9.2 What are the Challenges?

With respect to challenges in relation to sustainability, these are well known. There is a need to ensure that the environmental impacts are properly anticipated and managed. There is a need to ensure that the resources are skillfully managed so that their depletion is steady and secures the very last benefit from an exhaustible resource. This Chapter of the Source Book considers appropriate priorities for expenditure and investment in resource-rich economies, and measures that might be taken to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of spending.

In an ideal context, the requirements for sustainable development are essentially: pro-growth policies that emphasize the need for widespread social benefits with proper environmental stewardship if these policies are to be sustainable. An in-depth analysis of these linkages can be found in an ICMM publication titled: The Challenge of Mineral Wealth: Using Resource Endowments to Foster Sustainable Development.  In low income countries this is rarely the outcome however. Governance is often weak and political goals are usually complex and guided by narrow self-interest. This creates the risk that mining operations, for example, will acquire an ‘enclave’ character (see presentation below - one policy response in Afghanistan).

World Bank presentation on Aynak, Afghanistan: "No more enclaves"

 

Companies therefore have an interest in becoming proactive and working with communities to build the skills necessary for resource employment and the provision of goods and services.  

At the same time, there is a growing impact from standards and soft law mechanisms that require a voluntary response from the players for compliance, particularly in the environmental and social sphere. The latter concerns form the second principal component of this Chapter.



Within This Chapter

Mining Specifics

Oil & Gas Specifics

Africa

Latin America

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