Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining and the Sustainable Development Goals: Why Nobody Cares

Abstract

This paper reflects broadly on how artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is argued that overall, the sector will not contribute in any meaningful way towards the SDGs by 2030. Moreover, it is also maintained that ASM will not contribute towards sustainable development more widely in the future. This is because nobody really cares enough about the sector for a number of reasons which the paper outlines. In respect of global policymaking priorities, the impacts of ASM pale in comparison in terms of size and impacts to other much more immediate global social and environmental concerns. Moreover, ASM is a symptom of limited socioeconomic development and not an activity that has proven itself likely to contribute to improved socioeconomic conditions. This makes it an unappealing prospect for global, longer term sustainable development approaches. These higher-level issues percolate down to the national level, where the sector’s negative associations, the complexities of attempting to manage it, and a notable bias towards the easy funds from large-scale extractive industries, combine to make it an easy issue to overlook or avoid altogether. In terms of supply chains that link ASM with the rest of the world, the vast percentage of those buying metals and minerals extracted by artisanal operators have repeatedly proven that they have next to no qualms about the conditions under which they were produced.