The year 2025 marked the beginning of a new phase for the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP). The overall objective is still on minimizing negative environmental and social impacts from mining, and this time there are five target countries: Argentina, Colombia, DR Congo, Kenya and Zambia.
“By reducing the number of target countries, we will be able to have a more focused approach and create a bigger impact in each country” says Malin Eriksson, EGP Programme Manager at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SwEPA).
The programme is continuously jointly implemented by SwEPA and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The new phase runs from 2025 to 2028 and builds on lessons learned from a decade long partnership between the two organizations.
Priority areas
There are four identified priority areas that cut across the mine cycle:
- Environmental and social impact assessments
- Mine closure, waste management and re-mining
- Biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Gender in mining
“We feel that EGP is more relevant than ever. Given the increase in demand for critical raw materials for the green transition, the speed at which mining and permitting processes take place risks important environmental and social impacts being overlooked. The result may be adverse effects on poverty, cementing or widening inequalities, conflicts over land or natural resources and various health and safety issues” says Malin Eriksson.
DRC joins EGP
The five countries included in phase three are Argentina, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya and Zambia. DRC is a new country for EGP, while the other four were included in the previous phase as well.
DRC is a major global supplier of minerals, including cobalt, copper, diamonds, gold, lithium and 3T minerals. It is also one of the world's poorest countries, marked by decades of armed conflict.
The countries which are no longer included in EGP will still be able to benefit from the learnings of the programme. There will be regular meetings focusing on knowledge sharing in the EGP Community which include both present and previous countries.
Top photo by Mattias Fackel shows mine waste in Kolwesi
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