Governance // Out of sight, out of mind?
By Caitlin A. McElroy. The management of water and mining is local, technical, and tied to human rights for sustainable livelihoods that are contingent on food and energy as well. This results in a significant governance challenge. This chapter argues that this challenge is now exacerbated by the increasingly remote or precarious locations of new mines and because of the increasing effects of climate change.
Declining ore grades globally is leading to the development of new mines in locations that are remote. Metal and mineral deposits in more accessible locations are less abundant and, in seeking new resources, mines are pushing into terrains that were previously less appealing due to the additional difficulty of extracting there.
The remote and precarious nature of such locations often not only means that they are distant from the infrastructure of large population centres, but also that they are often unique as environmental and cultural places thus far cushioned by this same remoteness.
Many such places are also on the front lines of the effects of climate change. Such effects are increasing aridity and reducing the quantity of water reliably available in some parts of the world. In other places, climate change is increasing the intensity of storms and the volume of water added to water systems in short time frames. As large-scale mines are increasing, stakeholders in these regions are also becoming subject to the consequences of limited water and managing contamination in times of excess water.
Lack of water can stop mining operations quickly and an inability to manage contamination after an environmental event, like a flood or earthquake, can close mines long term. The on-going challenges of the political economy of water and mining impacts are therefore now joined by immediate corporate risk.
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Published
January 2018
In
Food, Energy and Water Sustainability. Emergent Governance Strategies. Ed. by Laura M. Pereira, Caitlin A. McElroy, Alexandra Littaye and Alexandra M. Girard, Routledge: 2018, p. 239-254.