The 14th AGM of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) is taking place in Switzerland from October 16 to October 20.
The IGF was one of the Partnership Initiatives launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2000 (Johannesburg, South Africa). The Forum serves as a platform for collaboration among governments, mining companies and civil society in the area of mining policies, sharing best practices, creating multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve progress on the implementation of SDGs in relation to mining. It is devoted to optimizing the benefits of mining to achieve poverty reduction, inclusive growth, social development and environmental stewardship. The IGF is a voluntary initiative that provides opportunities for national governments to collectively advance the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation(para. 46, 62(g)), Agenda 2030 and the SDGs, contribute to the implementation of Paris Agreement.
The 2018 theme is “Modern Mining Law and Policy: Accountable, Equitable and Innovative Approaches”. This year the discussions will be organized in the thematic sessions related to ‘climate-smart mining’, ‘forest-smart mining’, voluntary instruments, mine closure, innovation, responsible supply chains, and local content strategies. The delegates of IGF will deliberate on a range of the issues related to modernization of the approaches to mining in the changing societal context, largely impacted by rapid technological advances and new societal imperatives of tackling climate change, implementing Agenda 2030 and achieving the SDGs. All these factors shape the context of mining activities and alter the expectations from policy-makers which are called upon to address “the existing issues related to transparent governance, environmental sustainability, corruption, regulation, human rights and child labour and supply chains”.
The theme of mining is gaining the economic importance for both developed and developing countries. The increasing global demand for minerals and metals (aluminum, copper, lead, lithium, manganese, nickel, silver, steel, and zinc and rare earth minerals such as indium, molybdenum, and neodymium), widely used in electronics and electric vehicle batteries and in general, in supporting a low carbon society, calls the governments upon to address challenges facing sustainability of future minerals and metals supply. According to recent studies, there is a need in international cooperation and international coordination of mining industry in order to focus exploration investment efforts into developing and supporting the sustainable supply of minerals. Mining provides great economic opportunities for resource-rich countries, requires a smart regulation that gives the opportunities to reap the benefits from growing global demand. All in all, this new societal context of mining operations require modernization of mining law and policies, require new partnerships towards elaborating accountable, equitable and innovative approaches to mining, require a new social contract with the communities to operate. This social contract to operate has evolved from being mainly focused on paying taxes and dividends towards a more complex environment in the current era of the SDGs.
Please, also see other recent reports and studies on the topic: Managing mining for sustainable development. A sourcebook (UNDP, 2018);the report Standards and the Extractive Economy, that provides a systematic analysis of 15 major sustainability initiatives in the mining sector, and presents a snapshot of the mining and minerals sector by commodity type; the World bank Report, “The Growing Role of Minerals and Metals for a Low-Carbon Future” examines the types of minerals and metals that will likely increase in demand as the world works towards commitments to keep the global average temperature rise at or below 2°C.
