The West African coastline is home to
major industries, mining activities, peri-urban and
agro-industry, and tourism, as well as urban and seaside
residences, all of which generate waste and cause pollution.
Many areas along the coast also lack adequate wastewater and

THE MINING ACT No. 12 of 2016

Date of Assent: 6th May, 2016

Date of Commencement: 27th May, 2016

This guide seeks to highlight the steps that concerned parties and communities can take to address the challenges that mining poses on communities. It gives communities the tools they need to understand the law that governs mining and to protect their rights. Although it focuses on South Africa, the tools proposed will be relevant for communities facing similar issues in other countries.

A broad consensus has emerged that strengthening women’s property rights is crucial for reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth. Despite its importance, few nationally representative data exist on women’s property rights in Asia, hindering formulation of appropriate policies to reduce gender gaps in land rights.

In Defence of Life follows the struggles and triumphs of four communities resisting large-scale mining projects in Colombia, the Philippines, South Africa and Romania.

This Field Report includes information submitted by KHRG community members describing events which occurred in Hpapun District between January and December 2013. The report describes human rights violations, including sexual harassment, violent abuses, landmine incidents, forced labour, land confiscation, gold mining, arbitrary taxation, and theft and looting.

A exploração artesanal de ouro é uma das principais actividades de rendimento das populações de Manica. O seu legado é transmitido entre gerações. Os vestígios da exploração são notórios ao longo das montanhas, rios e dentro das comunidades. Esta actividade, em alguns casos, envolve toda a família (pai, mãe e filhos) com uma divisão clara de tarefas.

A Free Burma Rangers (FBR) team travelled to the town of Maw Chee [Mawchi] to get information about the Burma Army and mining activities in that area.

Las autoridades campesinas de Zongo en la lucha por la defensa de su territorio demostraron que legítimamente son autoridades para ejercer justicia en sus territorios y en lugares donde la gente quiera acogerse a su jurisdicción, se abrió un camino para practicar su autodeterminación recuperando las tierras que había acaparado un empresario minero.

The growing scale of resource development activities accentuates the complexity underlying the sustainability of traditional livelihoods in Mongolia. At the same time, Mongolia experiences growing vulnerability to climatic variability and change, expressed in the form of intense desertification, water stress, and extreme dzuds.

Habitat degradation poses a great threat to biodiversity conservation. Abundance and diversity of butterflies is an indicator of good environmental health. Understanding how different butterfly species respond to habitat degradation is a necessary step towards the development of effective measures to enhance environmental protection.

The Central Asian countries are particularly affected by the global climate change. The cultural and economic centers in this mostly arid region have to rely solely on the water resources provided by the rapidly melting glaciers in the Pamir, Tien-Shan and Alay mountains. By 2030, the available water resources will be 30 % lower than today while the water demand will increase by 30 %.