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EGP Newsletter

News from the Environmental Governance Programme on environment, human rights and mining - a joint initiative by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and UNDP

By Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

September 23^rd, 2020

Featuring:

Online Course on Gender & Mining Governance
New Countries Joining the EGP!
Peru: Guardians of the Amazon
The 'Silence of the Wind' Photo Gallery
New Article by the Young Environmental Journalists
Meet the New Young Environmental Journalists
Partner Announcement: IGF Consultation about Gender Impacts of Mining
Partner Announcement: Web Panel on Mining & the SDGs
Publication in the Spotlight: The Rule of Law in Mining

Massive Online Open Course on Gender & Mining Governance

Do you need to make a stronger case for amplifying women’s voices in mining governance? Do you want to become more skilled at evaluating the impact of mining projects on women? Are you looking for recommendations on eliminating gender-based violence in communities affected by mining?

From 2 to 27 November, 2020 the EGP will offer a free Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on Gender and Mining Governance in partnership with the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) and UNDP's Learning for Nature programme.

This course builds on the insights and recommendations from joint sessions about gender equality in mining organized during the 2018 and 2019 Annual General Meetings of the IGF. The course compiles research from leading institutions in the industry and is aimed at representatives of governments, mining companies and civil society working on the promotion gender equality in the mining industry.

Register

New countries joining the EGP!

In Phase Two, the EGP (2020-2023) will broaden its targeted support to include seven additional focus countries. The new focus countries are Argentina, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Namibia, Peru and Zambia.

The focus areas in these countries will include strengthening participatory environmental monitoring of mining activities, enhancing regulatory frameworks for artisanal and small-scale mining and promoting gender equality, women's empowerment and youth participation in decision-making.

The EGP supports resource-rich countries to integrate environment and human rights into the governance of the mining sector. Phase One of the programme started in 2014 as a partnership between the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and UNDP. The EGP is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Learn more about the work:

Argentina

Ecuador

Kyrgyzstan

Liberia

Namibia

Peru

Zambia

Peru: Guardians of the Amazon

Community-based environmental monitoring has been a powerful force to protect the Amazon rainforest, the livelihoods of traditional communities and Peru's unique biodiversity. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical importance of community environmental monitors and defenders, as their in-depth knowledge of the rainforest, the indigenous communities and their territories enables fast response by medical teams and support the development of strategies to address such a pressing public health emergency.

With support from the Environmental Governance Programme, UNDP Peru is developing a pilot collaboration with the Environmental Monitoring Committees of Ancash and the Indigenous Environmental Territorial Monitoring Programme of Loreto, aiming at facilitating the exchange of experiences and visions between participatory environmental monitoring committees operating in the Andean region and those in the Amazon territories.

For further information, read the articles Watchers of the Amazon and Guardians of Life and Territories, by UNDP Peru, and watch the following video (in Spanish). Read more about participatory environmental monitoring on this EGP webpage.

‘The Silence of the Wind’ photo gallery

El País newspaper has featured a photo gallery about the participatory environmental monitoring project in Moatize, Tete Province, Mozambique.

Members of the local community in Moatize were trained in monitoring environmental impacts and conduct human rights impacts assessments as part of a pilot project supported by the EGP and implemented by Source International.

With 40,000 inhabitants, Moatize is the second largest city in Western Mozambique. It is also one of the most polluted since an open pit coal mine started operating directly next to its residential spaces in 2011. The operations of the mine, including blasting and heavy traffic, release dust particles into the air, which fall over nearby communities.

Photo gallery

New article by the Young Environmental Journalists

Africa Eco News platform has published the latest article prepared by the Mozambique team of Young Environmental Journalists - 2019 pilot project: Empowering communities to monitor environmental degradation and human rights violations caused by coal mining in Tete, Mozambique.

Young Environmental Journalists Gabriel Montenegro and Mariane Almeida have investigated new forms of community-driven monitoring of mining activities in Mozambique's resource-rich province of Tete and reported about the work of the Association for Support and Legal Assistance (AAAJC) and Eco-Carvão Moz.

Read the story

Meet the Young Environmental Journalists

100 young journalists and young environmental & human rights defenders from Colombia, Kenya, Mongolia and Mozambique have been selected to participate in the 2020 edition of the Young Environmental Journalists campaign, following a rigorous selection process involving more than 1,100 candidates.

Starting on September 14, 2020 the new Young Environmental Journalists will participate in a series of online-based courses and networking activities hosted by UNDP, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, UN Volunteers and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

This year's campaign will feature new topics and issues, including global supply chains of green conflict minerals; anti-corruption efforts in mining governance; sustainable & responsible consumption; and youth activism in realizing the right to a healthy environment.

Meet the Young Environmental Journalists

Partner announcement: IGF consultation about gender impacts of mining

While mining can contribute to sustainable development, the impacts of the sector are felt differently by men and women. Some challenges women face are gender specific, including but not limited to not being included in community consultations in meaningful ways, not benefitting from the financial gains of resettlement requests, hiring discrimination, increased domestic duties as men in their households are hired, and increased risk of exposure to gender-based violence.

The IGF and International Women in Mining are hosting a consultation about Assessing Gendered Impacts of Mining Before Project Development until October 2, 2020. The online consultation will crowdsource ideas and map available policy tools and case studies to better define the role of stakeholders in assessing the gendered impact of mining prior to project implementation. The consultation will also shed light on challenges and potentials in real-life implementation of existing tools. It will feed into the IGF’s 16th Annual General Meeting, being held virtually from October 20 to 22, 2020, as well as future IGF publications.

Join the consultation

Partner announcement: Web Panel on mining & the SDGs

On October 15, 2020 the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), the Responsible Mining Foundation (RMF), Pact, the University of Delaware, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network are hosting a web panel on mining and the SDGs. At this event, RMF and CCSI will share the findings of their new report, Mining and the SDGs: a 2020 status update, and Pact and the University of Delaware will present their report on artisanal and small-scale mining.

Register

Publication in the spotlight: The Rule of Law in Mining

Ensuring the rule of law in the exploitation of natural resources, including metals and minerals, is essential to ensuring inclusive and sustainable economic growth and human development, and to protecting and fulfilling human rights.

UNDP, the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency launched in 2019 the Users Guide on Assessing the Rule of Law in Public Administration: The Mining Sector to help policymakers and civil servants identify specific strengths and challenges in the application of principles of the rule of law in the way the public administration regulates the mining industry.

The guide introduces a self-assessment tool to help government officials and civil society stakeholders evaluate the extent to which principles of the rule of law - and, by extension, procedural environmental rights (the right to participate in decision making, access to information, access to justice and redress) are respected in the governance of the mining sector.