Mining Policy Research Articles

THE EFFECT OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE ON CASH DIVIDEND POLICY WITH LIQUIDITY AS MODERATION IN MINING COMPANIES ON IDX 2015-2019

A company will be assessed for its resilience in surviving as an economy, one of them is a mining company that is required to have a stock of funds. This research involves mining companies, because the mining sector has experienced a decline and has had the lowest growth since 2013 until now. This occurs because the price of global mining commodities is experiencing a price decline following the decline in demand from China and other developing countries, as well as the existence of the Mineral and Coal Law policy which also suppresses the growth of the mining sector internally and has the potential to be a liquidity value for a company. This study will measure the capital structure through IOS, company size, growth rate, profitability, and business risk which affect the cash dividend policy with liquidity as a moderating variable in mining companies listed in 2015-2019. The research method used is to use associative quantitative with a sample of 41 mining sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the 2015-2019 period.The type of data used in this study is secondary data which includes data from the financial statements of mining companies with analysis using descriptive statistics. The results of the research show that simultaneously, IOS, Company Size, Growth Rate, Profitability (ROI) and Business Risk have a significant effect on cash dividend policy (DEV) through liquidity moderation.

Implementation of Green Government by the Regional Government of East Kalimantan Province as a Form of Ecological Principles (Case Study of the Impact of the Implementation of Coal Mining Policy in Samarinda City)

This study raises the theme of implementing green government in Samarinda City in upholding the principles of ecology in the region. How is the relation between the capitalistic paradigm in the implementation of local government politics with the implementation of green government in realizing ecological principles? In analyzing the implementation of green government, it can be seen how the local government responds in responding to the impact of coal mining activities in the city of Samarinda in accordance with the principles of ecology. The method used is a documentation study with a descriptive approach the data sources come from journals, books and research reports. Based on the findings that the Regional Government is unable to implement green government in supporting the realization of the environmentally friendly Samarinda City, this can be seen from the rampant environmental damage caused by coal mining activities. The implementation of green government by the Regional Government in realizing the principles of ecology in Samarinda City is not working because the old paradigm used by the government is still strong in implementing regional development that relies on profit accumulation.

Land, conflict and radical distributive claims in South Africa's rural mining frontier

The article presents an analysis of mine-community conflict in South Africa's rural platinum belt. We draw on a combination of detailed ethnographic research material and multi-scalar analysis of the political economy of mining policy. Our analysis reveals that such conflict is rooted in local claims beyond the labour market – in demands for exclusive control over land and mineral rents. The article engages with Ferguson's (2015) conceptualisation of the politics of distribution to demonstrate that radical claims on mining industry rents have escalated despite the South African state's introduction of progressive redistributive legislation. The post-apartheid institutional arrangements developed to mitigate inequalities in and around mining and address the historical exclusion of the black population have not proved effective. Instead, these measures have been undermined and subverted by powerful groups who funnel mineral rents into new forms of elite accumulation. This phenomenon generates and exacerbates inequality and conflict, because these redistributive institutions tend to exclude rural residents who hold customary rights to the mineral-rich land.

The impacts of profit-based royalties on early-stage mineral exploration

The impact of public policy on the mineral industries is difficult to measure due to little short-term responsiveness to policy changes by companies already investing in known fixed deposits. Nevertheless, early-stage (or grassroots) exploration has been suggested to provide early signals about the impact of a policy. Among mineral policies, taxation has received plenty of attention in theoretical analysis and simulation studies, but little empirical evaluation.Profit-based royalties should affect early-stage exploration by decreasing the expected value of a discovered deposit. The empirical approach here uses a difference-in-difference strategy, analyzing the Chilean mining royalty changes of 2004 and 2010. The first tax change is argued to be exogenous as it happened due to the political cycle and in line with a major increase in commodity prices, and the later modification occurred as a result of a major earthquake. Results indicate a surprisingly small average impact on grassroots exploration. However, the effect is heterogeneous as larger companies increased their budget as opposed to junior companies. The absence of geographical spillovers not only supports these estimated effects but also suggests that neighboring countries do not need to engage in harmful tax competition.

A mining legacies lens: from externalities to wellbeing in extractive industries

Mining has contributed to human development and technological prowess over several millennia. Accompanying this practical contribution has been a growing set of interrelated impacts that society has slowly began to acknowledge. The accumulation of externalities—or impacts on people and planet—are referred to as mining legacies, denoting both current and long-lived outcomes, ranging from pollution to community fragmentation to intergenerational embodiment. Mining legacies have origins, causes and impacts in both the physical process of mining and the industry's complex role in society, where it has been integral to colonial expansion, imperialism and global capitalism. This synthesis of the special issue Mining Legacies: Still breaking new ground explores the concept of mining legacies as a term capable of capturing a more expansive understanding of interrelated and complex impacts on society, where heterogeneous modes of existence clash with the dominant Western mining paradigm and global, capitalist development. Articulating a mining legacy lens contributes to orthodox debates on mining policy and managing specific impacts, while also challenging understandings of the underlying values, potential benefits, and externalities of extractive-led development. This synthesis also offers deeper insights into community agency and resistance as well as wellbeing and governance, also offering up possibilities for transforming negative legacies.

An Integrated Approach to Assess the Environmental Impacts of Large-Scale Gold Mining: The Nzema-Gold Mines in the Ellembelle District of Ghana as a Case Study

The mining industry is a significant asset to the development of countries. Ghana, Africa’s second-largest gold producer, has benefited from gold mining as the sector generates about 90% of the country’s total exports. Just like all industries, mining is associated with benefits and risks to indigenes and the host environment. Small-scale miners are mostly accused in Ghana of being environmentally disruptive, due to their modes of operations. As a result, this paper seeks to assess the environmental impacts of large-scale gold mining with the Nzema Mines in Ellembelle as a case study. The study employs a double-phase mixed-method approach—a case study approach, consisting of site visitation, key informant interviews, questionnaires, and literature reviews, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis method. The NDVI analysis shows that agricultural land reduced by −0.98%, while the bare area increases by 5.21% between the 2008 and 2015 periods. Our results show that forest reserves and bare area were reduced by −4.99% and −29%, respectively, while residential areas increased by 28.17% between 2015 and 2020. Vegetation, land, air, and water quality are highly threatened by large-scale mining in the area. Weak enforcement of mining policies, ineffective stakeholder institution collaborations, and limited community participation in decision-making processes were also noticed during the study. The authors conclude by giving recommendations to help enhance sustainable mining and ensure environmental sustainability in the district and beyond.

EFFECTIVE MINERAL POLICY AS A KEY FACTOR FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY

The paper analyzes the changes in commodity market distortions, competing land use types, raw material demand for development, and rapid diffusion of key enabling technologies meeting the requirements of constant, dynamic development of major European industries. The author gives the relationship between the dynamics for mineral resources consumption growth, and changes in the conditions of production of these resources. Contains a critical review of methods for predicting the mineral resources dependency, including an estimated forecasting method based on guidelines for the evaluation of needs for natural resources and their substitutes. One of the principles is comprehensive and integrated resource recovery. In a nutshell, this new approach argues that any operation should disturb a mine site only once and extract all useful materials using an optimised integrated flowsheet. This principle also requires that all by-products and residues are (re)used and that by-products and tailings at the end of life to be ‘future-proofed’, i.e. they should retain their ability to continue to be of value into the distant future where technology/economy may make feasible their use. It is noted that access to and affordability of mineral raw materials are crucial for the sound functioning of the EU’s economy. A new 2020 list of critical mineral raw materials is presented and ways to compensate for the CRM deficit are described in detail. Separately noted that the mineral policy is needed to be meticulously treated to facilitate company investment security, streamline permitting and access to minerals in a line with the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Bioeconomy Strategy and the European Industrial Strategy. Concerning, the latest steps towards Europe economically resilient by a framework for raw materials and the Circular Economy – creation of European Raw Materials Alliance recognized as particularly effective. Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management represented as a robust, fit-for-purpose international standard for the safer management of tailings storage facilities. The argument is given that since the land issue is one of the most delicate in a densely populated areas heavily dependent on agriculture, housing, infrastructure or other nonmineral development, a fair and equitable distribution of land is important for a mineral perspective. There is also the need for strategic and open network between political, industrial and local communities through the exchange of information to enhance knowledge, experience and skills between stakeholders. Social acceptance of that idea is a fundamental element that must be addressed to develop a confl ict-free area for mineral development activities. The conclusions indicate that we would like to emphasize that the main task of today is to create an effective system for monitoring the movement of raw materials along the entire added-value chain. The ability to quickly identify and respond to challenges in mineral policy will provide leadership in EU strategic technologies and industries. This process has already started with the creation of the European Raw Materials Alliance ERMA. State institutions, businesses, scientific institutions, and civil society in the close dialogue are able to ensure sustainable development and security of civilization as a whole.

Mineral Policy within the Framework of Limited Critical Resources and a Green Energy Transition

The green energy transition is associated with the use of a wide range of metals and minerals that are exhaustible. Most of these minerals are limited in access due to small resource fields, their concentration in several locations and a broader scale of industry usage which is not limited exclusively to energy and environmental sectors. This article classifies 17 minerals that are critical in the green energy transition concerning the 10 main technologies. The following classification signs of metal resources were used: (1) the absolute amount of metals used in the current period for energy; (2) projected annual demand in 2050 from energy technologies as a percentage of the current rate; (3) the number of technologies where there is a need for an individual metal; (4) cumulative emissions of CO2, which are associated with metal production; (5) period of reserves availability; (6) the number of countries that produced more than 1% of global production; (7) countries with the maximum annual metal productivity. The ranking of metals according to these characteristics was carried out using two scenarios, and the index of the availability of each mineral was determined. The lowest availability index values (up to 0.15) were calculated for cobalt, graphite and lithium, which are key battery minerals for energy storage. Low indices (up to 0.20) were also obtained for iron, nickel and chromium. The calculation of the availability index for each mineral was enhanced with linear trend modelling and the fuzzy logic technique. There are two scenarios of demand–supply commodity systems with a pre-developed forecast up to 2050: basic independent parameter probability and balanced fuzzy sum. Both scenarios showed comparable results, but the second one highlighted supply chain importance. Generally, the lowest availability index values (up to 0.15) were calculated for cobalt, graphite and lithium, which are key battery minerals for energy storage. Low indices (up to 0.20) were also obtained for iron, nickel and chromium. The fuzzy logic model helped to reveal two scenarios up to 2050. The two scenarios presented in the current research expose a high level of uncertainty of the projected 2050 forecast.

How does mining policy affect rural migration of Mongolia?

The mining sector has served as a main pillar of the economy in Mongolia during both the socialist period prior to 1991 and the current free market economy. The government conversion of pastoral areas to mine extraction aggressively increased after 1990, with the assumption that mining activity would support the local labor market and boost the local economy, thereby attracting more migrants. Following a conceptual framework of the changes in rural and urban populations in Mongolia using the 2010 workforce survey data, we constructed dprobit models to empirically examine migrations among non-mine soums, urban places, and mine soums. Income was hypothesized as a dominant factor for migration. We found that income is not the leading factor in migration decisions and mine soums are not attractive places for migrants, whereas non-mine soums become less attractive. Both Ulaanbaatar, a capital city, and Erdenet, a huge mine during the socialist-era, remain attractive places for migration. Finally, new mining sectors appear to not improve employment among local herding communities.

Editor's letter

This first volume of Latin American Policy for 2021 includes eight academic articles and four perspective essays. The articles cover issues ranging from mining governance to social, criminal, and fiscal policies. Paúl Cisneros opens with a study on the design, dynamics, and outcomes of mining policies in Colombia and Ecuador. Chong-Sup Kim and Seungho Lee then offer a general analysis of corruption in Latin America. They argue that there is a link between natural resources and corruption that is mediated by the workings of a social contract. Jonathan Matusitz and Demi Simi examine the role of U.S. government deception in the handling of the anti-Castro terrorist Luis Posada. They use theory to explain how U.S. federal employees propagated falsehoods and deception for political gain. Nicolás Didier focuses on the relationship between higher education enrollment and the gender wage gap in Chile, concluding that credentials have a differential effect across genders, which can be interpreted as a systematic bias toward “human capital pricings.” Helder Ferreira do Vale proposes a theoretical framework to analyze conditional cash-transfer programs that are the result of a process of social policy innovation in Brazil. His study concludes that Brazil's Bolsa Família and Bolsa Verde show the trajectory of social-assistance development as outcomes of institutional dynamics that attempted to foster social investment and to reduce risks. Jonathan D. Rosen examines tough-on-crime strategies in El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico, finding that fear is a key factor that influences support for mano dura policies. Next, Sylvia Gonzalez-Gorman analyzes the implications of the border wall on economic integration between Mexico and the United States and explores whether it undermines Mexico's goal of economic integration. Finally, Vladimir Hlasny assesses how to redistribute fiscal instruments in Mexico from 2010 to 2014, to ascertain what deficits exist in reporting income and determining tax distribution. He concludes, among other things, that in-kind transfers, cash-like transfers, and direct taxes have the strongest equalizing effects. In the Perspectives section, we have included four compelling essays on current topics. Detlef Nolte, who was the director of the Institute for Latin American Studies (2006–2018) with the famous think tank German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), offers a general overview of the ups and downs of Latin American regionalism. Meanwhile, José Briceño-Ruiz, Thomas Legler, and Juan Pablo Prado Lallande explore the evolution of the Pacific Alliance ten years after its creation. The two final essays consider a hot topic that is very controversial in Mexico, where the federal government stepped back from the major energy reforms implemented in the country in 2013 and 2014. Sergio M. Alcocer, the president of the Mexican Council on Foreign Affairs, a famous think tank, analyzes the repercussions for Mexico’s power industry of the most recent changes in the electricity legislation undertaken by the government. Meanwhile, Feng Zhou, Qiong Tang, and Changchun Zhou, from the Chinese non-governmental organization Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO), reflect on the most recent power outage suffered in the northern part of the country, when Texas gas pipelines froze and natural gas exports to Mexico were halted. Isidro Morales, editor in chief, is affiliated with the School of Social Sciences and Government at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and is an external fellow of the Mexico–United States Center and the Energy Center at Rice University’s Baker Institute.

Policy designs for interorganizational coordination: Lessons from failures in governing the mining sector in Colombia and Ecuador

AbstractScholars of mining policies are beginning to understand how the most recent boom in commodity prices (2000–2014) influenced the institutional development of the mining sector in Latin America. We contribute to this literature by studying the design, dynamics, and outcomes of interorganizational coordination in Colombia and Ecuador. Our findings show that, despite their divergent policies, both countries failed to integrate the mining sector's three main policy games—formalizing artisan and small‐scale operations, increasing the number of large‐scale projects, and tackling illegal extraction. Several characteristics of the design of coordination initiatives influenced policy failure—the reliance on hierarchy mechanisms to motivate coordination, the lack of specificity of the coordination mandates, and the lack of specific resources for coordination. Contextual factors also shaped the dynamics and outcomes of coordination. The limited geographical spread of artisanal and small‐scale mining and of illegal extraction, the environmental sector's weakness, and the creation of a multilayered structure for public‐sector coordination contributed to policy effectiveness in Ecuador. On the other hand, the ample spread of artisanal and small‐scale mining and of illegal extraction, the lack of a clear coordinating structure, and the environmental sector's growing vigor contributed to sustained policy failure in Colombia.

Impact Evaluation of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining on Land Use Land Cover: Implication for Sustainable Mining Environment in Niger State, Nigeria

This study evaluated the impact of artisanal and small-scale mining on land use land cover as it applies to sustainable mining environment in Niger State, Nigeria. Thus, thirteen different mining locations covering the three geo-political locations were geo-referenced. The satellite imagery of Landsat TM and EMT+ from Global Land Cover Facilities (GLCF) and Earth Explorer (EE) for tri-images (1994, 2004 and 2014) at 30m resolution was obtained to establish the changes that occurred over the study years. Landsat imageries were analyzed with the aid of computer-based GIS ILWIS 3.3. The imageries were classified into degraded land, settlement, vegetation and water body. Results showed that in 1994, 33.4% of the land use was degraded due to mining, settlement accounted for 3.7% and vegetation covered 59.2%. In 2004, 21.1% of the land was degraded, vegetation decreased from 59.2% in 1994 to 30.9% in 2004. In 2014, land degraded to 47.36%, settlement expanded to 16.06%, vegetation covered 24.22% and water body occupied 12.37% of the mining sites. Within the study period, mining sites increased from 30,000km2 (33%) to 48,000km2 (45%) indicating the severity of mining impact. Therefore, the government should develop strategic mining policy framework targeting a sustainable mining operation in Niger State. Keywords: Mining Effects, Artisanal mining, Environment, Land degradation, Niger State.

A machine learning based modelling framework to predict nitrate leaching from agricultural soils across the Netherlands

Throughout recent decades, the excessive use of animal manure and fertiliser put a threat on the quality of ground and surface waters in main agricultural production areas in Europe and other parts of the world. Finding a balance between agricultural production and environmental protection is a prerequisite for sustainable development of ground and surface waters and soil quality. To protect groundwater quality, the European Commission has stipulated a limit value for NO3 − of 50 mg l−1. Member states are obliged to monitor and regulate nitrate concentrations in groundwater. In the Netherlands, this monitoring is carried out by sampling nitrate concentrations in water leaching from the root zone at farm level within the national Minerals Policy Monitoring Program. However, due to the costly procedure, only a limited number of about 450 farms can be sampled each year. While this is sufficient for providing a national overview of nitrate leaching, as a result of current and future challenges regarding the sustainable development of the agricultural system, Dutch policymakers need to gain insight into the spatial distribution of nitrate at smaller spatial scales. This study aimed to develop a predictive modelling framework to create annual maps with full national coverage of nitrate concentrations leaching from the root zone of Dutch agricultural soils, and to test this model for the year 2017. We used nitrate data from a national monitoring program and combined them with a large set of auxiliary spatial data, such as soil types, groundwater levels and crop types. We used the Random Forest (RF) algorithm as a prediction and interpolation method. Using the model, we could explain 58% of variance, and statistical errors indicate that the interpolation and map visualisation is suitable for interpretation of the spatial variability of nitrate concentrations in the Netherlands. We used the variable importance from the RF and the partial dependency of the most important variables to get more insight into the major factors explaining the spatial variability. Our study also shows the caveats of data-driven algorithms such as RF. For some areas where no training data was available, the model’s predictions are unexpected and might indicate a model bias. The combination of visualisation of the spatial variability and the interpretation of variable importance and partial dependence results in understanding which areas are more vulnerable to NO3 − leaching, in terms of land use and geomorphology. Our modelling framework can be used to target specific areas and to take more targeted regional policy measurements for the balance between agricultural production and protecting the environment.

Mineral auction regime in India: challenges and future outlook

Mineral and Mining sector, being one of the core sectors of economy, provides basic raw materials to many important industries like power generation (thermal), iron and steel, cement, petroleum and natural gas, petro-chemicals, fertilisers, precious and semi-precious metals/stones, electrical and electronics equipment, and glass and ceramics. The demand for minerals has always/been on the rise with the unfolding of rapid scale of urbanisation and ambitious growth target set for the Manufacturing Sector in India. India is one of the leading producers of many vital and strategic minerals. India has discernible constitutional and legal framework in place to manage the diversification of its Mineral Sector. National Mineral Policy provides operational framework for the Mineral Sector. The Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act (MMDR), 1957, with amendments as recent as that effected in 2016 is the principle legislation that governs the Mineral and Mining Sector in India. However, judicial pronouncements for allocation of natural resources and subsequent recommendations of high-level committees steered the government towards a paradigm shift caused the adoption of transparent measures in the allocation of mineral blocks through an auction system. The MMDR Amendment Act, 2015, which came into force on 12 January 2015 has ushered in the regime of transparent and nondiscretionary grant of mineral concessions, and thereafter all the concessions of major minerals are granted through auction. Further, the e-auction process for the grant of mineral blocks has laid the foundation stone for “ease of doing business” in the Mining Sector of the country. In the Mining Sector, the dynamics and demand and supply and their effect on the market would in the near future after several trends for instance the recent trend of mineral block auctions threw some challenges, such as to define a threshold for high premium in auction scenario and driving force for high premium in the recent mine auction and its impact on finished product. Every paradigm shift induces setting of new normal. The future demand outlook for minerals and metals is definitely promising and harnessing mineral wealth to advance economic development, and human well-being would get to the top of priorities.

Characterization of the rock blasting process impacts in Lefa gold mine, Republic of Guinea

The Lefa gold mine rock blasting process involves transforming the physical properties of the rock. During blasting, pollutants were released into the atmosphere and were often transported to houses by the wind. When the rocks explodes, noise, dust, and soil vibrations were generated which can affect the community and wildlife. This survey study focused on two villages (Lero Karta and Fayalala Carrefour) to assess the impact of the rock blasting on the environment, determine the problems resulting from the activities, and propose mitigation measures to reduce their impacts. We sent out a survey to collect primary data from 413 respondents, then an analytical calculation was adopted to determine the volume of dust and gases that blasting can emit per year, also the quadrats method to estimate the actual abundance of plant species and wildlife community. Practically, this study aims to provide new information in the implementation of mining policies, the rational commitment and compliance with environmental protection standards for mining sites following the provisions of the Republic of Guinea 2011 mining code and environmental analysis. The results indicated that there was considerable environmental degradation affecting fauna and flora (15.98%), dust pollution (49.15%), noise pollution (14.77%), employment (7.26%), and soil vibrations (12.84%). Therefore, rational and appropriate management of the operational process is necessary to reduce the environmental and social impacts to create a safe environment for the ecosystem.

Impact of minerals policy on sustainable development of mining sector \u2013 a comparative assessment of selected EU countries

Sustainable access to raw materials has been growing concern for the EU policy from 2008. Germany, Finland, United Kingdom, Portugal and Greece were the first European countries to introduce and develop own minerals policy (2010–2012). Each of Member State prioritized own targets, but sustainability, waste management and climate were also underlined. In 2015 the 17 Sustainable Development Goals were established and adopted in the EU policy framework to monitor and measure the social, economic and environmental aspects. Next Paris Agreement targets and climate neutral has been introduced. They have significant impact also on mining industry. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship between mineral policy in chosen countries and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and EU climate policy target. Due to limited data for mining sector the impact of mineral policy on sustainable mineral supply and CO2 emissions have been analyzed to identify the specific challenges, trends and successful factors of transition. It was shown that well developed mineral policy - in case of Finland - allow increase over 20% of production with over 20% decrease of CO2 emission. Moreover productivity in the sector in almost all analyzed country has been increased, what can show some correlation between mineral policy and SDG 12. However more detailed indicators for monitoring and assess the mineral policy on EU level and in individual country is needed, especially in contest of impact on sustainable development. It can help to provide acceptance of local society for new investment. It is a long term process which required not only significant financial capital, new technological solutions, but also trust and transparency in monitoring in implementing environmental and social aspects.

Environmental Impact of Rat-Hole Coal Mines on the Biodiversity of Meghalaya, India

The paper appreciates coal mining laws and policies applied by National Green Tribunal to ban traditional, artisanal and rat-hole coal mining in Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya (a state in India) in an attempt to conserve its environment and biodiversity. Meghalaya represents an important part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot which is one of the four bio-diversity hotspots of India and ranks 34th among the hotspots in the world. It is equally bestowed with rich deposits of coal, which can be found in the Khasi Hills, Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills districts. Coal mining from these districts is labour-intensive and involves digging narrow rat-hole sized tunnels that are four-feet high. The workers enter into the rat-hole in an extremely hazardous manner, setting aside the ergonomic principles for the extraction of coal. The legal framework of coal mining is governed by Mines Act, 1952, Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, Mineral Concession Rules, 1960, Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973, Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 1988 and Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015. However, these laws are not applied to Meghalaya because of its constitutional status enshrined in Sixth Schedule and Article 244 of the Constitution of India, 1950. Coal mining has brought employment opportunities, tribal sustenance and economic development that led to environmental degradation, disruption of ecosystems and biological diversity. The hazardous pursuits have been bereft of safety and ergonomic principle besides being oblivious of SDF of mining laws and policies in India.

Consistency of Agricultural, Forestry and Mining Policies with Sustainable Forest Management in the East and South Regions of Cameroon

The eastern and southern regions of Cameroon, lower middle income country, need to increase their level of land use by the agricultural, forestry and mining sectors in order to develop. At the same time, Cameroon is committed to managing its forests sustainably to meet the needs of present and future generations. This study assesses the compatibility of agricultural, forestry and mining policies with sustainable forest management in the East and South forest regions. Five analytical criteria were used and the analysis was carried out through surveys of key informants in the private sector, public administrations and civil society. The study showed that from 2013 to 2018, the contributions of the agricultural, forestry and mining sectors to GDP grew by about 74%, 65% and 60%, respectively. Agricultural, forestry and mining policies have an average compatibility rate of 45% with sustainable forest management, of which 52% for the forestry sector, 43% for the agricultural sector and 40% for the mining sector. Nonetheless, there are 21 causes of incompatibility, including 1) the non-involvement of all relevant public administrations in policy-making, 2) the low efficiency of the control system of exploitation activities, and 3) the poor coordination of actions in the three sectors. It was proposed to a) improve the legal and regulatory framework of the three sectors of activity and b) develop land-use planning tools among other measures to align existing policies with sustainable forest management.

An assessment of the regulatory legal and institutional framework of the mining industry in South Africa and Kenya for effective human rights protection: Lessons for other countries

SUMMARY The priorities ofAfrican governments regarding the extractive industry tend to focus on economic interests leading them to provide a conducive environment for investments by private entities. Furthermore, reforms in the industry are inclined to promote these priorities with less consideration for adequate protection for affected people and their environment, including protection from resulting social and environmental impacts. The result in economies endowed with mineral resources is that resources are poorly managed and the outcomes of exploitation of mineral resources are environmental degradation, loss of lives, displacement, conflicts between companies and mining communities, protests against mining projects, and human rights violations. These problems in the long run slow down development and forestall its benefits because of poor regard for the concerns of affected people by the government and companies. Filling the gaps in extractive policies, particularly in the area of protection of communities and their environment affected by activities of the extractive industry, is essential to tackle the environmental and social outcomes of mining activities. In this article the legal and institutional framework regulating the mining industry in selected jurisdictions in Africa is examined to determine the extent to which they respond to the problems arising from the development of mineral resources, particularly the human rights violations caused by the adverse impacts of mining. Some lessons are drawn for the benefit of other countries. The article argues that some of these mining policies poorly encourage effective protection of affected communities, particularly human rights, in mining developments. The article proposes that mineral legal regimes need to be strengthened for the effective protection of affected people and their environment. Key words: mining industry; mineral resources; mining; mining policies; human rights

New Tech, New Deal: Mining Policy Options in the Face of New Technology

New Tech, New Deal: Mining Policy Options in the Face of New Technology