improved environmental governance and use of the • At the site level, the physical constraints and now accepted rehabilitation methodologies. characteristics of the site were adequately assessed Lessons Learned for a good rehabilitation plan that makes use of locally available resources and takes advantage of • Rehabilitation methods for ASM must be the natural regeneration capacity of the ecosystem. designed to be as simple and economical as • At the governance level, the FRM succeeded possible, fit the habitat type, and require limited because of the inclusive process of engaging all technical capabilities. The Frugal Rehabilitation local stakeholders, close collaboration with the Methodology is a good example of how that can national ministries and committed long-term be achieved. support from the Asia Foundation (ESEC II project) • To ensure that rehabilitation becomes and the Swiss Cooperation for Development (SAM systematic practice, formal ASM organizations project). with accountability structures are required and Having a well-established and formal ASM organization rehabilitation requirements should be adopted was fundamental, first in engendering interest in into environmental legislation for ASM. Figure 3-41 Formalizing an ASM-Inclusive Environmental Management Plan through Environmental Toolkits and Capacity Building 134 FOREST-SMART MINING 3.12. SURINAME Country Overview World Bank development status Upper middle income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 14,996 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 14,490 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 23.4 1999 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 57.6 1999 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 8.9 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 68.6 2016 Suriname is an upper-middle-income country heavily 2017). It is estimated that at least 60,000 people depend dependent on export income generated by the on ASM for their livelihoods (12 percent of Suriname’s extractive sector (gold, bauxite, and crude oil, in that population). Of the tens of thousands of ASGM miners, order) (Central Bank van Suriname 2014). In 2014, those only 17,000 are officially registered (Crawford and Bliss exports represented around 86 percent of total export 2017). Brazilian migrants represent a large portion of the revenues (World Bank 2018b). Suriname has “a high ASM workforce (Crawford and Bliss 2017; GFW 2016b). forest cover with low rates of deforestation” (HFLD), and low population density. The country’s nominal GDP in Approximately 90 percent of Suriname is covered by 2016 was about $3.3 billion (Staatsolie 2018). forest, with almost 15 percent of it formally protected (Smith 2017). This makes Suriname the country with Most of the geology is old crystalline basement that the most forest cover in the world (UNEP-WCMC 2018), forms part of the Guyana Shield (80 percent of the highlighting the importance of national forest policies. country), and is highly prospective, particularly for gold. In 2011, around 2.4 million hectares of forest were The remaining 20 percent of the country is coastal logged and exploited, which contributes modestly to plain, where the oil industry is located (IAMGOLD 2017; the nation’s economy, less than 2 percent of the GDP, Newmont 2017). The combination of large important and what is produced is mainly destined for the local forests with prospective geology makes “forest-smart” market (Sinovas et al. 2017). Deforestation has taken considerations especially important. place due to illegal (small-scale gold) and legal mining, hydropower development, infrastructure development, Large-scale bauxite mining has been vital for Suriname. and agriculture. About 0.33 percent of Suriname’s Mining operations started a century ago, allowing for land is covered by gold mining operations, but the the development of a refinery industry and hydroelectric impacted area is estimated to be much higher, around power; together, these helped make Suriname one of 54,000 hectares (about 3 percent of Suriname’s land) the world’s largest alumina producers. At present, many (Foundation for Forest Management and Production if not most deposits are reaching the end of their life, Control 2017). Mining is the highest direct driver of and the bauxite industry is becoming less important. deforestation in Suriname, responsible for 73 percent Instead, large-scale gold mining is developing and in of total deforestation, with ASGM being responsible for the past decade, two large gold mines have opened around 59 percent of that (Crawford and Bliss 2017). in the northeast of the country: the IAMGOLD-owned Rosebel gold mine (production of around 300,000 Suriname’s legal and regulatory framework for minerals, ounces in 2017) and the Newmont-owned Merian mine forest, and environment is fairly rudimentary. Minerals are (production of 350,000–390,000 ounces in 2017). Both property of the state and separated from land ownership. of these are located in forested areas (Central Bank van The mining sector is governed by a Mining Decree Suriname 2014). (1986) that provides the basis for mining agreements, which in turn are negotiated with the government and There is also a sizable ASGM sector, which up until recently promulgated as laws by the National Assembly. There dominated the nation’s gold production. ASM has been are five types of mining permits: exploitation, small- responsible for about 60 percent of gold production since scale mining, reconnaissance, exploration, and quarrying 2004 (Seccatore and de Theije 2017; Crawford and Bliss FOREST-SMART MINING 135 building materials. In many cases, the state retains some Is Suriname’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? ownership in LSM projects (Crawford and Bliss 2017). Suriname does not yet have a mature legal framework Most forests are state owned (>99 percent), and for controlling the environmental performance of despite very little private or other type of ownership, mining (and other) economic projects. Legal reform is the state assigns concessions to companies and allows ongoing, and it is likely that the requisite framework will communities to harvest timber (Crawford and Bliss 2017). be in place within a relatively short period of time. Once Indigenous/tribal land rights are not yet recognized, it is, substantial efforts must be allocated to ensuring and although signs indicate they may be in the future, enforcement of this framework. as long as the lack of clarity on their rights persists, conflicts between mining companies, communities, and Two large gold mines were recently opened in rather the state are likely to continue (FAO 2010; Ministry of remote areas of dense forest cover and high biodiversity. Natural Resources 2006). Key forest legislation includes Artisanal and small-scale mining is widespread in and the National Forest Policy from 2005, “which aims to around the company concessions. While the large- enhance the contribution of the forests to the national scale mining seems to follow sound environmental economy and the welfare of the current and future management, it is concerning that large-scale investment generations, taking into account the preservation of the in mining has gone ahead before the legal framework to biodiversity.” The three goals (economic, sociocultural, prepare EIAs and SEIAs is in place. and environmental) are weighted with the same Also, the issue of indirect impacts on forests caused importance in the policy as part of the main objective by the future overall economic development in areas and are said to be achieved with joint efforts of all forest- surrounding the large mines will need to be carefully related stakeholders (Forest Legality Initiative 2016). managed and controlled by the relevant authorities. It is The legislative framework also includes the Forest therefore important to ensure that these authorities have Management Act from 1992, which aims to promote the requisite capabilities and resources, and this can in sustainable forest management and provides rules part be achieved in partnership with LSM corporations. governing the production of timber (Crawford and Bliss Issues that need to be addressed include safeguarding 2017). The Nature Protection Act states that mining protected areas, ensuring responsible and clear land use activities are forbidden in nature reserves. planning, and sustainable logging practices. Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and ASM continues to be an important part of the Suriname environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs) mining sector and is likely to remain so for a considerable are not required by the Mining Decree (Crawford and time. Therefore, its impacts on forests must not be Bliss 2017). However, NIMOS, a state-owned advisory neglected. ASM activities are not formalized and hard company, has issued guidance on EIAs and has also been to control. There is a need for improved environmental tasked to review EIA reports. Although NIMOS’ guidance supervision and control on part of the authorities, and on EIAs is not required by law, it is used as a baseline for capacity-building efforts that are directed toward the most companies (Crawford and Bliss 2017; NIMOS, n.d.). relevant authorities as well as the miners. As ASM often Key government institutions include the Ministry of takes place in vicinity of or on LSM concessions, LSM Natural Resources, responsible for the development of companies should have strategies in place to manage environmental policies and management of the mineral, the social and environmental, including forest, impacts energy, and water resources; the Geological Mining of those activities. Service, which generates and distributes geological The fact that indigenous and customary rights have not information, manages concessions, and conducts surveys; yet been recognized by law is also concerning given the the Planning Commission for the Gold Sector (OGS) potential for land tenure disputes between LSM, ASM, which registers small-scale miners and ASGM operations; and indigenous groups. Further legal development is the Ministry of Physical Planning, Land and Forestry needed in this regard, as well as efforts to build awareness Management, responsible for forestry-related legislation; among regulators and the public of these issues. the Foundation for Forest Management and Production Control implementing the Forest Management Act; the Lessons Learned National Council for the Environment; and the National Institute for Environment and Development, charged • The ambition to attract foreign investment with initiating the development of a national legal and into mining must not distract from the need to institutional framework for environmental policy and have sound legislations in place before large- management. NIMOS is their executing agency (Central scale developments are allowed to materialize, Bank van Suriname 2014). 136 FOREST-SMART MINING including regulations around environmental Negotiation Committee (POC) to represent them in impacts as well as community rights. discussions with Newmont (Crawford and Bliss 2017). With success, as of 2016, the government, Newmont, • Strategic environmental studies should be and the Pamaka community signed a Memorandum performed to properly plan for, and manage, of Understanding (MoU) in order to find win-win long- the indirect impacts that could arise from the term solutions for both the mining company and the establishment of LSM and ASM in forested areas. communities, and a Community Development Fund (CDF) was created. Nowadays, ASM is present right at 3.12.1. ASM in and around Merian Mine, the boundary of the concession, although there are Suriname incursions into the concession (Newmont, pers. comm., 2017). ASM practices are reported to be alluvial, seasonal, Newmont’s Merian gold mine is located between the semi-mechanized, or non-mechanized and include the Marowijne and Commerwijne watersheds, 60 kilometers use of mercury and cyanide (Vaneeckhaute et al. 2017). south of the Moengo–Langa Tabiki Road and about 170 kilometers away from Paramaribo. Langa Tabiki is The IGF assessment (Crawford and Bliss 2017) identified the nearest permanent settlement. The total right of several gaps in the environmental and ASM management exploration area is of 25,900 hectares, which is a largely legislations in Suriname. Regulations do not provide for undeveloped area mainly covered with primary high an environmental authority, the regulation for mercury dryland forest (ERM 2013b). Nine terrestrial species listed usage (Minamata Convention not ratified), and the as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List have been found in preparation of an emergency plan. Moreover, the the area (ERM 2013a). environmental legislation is limited, with clear gaps in the areas of environmental and social impact assessments; The area in and around Merian is inhabited by the Pamaka enhancement of local development and national (or Paramaka), one of the three autonomous groups development goals; community consultations; financial of the Eastern Maroon (EM) community, numbering reassurance funds; measures to address commodity approximately 1,200 people in Merian’s project area price volatility; protection of women, children, (Resolve 2017). The Pamaka community settled along marginalized people, and ASMers; and best practices on the Marowijne River in 1760 and was composed of environmental management (Crawford and Bliss 2017). slaves fleeing from Suriname’s sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, Lastly, although a rehabilitation plan after mine closure and cotton plantations (ERM 2013b). The Pamaka is required for the exploitation permit, the plan details community has been involved in ASM since the 1990s are vague, and it is unclear to what extent communities (Seccatore and de Theije 2017) together with Brazilian need to be involved and the extent of environmental migrants (garimpeiros), who introduced new methods and social impacts to mitigate (Crawford and Bliss 2017). of gold mining (Hoogbergen and Kruijt 2004). Tensions between artisanal miners and Merian began in 2010. In The draft Environmental Act and Mining Act of 2004 have 2011, ASMers were peacefully evicted from the region by not been adopted by the parliament of Suriname, which, the government under Newmont’s request. Pamakans together with the lack of an environmental authority, were given an alternative mining area in exchange that makes it very difficult to enforce environmental norms was not as prospective, which led to informal miners and conservation measures (Crawford and Bliss 2017). reentering Newmont’s concession area (Resolve 2017). A second eviction took place in 2015, following which Pamaka communities protested and created the Pamaka FOREST-SMART MINING 137 Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-42 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Merian, 2000–2016 138 FOREST-SMART MINING Figure 3-43 GIS Analysis of Annual Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in and around Merian, 2000–2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 139 Mining happens along most tributaries within the Table 3-21 Forest Health Score of the AOI around concession, covering an approximate area of 2,939 Merian hectares (Figure 3-42). Analysis of spatial deforestation data from 2000–2016 reveals high deforestation rates (55 Forest health score of AOI 0.377 percent) within the defined mining area. Deforestation Rank 9/23 rates within the 5-kilometer buffer zone are also high, with 5.1 percent forest loss during the same period. At the landscape scale, deforestation has been steadily These are higher than average deforestation rates in increasing since 2000 (Figure 3-44). Despite the presence the Sipalwini district (0.5 percent) and in Suriname as a of large areas of core and intact forest, core forest being whole (0.9 percent) during the same time period the strongest positive driver of forest health, the forest health score of the AOI was only modestly high (Table There was dispersed and substantial deforestation prior 3-21). Population change was the main negative driver, to the start of Newmont’s operations in 2014 along which likely reflects the 2010/11 gold rush, during which streams, which likely can be attributed to ASM (Figure miners migrated mainly from Brazil but also from French 3-43). Agriculture and logging activities in that area Guyana, Guyana, and other parts of Suriname to the area are limited and do not appear to be as large a driver of (Resolve 2017). deforestation. Figure 3-44 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Merian, 2001–2014 140 FOREST-SMART MINING Conclusions In such a setting, corporate commitments, like the establishment of the CDF and the MoU, are very important This case illustrates how the combined presence of LSM and show that Newmont is engaging with ASM, but and ASM can exacerbate forest impacts at a landscape they were not accompanied by an efficient strategy for scale. ASM in Newmont’s concession has been present operationalizing this recognition of community rights. since the 1990s and attracted migrants to the region. Both ASM and LSM appear to be the main disruptors Lessons Learned of forest health, as agriculture and logging are not very prevalent in the area. The legislation of the mining sector • Serious gaps exist in the legislation on the mining in Suriname has serious gaps; as it is still nascent, very sector in Suriname. While Newmont has largely few regulations show integration of international norms followed international best practice at Merian, and best practices. There is no environmental authority these legal gaps should have been addressed and EIA/ESIA guidelines are not law. Moreover, the lack before granting mineral rights to large-scale mines, of law enforcement and recognition of indigenous rights particularly given the decades-long large scale of is a significant barrier for forest-smart mining. the ASM sector. • The presence of ASM within an LSM concession Government authorities should make serious can undermine a mining company’s forest commitments to address the legislative gaps, include outcomes. Especially in regions where the state EIA and ESIA guidelines in the law, recognize indigenous does not effectively regulate the ASM sector, it is rights, and create an environmental authority. the responsibility of mining companies to form Government-led evictions in the area have failed mainly the necessary agreements and place safeguards to because of the lack of government commitment to mitigate the impact of ASM and maintain positive provide a truly prospective alternative mining site. community relations. 3.13. SWEDEN Country Overview World Bank development status High income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 49,508 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 50,030 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 0.3 2014 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 27.2 2014 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 7.2 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 90.4 2016 Sweden is a high-income country with a diversified Swedish forests consist mostly of spruce and pine forests economy. The forestry and mining sectors have (boreal) with minor deciduous forest in the far south. historically been important, and today represent about Overall, forests cover nearly 70 percent of Sweden, with 10 percent of total exports each. The forestry sector more than 80 percent classified as productive forests. is important in terms of providing jobs, whereas the Because these forests have been used for a long period of mining sector is less significant in this regard. time, very little old forest remains. Two to 3 percent of the productive forests are logged per year. About 60 percent FOREST-SMART MINING 141 of the Swedish forests are certified either through FSC Is Sweden’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? or PEFC. Forest cover has increased significantly over the past century and there is no net deforestation. Mining at both small and large scales in Sweden is shown to be forest smart and compatible with successful forest Forest ownership is mainly held by families and management and impacts on forest health are minor or individuals (56 percent), with significant ownership also nearly negligible at the landscape level. The overall lack by the state (19 percent) and large forestry corporations of negative impacts is because the mines themselves (25 percent). The patterns of ownership of land differ affect very small areas. Modern and efficient, the mines significantly between the different mining districts: in employ relatively few people, which in turn means that the north, the state controls most of the land, and the new mines are not associated with significant influxes land parcels are typically very large; in the south, the land of people or the establishment of new and significant is mostly privately owned and more fragmented. mining towns/camps. There are significant usufruct rights to accessing forests. However, the good results achieved at the landscape First, indigenous Sami herders conduct reindeer herding level have little to do with the mines themselves. They are in the northern parts, in an area that covers nearly half more directly related to: (a) good management of forests of Sweden. Second, there is a right of public access to by forest owners, the forestry sector, and other sectors nearly all areas in the countryside, including forests. of society; (b) the successful protection of ecologically important forests; and (c) the fact that land use planning Access and use of precious minerals is controlled by is performed well. the state. The mines are almost all situated within three mining districts, which are all forested: Malmfälten in The existence of a successful small-scale base metal the far north (iron ore and some copper/gold), the mine in the Bergslagen district shows that such mining Skellefte field (gold and base metals) farther south, and may indeed be compatible with good environmental the Bergslagen area (smaller base metals and iron ore) performance. The fact that this mine is only involved in south/central Sweden. The industry is dominated by in mineral extraction and crushing and sells its ore for two companies: the state-owned iron ore producer LKAB processing elsewhere may be a relevant factor in its and the private and listed company Boliden AB, which is ability to achieve an adequate environmental status. mainly involved in the mining, processing, and smelting of base metals. Mines that exploit concession minerals Forest management in Sweden suffers from one exist at widely varying scales (0.04–35 million tonnes per fundamental weakness—only small areas of old, year). However, the development of the mining sector productive forests are well protected. In this regard, has overall followed a clear trend of there being fewer mines have caused local and significant impacts on but bigger mines. Today, there are 17 mines, producing such old and largely untouched forests. Attempts to 72 million tonnes of ore annually. compensate for such effects through offsetting cannot fully compensate for this. In some cases, the impacts have The precious minerals mining sector is governed been caused through the development of what proved through the Minerals Act (1991), which is supervised and to be financially unviable mining projects, pointing to controlled by the Mining Inspectorate. Mining activities the need to better ensure that only financially viable are also the subject of permitting and EIA process in mining projects are permitted. accordance with the Environmental Code (1998), where permits are adjudicated by the Land and Environment Lessons Learned Courts. A significant number of other institutions are • Efficient mines are forest-smart mines—mining also involved in the supervision and control of mining projects should be financially viable and use activities (regional authorities and state agencies, modern technology that extracts with efficiency, including the EPA). In terms of taxation, the mining precision, and limited personnel needs. sector is largely treated like any other industrial activity. There is no royalty, but there is a fee payable to private • At the landscape level, forest management landholders, where such exist. The forestry sector is spreads beyond the responsibility of the mine. governed through the Forestry Act (1979), and its Land use planning, protected areas, and land implementation is supervised and controlled by the ownership are important factors. Forestry Agency. Forestry activities are not subject to an EIA process; instead, the environmental aspects are • Impacts on the most ecologically irreplaceable included in the forestry-related regulations. Overall, forests should where possible be avoided and supervision and control of forestry is concentrated at the not attempted to be offset through other means. Forestry Agency. 142 FOREST-SMART MINING 3.13.1. Lovisagruvan, Sweden Photo 3-7 Satellite Image of Lovisagruvan Located in a forested, rural landscape, the Lovisagruvan mine site (center) is about 400 meters across from the southwest to northeast corners. Photograph from Google Earth. FOREST-SMART MINING 143 The Lovisagruvan lead and zinc mine is located in a rural smallest precious minerals mine; its mineral concession area in Örebro County, in the Bergslagen mining district covers 88 hectares, although the industrial site is only of central Sweden. The local forest is boreal and fairly about 5 hectares. The company owns the surface rights fragmented; most stands are productive forests that are to only a limited part of the concession area. logged at regular intervals and mainly privately owned. Some forests nearby are protected to varying degrees, The company employs 18 staff at the mine. There is and about 25 kilometers north, there is a large natural no mine camp, and workers commute to the site from reserve where forestry is allowed (Malingsbo-Kloten elsewhere. Prospecting is being done near the mine as reserve, 265 square kilometers). Sweden’s largest forest well as elsewhere. The mine’s original permit was obtained fire of recent times—the 2014 Västmanland wildfire— before it was necessary to perform a full EIA. However, occurred about 60 kilometers northeast of Lovisagruvan in Sweden, all precious mineral mines irrespective of (150 square kilometers affected). size or scale are subject to the same requirements, so Lovisagruvan must abide by a number of environmental The mine is located where historically there have requirements. This has led to discharges from the mine been numerous metal mines. It was first opened and being processed, as well as measures being taken to operated during 1991–1993, after which its then owner reduce dusting from the crusher. went bankrupt. Lovisagruvan AB took over in 2004 and since then the mine has operated continuously. An Lovisagruvan AB is listed on a small Swedish stock underground mine, presently about 300 meters deep, exchange (Aktietorget); the largest shareholder is it produces some 40,000 tonnes of ore annually. As the Pavillion Life Insurance (14 percent), followed by a mining is selective—very little other than the ore-bearing number of individuals, including at least one of the material is extracted—and as material is backfilled, founders. The company is a member of the Swedish there is no requirement for depositing waste rock on- Mining Association, Svemin, which entails needing to site. The mined ore is crushed, transported by trucks to abide by some guidelines relating to taking due care of a nearby harbor, and shipped for processing in Poland the environment, and to continuously strive to improve (prior to 2017 it was processed at the Boliden plant at environmental performance. Garpenberg). Therefore, no processing plant or tailings impoundments exist on-site. Lovisagruvan is Sweden’s 144 FOREST-SMART MINING Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-45 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources in Lovisagruvan, 2000–2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 145 The mine license area where mining activities Table 3-22 Forest Health Score of the AOI around are conducted is small (88 hectares; Figure 3-45). Lovisa Deforestation at the mine site, or in its immediate surroundings, will have little impact on the landscape- Forest health score of AOI 0.303 level analysis. Analysis of spatial deforestation data from Rank 16/23 2000–2016 reveals high deforestation rates (21.7 percent) within the mining concession. Deforestation rates within The Forest Health Index methodology was designed a 5-kilometer buffer zone were also high, with 16.5 primarily for developing tropical countries; it is not as percent of the buffer area lost during the same period. well suited for a developed country scenario, where This is higher than the average deforestation rate in there is an active and well-managed forestry in which Sweden (12.7 percent during the same period). However, reforestation happens at the same time as deforestation, this deforestation is caused by periodic clear-cutting, having close to zero net forest loss in the long term. which in turn is part of the long-term management However, analysis of the forest health score can still cycle of nearly all forested areas in Sweden. Thus, there is provide some relevant insights. Thus, there are extensive unlikely to be any net forest loss occurring. forests near the mine, although the forest landscape is overall fragmented. However, Lovisagruvan has had The mining company has an interest in maintaining a no role in influencing landscape-level aspects of forest forest screen around the site, as this reduces impacts health (forest health score relatively low; see Table 3-22). from noise and dust and also makes for better aesthetics. Instead, the health of nearby forests is affected by the fact However, one of the neighboring forest owners recently that the area is sparsely populated, the land ownership clear-cut an area bordering the mine, thereby reducing includes many private owners who have comparatively the existing forest screen. In this case, the use of selective small landholdings, and there is active forestry. Outside (uneven-aged forestry) near the mine would have the 5-kilometer buffer zone, there are some seemingly provided for a better outcome, at least from the mine well-protected forested areas, with very little protected owner’s point of view. area deforestation shown in Figure 3-46. Figure 3-46 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Lovisagruvan, 2001–2014 146 FOREST-SMART MINING Conclusions processing and storage of waste being the more difficult challenges to meet while maintaining an acceptable The Lovisagruvan case illustrates how small-scale mining environmental performance. can be successfully conducted in a forested landscape while abiding by the same modern environmental Lessons Learned requirements that apply to LSM, and while having negligible impact on surrounding forests. • Forest-smart small-scale mechanized mining is possible—as ASM in developing countries becomes The case further shows that issues unrelated to the mine more mechanized, the sector should look toward appear much more important in ensuring healthy forests existing examples of good practice for guidance on at the landscape level, such as clear ownership of land how to prevent ASM’s impacts from escalating with and forests, a well-managed forestry, as well as the formal increased mechanization. protection of ecologically important forests. Ownership • Ownership of land and forests is a key determinant and/or control of the forested areas surrounding the of forest conservation. Clear ownership of forests is mine by the mine owner would make it easier to maintain important for maintaining incentives to conserve a forest screen around the site, thereby reducing impacts forests and the accountability needed to deal with related to noise and dust and providing better aesthetics. any impacts on forests. The case might also support a conclusion that for small-scale mining, the actual mining may be the least problematic part of the operations, with crushing and 3.14. UKRAINE Country Overview World Bank development status Lower middle income     Indicators   Year of data GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) 8,272 2016 GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) 8,190 2016 % population living in poverty (<$1.90/day) 0.1 2015 Gini index (World Bank estimate) 25.5 2015 % total unemployment of total labor force (ILO estimate) 9.0 2017 Yale Environmental Performance Index 79.7 2016 Ukraine is a large Eastern European country with a The national unemployment rate is 9.9 percent of the population of 42.6 million. It ranks 84th on the Human labor force, but it is much higher (23.1 percent) among Development Index of the United Nations Development youth aged 15–24; 14.8 percent of all laborers work in Programme, with a score of 0.743. Life expectancy at birth agriculture, and 59.1 percent in services (UNDP, n.d.). is 71.1 years and the adult literacy rate is 99.8 percent. FOREST-SMART MINING 147 Large protests in 2014 led to the removal of former Furthermore, Ukraine never invested in adequate president Viktor Yanukovych. Since then, Ukraine’s new institutions for revenue collection. The legislation in government has struggled to impose authority on Ukraine does not require disclosing mining contracts. criminal activities, including illegal mining operations. From 2018, however, this will become mandatory by The government’s control over state security forces the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) of such as police, border control, and park rangers has also which Ukraine is a member (NRGI 2017). weakened (Muliavka 2017). Shortly after Yanukovych’s departure, Russia invaded the Crimea region and has Forests cover 16.8 percent of the Ukrainian land (CIA since aimed at the annexation of Crimea, leading to a 2017)—or 9.5 million hectares (European Timber Trade violent conflict that has killed more than 33,000 civilians Federation 2016). Of those 9.5 million hectares, only 0.6 (CIA 2017). The ongoing conflict and complex political percent (or 60,000 hectares) is primary forest, while 47 environment, including a trade blockade, have posed percent (4.7 million hectares) are naturally regenerated serious challenges for economic reform and growth forest and more than 50 percent (4.9 million hectares) are (World Bank 2017b). However, in 2016, Ukraine began a planted forest (ETTF 2016). Agricultural land afforestation slow recovery and experienced a growth in GDP of 2.3 is widespread in Ukraine, which is why the total area of percent (EBRD 2017). forest is growing 0.1–0.3 percent per year (ETTF 2016). The natural resources present in Ukraine are iron ore, The forestry industry produced more than 18.3 million coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, cubic meters of logs in 2014; 28.5 percent of those were titanium, amber, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, exported, mainly to Poland, Turkey, Romania and China, and timber (CIA 2017). In 2014, Ukraine was one of the but the majority was consumed domestically. The State world’s largest producers of gallium, rutile, titanium Committee of Forestry is responsible for around 80 sponge, iron ore, manganese ore, steel, ilmenite, and pig percent of this production. More than 8,000 companies iron (USGS 2017). Ukraine has the second-largest amber work in the timber and timber processing industry in the deposits in the world, after Kaliningrad (Piechal 2017), country, with a total of over 120,000 employees (ETTF with an estimated 15,000 tonnes over 380,000 hectares 2016). In 2011, the forestry sector contributed 1.0 percent of land (Kozak 2017). The Ukrainian mining industry of the GDP, namely $1.5 billion (GFW 2017b). employs 220,000 workers, in more than 200 mines (ILO More than 70 percent of land (or 43 million hectares) 2017). Mining and quarrying represented 10.7 percent of is agricultural, and a third of the world’s black soil, the national GDP in 2014 (USGS 2017), but the relative particularly fertile, belongs to the Ukraine. This creates importance of the extractive industry as a whole has a huge potential for a productive agriculture sector. decreased to 5 percent of the GDP in 2016 (NRGI 2017). However, there is currently little incentive for long-term According to the Constitution, land and natural resources, investment and management of land, and access to including subsoil assets, belong to the state (NRGI 2017). credit is limited (Kahkonen 2017). Amber mining requires a special permission for the use The 1994 Forest Code aims at “conservation, of natural resources (Belichenko 2017). improvement of wood quality and sustainable forest Ukraine ranked 44th out of 89 in the Resource Governance management” (ETTF 2016). The main government Index of 2017 (NRGI 2017). This index analyzes good authorities responsible for managing forests are the governance of natural resources, including “subsoil Ukrainian State Committee of Forestry (USCF) and the use, fiscal management, budget planning, financial State Forest Resources Agency (SFRA). Between 2002 and reporting, state-owned companies’ governance, open 2015, a program called Forests of Ukraine was aimed at data” (Natural Resource Governance Institute 2017). Note “improving forest conditions and quality, ecological and that this applies to governing the industrial mining and protective functions, and forest productivity” (Lopatin et oil and gas sectors, but some identified areas of concern al. 2011). It sought to develop a regulatory system for may impact the governance of ASM: Lack of a functioning more effective forest management and conservation procedure of environmental impact assessment and (Lopatin et al. 2011). environmental mitigation; lack of a single governmental Forests and areas of conservation value are legally data portal with data about reserves, production, and categorized as follows (ETTF 2016): exports of natural resources; absence of requirements and practice of targeted revenue sharing from the 1. Forests with conservation, scientific, historical and extractive sector in favor of subnational budgets (there is cultural functions currently no mechanism for redistributing benefits to the local budgets) (NRGI 2017). 2. Forests for recreation and health 148 FOREST-SMART MINING 3. Protection forests while collection of timber requires a permit (Zhyla et al. 2014). 4. Operational forests Two state companies have extracted amber in the region The state owns 99 percent of the country’s forests. The since the 1980s. However, after the Soviet Revolution, majority (70 percent) is managed by the USCF, part of when private wealth accumulation became possible and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, with amber prices rose, illegal amber mining by individuals regional forest directorates responsible for the different and local interest groups increased and the latter started provinces. The rest of the state-owned forest is managed taking over the sector. Around 200,000 people across the by the SFRA, which is part of the Ministry of Agricultural region make a living from the amber industry (Arte 2017; Policy (24 percent), and by the Ministry of Defense (2.2 Piechal 2017). Most of them are local residents in a region percent) (ETTF 2016). that has an unemployment rate and poverty levels way Is Ukraine’s Mining Sector Forest Smart? beyond the national average (Interfax: Ukraine Business Daily 2015; Zhyla et al. 2014). The profit that can be The complex political situation and ongoing conflict obtained by amber mining is well above average salaries pose serious challenges to the government, such as in other jobs (Muliavka 2017). a recession and loss of control over criminal activities, including illegal mining that is causing significant Ninety-nine percent of amber mining today in the uncontrolled forest impacts. Ukraine is illegal (Stewart 2015), amounting to 150–200 tonnes per year. As this illegality prevents effective The governance framework has certain gaps that need revenue collection through the state, the government is to be addressed for effective regulation of the mining believed to lose between $200 million and $300 million industry to be possible. Aspects of proper natural per year (Piechal 2017). Instead of applying to the official resource government such as data on mineral reserves government permitting system, most miners are either and exports, procedures for environmental impact employed by local mafia (Muliavka 2017) or form groups assessments, revenue re-distribution, and contract among themselves and buy a permit from the mafia to disclosure are lacking; this, coupled with unfavorable dig for amber (Piechal 2017). The owners of water pumps economic conditions and unemployment, corruption and hoses are typically at the top of the amber business networks, and low law enforcement capacity, makes and organize the extraction and control the trade (Arte Ukraine’s mining sector extremely prone to criminal 2017). activities. Bribery is widespread in the sector. Between 2011 Lessons Learned and 2013, then president Yanukovych’s son and the son of the prosecutor general at the time controlled • In situations where the ASM sector has become the amber mining sector, but corruption and bribery increasingly criminal, the focus must shift on chains have become much less clear since the political identifying and demobilizing the organized crime turmoil in 2014. New criminal groups became involved networks, national and international, that are likely and regularly clash (Muliavka 2017; Piechal 2017; WWF to be operating with impunity and driving financial Ukraine, pers. comm.). The Ukrainian amber industry flows into the ASM sector. is thriving due, among other reasons, to increasing prices and export restrictions by Russia on amber from • The motives driving actors into the criminal sector, Kaliningrad (Piechal 2017). Amber is illegally sold in such as lack of employment opportunities and the towns close to the digging areas, along with the wood ease of corrupt practices, must not be ignored and that is cleared to access the deposits. Most of the amber require a much wider social and economic lens. reaches the Chinese market through Russia (Muliavka 2017). 3.14.1. Polesia, Ukraine Amber lies mainly in sand and sandy clay soils in up Most of Ukraine’s amber is located in the cross-border to 15 meters depth and is extracted by mechanical or region Polesia, in the northwestern part of the country hydraulic methods, using water pumps or manual drills, and comprising the regions Rivne, Zhytomyr, and Volyn and sometimes altered car motors. By injecting water (Wendle 2017). The dominant land use in the area is into the soil, the amber rises to the surface (Malanchuk forests, with a forest cover of 36.4 percent, just before et al. 2016; Muliavka 2017; Arte 2017). agriculture. Most people in rural regions carry out subsistence farming and collect mushrooms and berries In response, the government deployed a special from forests. The latter is allowed without official permit, emergency unit in 2015 composed of staff from the FOREST-SMART MINING 149 Prosecutor General’s Office, the State Security Service, operate in the area (Film UA Group 2017; WWF Ukraine, and the National Police (Lempriere 2017). Law enforcers pers. comm.). have been patrolling forests, installed checkpoints along forest roads, arrested miners, and confiscated vehicles, Efforts to legalize and formalize the amber mining motor pumps, drills, and amber (BBC Monitoring Former do not look promising because of a lengthy and non- Soviet Union 2016). The police are, however, often met transparent licensing process and the lack of financial with violence, which, along with sophisticated warning incentives to operate in the legal sphere (Wendle 2017; systems among miners and corruption, has negatively Marson 2016). In 2017, two bills were discussed in impacted the effectiveness of these measures. Given their Ukraine, one on the mining and legislation of amber (No. low salaries, many police officers and other government 1351-1) and one on prospecting activities (No. 3035), but officials accept bribes from miners and let them operate both were disregarded (Belichenko 2017). There is also in return (Arte 2017; Lempriere 2017; Marson 2016). weak punishment for illegal amber extraction and no punishment at all for trade or use of illegal amber (Piechal Apart from a planned animated film by WWF Ukraine, 2017). A positive development has been the adoption of Animagrad studio, and the Fund branch about forests resolution No. 1063 in 2016 regarding the recultivation in Polesia, aimed at sensitizing people to the effects of of forest land damaged by amber mining in the Volyn, forest destruction, no civil society organization seems to Rivne, and Zhytomyr regions (Belichenko 2017). Bolivia, San Ramon 11, by Manuel Salinas 150 FOREST-SMART MINING Forest Health and Impacts Figure 3-47 GIS Analysis of Deforestation and Proximity to Recognized Forest Resources, Oleksiive, 2000–2016 FOREST-SMART MINING 151 Analysis of recent satellite imagery of the amber digging area of 30 hectares instead of the assigned 1.5 hectares area in Oleksiive, the selected example for this case study, (Arte 2017). Inspection of satellite imagery suggests that suggests that the area where ASM occurs covers 56 the deforestation seen in buffer areas and the wider hectares (Figure 3-47). Oleksiive represents one of many landscape is predominantly forestry driven. areas where amber mining of similar nature is taking place, so the footprint of amber mining in the region is Table 3-23 Forest Health Score of the AOI around much larger. Analysis of spatial deforestation data from Oleksiive 2000–2016 reveals high deforestation rates (87 percent) within the defined mining areas. Deforestation rates Forest health score of AOI 0.233 within the 5-kilometer buffer zone are also high, with Rank 18/23 21 percent forest loss during the same period. These are higher than the average deforestation rates for the Rivne At a landscape level, Polesia has a low forest health region (oblast) of 5.5 percent and Ukraine as a whole (7.2 score within its AOI (Table 3-23). The strongest negative percent) for the same time period. driver of forest health was deforestation in protected areas, whereas the strongest positive was a high Amber mining in the area has a very high deforestation amount of ecologically viable forest (canopy cover of footprint because the hydraulic method being used over 60 percent). No evidence shows that mining is a requires almost complete removal of vegetation. driver of protected area deforestation. The ecologically Estimates of forests lost to amber mining range from viable forest—and the high biome and undesignated 6,000 to 10,000 hectares (Piechal 2017; Wendle 2017). deforestation rates (Figure 3-48)—is likely to be related The forest degradation was begun by the state mining to the forestry industry, which regularly logs and reforests company in the 1980s, which extracted amber from an planted forests. Figure 3-48 Deforestation Trends for the AOI around Polesia, 2001–2014 The use of water pumps to inject water into the soil waterlogs the ground and leads to leaching of topsoil, hindering natural regeneration or future revegetation (Piechal 2017). Deforestation leaves moonlike landscapes (Wendle 2017) and leads to the loss of wild plant species; villagers have reported that they are unable to harvest 152 FOREST-SMART MINING wild blueberries and mushrooms. Digging on the business interests of organized criminal groups, whose surface leads to reemission of radioactive dust that had financial interests disincentivize a formalization of the settled over the region from Chernobyl in 1986. And amber extraction and trade. the excavation of groundwater and river water to use in mining leads to the pollution of groundwater and rivers Law enforcement is undermined by a lack of transparency (Muliavka 2017) as well as the diversion of natural water at all government levels, from local authorities to the courses (Arte 2017). police force and judges, with little political will to change the current situation. Finally, the formalization process is Amber mining is also forming cavities in the soil too lengthy, is prone to corruption and does not offer (Malanchuk et al. 2016). Drowned animals in pits and enough incentives for people to engage in it. human injuries when pits collapses are common, and there was a reported death of a civilian who fell into a pit Lessons Learned in 2016 (Muliavka 2017). • Efforts to combat illegal mining, which cannot be Conclusions subjected to any regulation, have to follow a strategy of offering an economically attractive and easy route Amber mining in the Ukraine is largely driven by poverty; toward formalization, as well as alternative livelihood it is an attractive livelihood because of a lack of viable opportunities. economic alternatives. Demand largely from China and • Strengthening good governance and transparency rising prices make it a profitable activity to participate in. is paramount to ensure that laws are enforced. To Control over the amber industry and its forest impacts prevent bribery involving law enforcement officers, is hindered by severe corruption and a lack of law they need to be adequately trained and remunerated. enforcement. The amber industry is dominated by big 3.15. RESULTS OVERVIEW 3.15.1. Lessons Learned Table 3-24 details the number of overall lessons learned from the case studies with regard to the impacts, political or economic barriers, governance barriers, and solutions and mechanisms for forest-smart ASM (Table 3-24). Table 3 24 Main Lessons Learned from ASM Case Studies Category Lesson learned Table 324 Main Lessons Learned from ASM Case Studies Impacts ASM has relatively low direct and indirect impacts on forests Impacts Deforestation is often not the most severe impact of ASM Political/economic Barriers ASM is commodity price-driven Political/economic Barriers Foreign influences can drive surges in ASM Political/economic Barriers LSM can encourage ASM in forests Political/economic Barriers Poverty and conflict are both drivers of ASM and barriers to improvements Political/economic Barriers Macro-political changes can affect mining and forests Governance Barriers Regulations are often inappropriate for ASM Governance Barriers Even where regulations exist, law enforcement is often inadequate Governance Barriers Lack of coordination between mining and environmental authorities prevents forest-smart ASM Solutions and Mechanisms Effective forest protection is the main determinant of forest health Solutions and Mechanisms Geological knowledge must underpin forest management decisions Solutions and Mechanisms Evictions are necessary but must respect human rights Solutions and Mechanisms Subsidiarity in governance and coordination between local government is needed Solutions and Mechanisms Formalization is needed to make ASM subject to regulations Solutions and Mechanisms Best-practice cases should be showcased and introduced into law Solutions and Mechanisms Stronger indigenous rights usually lead to better forest protection Solutions and Mechanisms Where ASM and LSM overlap, LSM needs to take responsibility Solutions and Mechanisms External support is a key enabler of forest-smart ASM FOREST-SMART MINING 153 3.15.2. Comparative Analysis of the Case Studies on the mine sites. Relative severity is calculated as the percentage difference between deforestation rates in Because of limits in the methodology (see section the 5-kilometer area around the mining operations and 3.2.5), all data are presented following the structure the background rate for the administrative region (using explained here. Country-level and site-level data from Global Forest Watch data). Negative values indicate that each case study have been summarized in Tables 3-25, the deforestation rates in the 5-kilometer buffer around 3-26, and 3-27. Table 3-25 shows forest change data at ASM operations are below the regional average; positive the site, regional, and country levels; Table 3-26 shows values indicate that deforestation rates in the 5-kilometer specific information from each site; and Table 3-27 buffer around ASM mining operations are higher than shows contextual information from each country. Case the regional average. For an easier visualization, negative studies have been ranked according to the relative severity index values have been highlighted in green, severity of deforestation within a 5-kilometer buffer area neutral values in yellow, and positive severity index around the ASM operations, including deforestation values in red. Tables 3-25, 3-26, and 3-27 Legend:   Deforestation on site and buffer zone is lower than background deforestation in the region   Deforestation on site and buffer zone is equal to the background deforestation in the region   Deforestation on site and buffer zone is higher than background deforestation in the region       Indicate differences between answers, note that colors do not correlate with better forest health or   deforestation severity index   DRC, by Andrew Cooke, Levin Sources, 2018 154 FOREST-SMART MINING Table 3-25 Forest Change Data at the Site, Regional, and Country Levels REGION FOREST HEALTH INDEX AND VARIABLES Identifie Forest % defores- % defores- % defores- ASM Forest Forest Health Health Population Road Country Site d mining cover tation 5 km tation tation deforestion area (ha) 2000 (%) buffer (region) (country) severity index Index Ranking / 23 Change Density FOREST-SMART MINING Liberia Gola 778 84.3 1.9 14 11.9 -12.1 0.368 11 0.902 0.305 Liberia Sapo 95 84.3 0.4 4.5 11.9 -4.1 0.590 6 0.209 0.153 Colombia La Cascada 111 71.6 0.8 4 4 -3.2 0.265 17 0.608 0.556 Madagascar Bemainty 2939 29.2 4.9 8 16.1 -3.1 0.198 20 0.179 0.031 Colombia Cocomacia 2638 71.6 0.4 1.6 4 -1.2 0.483 8 0.432 0.000 Madagascar Ankarana 35000 29.2 7.1 8 16.1 -0.9 0.303 13 1.036 0.113 Madagascar Loky Manambato 28980 29.2 9.5 9.8 16.1 -0.3 0.372 10 0.415 0.038 Bolivia Mapiri 9185 58.7 2.8 2.8 6.3 0.0 0.676 4 0.382 0.170 Ecuador St Luis 128 67.2 0.1 0.1 3.6 0.0 0.611 5 0.313 0.021 b Sweden Lovisagrun 248 62.3 16.5 15.9 12.7 0.6 0.303 16 0.039 2.000 Bolivia Madidi 20516 58.7 1.4 0.7 6.3 0.7 0.721 2 0.174 0.077 Ecuador Nambija 49423 67.2 2.6 1.7 3.6 0.9 0.574 7 0.376 0.176 Ghana Tarkwa 97 29 16.1 13 12 3.1 0.279 15 0.317 0.274 Ghana Atewa 88 29 8.8 5 12 3.8 0.324 12 0.377 0.422 Suriname Merian 13971 85.2 6.8 0.9 0.5 5.9 0.377 9 2.000 0.113 DRC Kahuzi Biega 1095 84.9 13.9 6.3 5.3 7.6 1.000 1 0.424 0.055 Indonesia a Bangka-Belitung 12175 84.5 47.8 34.2 14.3 13.6 0.226 19 0.325 0.095 Ukraine Polesia 7 18.4 21.4 5.5 7.2 15.9 0.233 18 0.000 0.657 Indonesia 1079 Central-Kalimantan 84.5 24.6 21.4 14.3 23.9 0.274 16 0.645 0.109 Bolivia San Ramon 195 58.7 44.5 12.4 6.3 32.1 0.120 21 1.726 0.213 c Mongolia Noyod 56 2.6 46.2 4.5 9.7 #VALUE! 0.000 23 0.045 0.090 Notes: a Approximation from site deforestation only, b Although 12.7% of Swedish forests cut anually, new plantations result in 0 net deforestation, c due to the extremely small size of the mining area (7ha) and the relatively coarse resolution of the spatial deforestation data (1 arc-second, or pixels of around 30m), the deforestation is being significantly overestimated by edge effects of the data. 155 Table 3-26 Site-Specific Information Arranged According to the Relative Severity of Deforestation in the 5 km Buffer Zone around the ASM Operations 156 Deforestation ASM rate Mining as % ASM contribution Country Site Mineral Deposit type Type of ASM Mercury use LSM present Severity Index of change of GDP to deforestation Liberia a Gola -12.1 Gold and diamonds alluvial artisanal absent stable absent 15 unclear Liberia a Sapo -4.1 Gold alluvial artisanal absent decline absent 15 >other sectors Colombia La Cascada -3.2 Gold hard-rock mixed absent stable absent 7 other sectors Sweden Lovisagruvan 0.6 Lead and zinc hard-rock mechanised absent stable absent 10 other sectors Coltan, wolframite, DRC Kahuzi Biega 7.6 mixed artisanal present rush absent 22 unclear gold and casserite Indonesia b Bangka 13.6 Tin mixed artisanal absent rush aggravating 25 significant d Ukraine Polesia 15.9 Amber alluvial mechanised absent rush absent 5 >other sectors Indonesia b Central Kalimantan23.9 Gold mixed mixed widespread rush absent 25 significant Bolivia San Ramon 32.1 Gold alluvial mechanised widespread rush absent 9