This U4 Issue discusses the corruption risks faced by mining companies in Guatemala, with a particular focus on the risks faced by small, “junior” mining companies primarily engaged in exploration.
The development of mining value chains is conflictual but deeply intertwined with the goal of sustainable development. The response of mining value chains to the shift to a green economy cannot be business-as-usual and requires a proactive answer by business, Government, labour, non-governmental organisations and the research community in support of sustainable development. The transition to a green economy will not fundamentally challenge the central position of mining value chains in South Africa’s development path.
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda has been a part of the global debate on socio-economic development for many decades. Countless claims have been made that CSR can contribute towards more inclusive development and the alleviation of poverty. This briefing examines the concept and role of CSR in the mining industry of South Africa. The mining case study reviewed here demonstrates that key implementation challenges are a lack of co-ordination and alignment with the government’s development plans, at both national and local level, coupled with weak monitoring and evaluation.
Customary land and forests are more embedded in the global economy than ever. With globally significant supplies of land and raw materials and favorable terms for foreign investors, developing countries – particularly in Africa – have become increasingly attractive trade partners and destinations for investors. Increasing competition over land is placing new pressures on vast tracts of forest and woodland, areas often considered ‘under-utilized’ by national governments despite their critical role in supporting local livelihoods.
Topsoil is a valuable resource for revegetation of mine sites as it contains seeds of plant species indigenous to the local environment. As mine site restoration is undertaken after the completion of mining, it is a common practice to stockpile topsoil in preparation for restoration activities. While many studies have found a decrease in seedling emergence with increasing stockpile age in temperate regions around the world, a few examine the effect of stockpile age on topsoil seed bank and seedling recruitment in arid environments.
Africa is on the verge of a mining boom. We review the environmental threats from African mining development, including habitat alteration, infrastructure expansion, human migration, bushmeat hunting, corruption, and weak governance. We illustrate these threats in Central Africa, which contains the vast Congo rainforest, and show that more than a quarter of 4,151 recorded mineral occurrences are concentrated in three regions of biological endemism—the Cameroon‐Gabon Lowlands, Eastern DRC Lowlands, and Albertine Rift Mountains—and that most of these sites are currently unprotected.
Mining disturbs large forested areas around the world, including boreal forests after oil sands mining in Canada. Industrial companies are expected to reclaim degraded land to ecosystems with equivalent land capability. This research showed the value of woody debris for reclamation of dramatically disturbed landscapes with a forest ecosystem end land use. Adding woody debris during reclamation can facilitate recovery of flora, soil nutrient cycling and water and nutrient holding capacity.
National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) orthophotography is a potentially useful data source for land cover classification in the United States due to its nationwide and generally cloud-free coverage, low cost to the public, frequent update interval, and high spatial resolution. Nevertheless, there are challenges when working with NAIP imagery, especially regarding varying viewing geometry, radiometric normalization, and calibration.
This article aims to explain and demonstrate the origin and development of a subsidence basin caused by coal mining as well as to point out important aspects of this phenomenon in engineering geology. Engineering geology needs to deal with a number of issues related to the origin and development of subsidence basins in areas affected by deep coal mining. An interesting case study from the Upper-Silesian Basin in the northeast of the Czech Republic near the Polish border is presented in this paper.
El presente estudio es una reflexión en torno a los primeros impactos sociales de la instauración del proyecto mega minero en su fase de exploración en la parroquia amazónica de Tundayme, en el que sus pobladores vivencian distintos conflictos locales a raíz de la presión extractiva. Se analizan los vínculos territoriales de comunidades campesinas que a raíz de las leyes de reforma agraria se trasladan a los territorios amazónicos y que en la actualidad se enfrentan al incumplimiento de la normativa ambiental por parte de la compañía ECUACORRIENTE S.A.
Es evidente que a nivel de la historia, ha estado presente la dificultad de comprender el mundo rural; ligado esto, siempre a miradas de desarrollo que se plantean a nivel de región, asociadas a las estrategias de las grandes ciudades y a su crecimiento poblacional. Lo rural, dentro de la planificación territorial, ha cobrado sentido según la funcionalidad hacia la urbe y siempre relacionada con actividades específicamente agrarias.