Forest-Smart Mining

Abstract

Despite its relatively modest footprint, mining is an important driver of deforestation and degradation in tropical forests, often as a result of indirect impacts from associated infrastructure, unplanned development, and in-migration. The World Bank program on extractive industries in forest landscapes aims to ensure that this sector does not erode forest capital, but rather enables client countries and the World Bank Group to make better-informed decisions about minimizing trade-offs and maximizing benefits from forest-smart mining. This document presents five detailed case studies: (1) ArcelorMittal’s iron ore project in Liberia, (2) Newmont’s Akyem project in Ghana, (3) Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée and Guinea Alumina Corporation’s bauxite projects in Guinea, (4) wildlife works’ carbon offset project in Kenya, and (5) Aston Coal’s Maules Creek coal mine in Australia. Together, they highlight the spectrum of challenges faced by those aiming to implement enduring offsets. The selection of studies was based on their different types of forest landscapes, inclusion of World Bank Group projects, variety of minerals, and availability of data, which constrained the geographical spread of case studies. Section one gives introduction. Section two presents the key lessons learned. The detailed case studies are presented in sections three to seven. Section eight summarizes some practical challenges that may undermine the successful implementation of offsets. Finally, section nine offers some concluding observations.