Artisanal and small-scale mining and rural livelihood diversification: The case of manganese extraction in West Timor, Indonesia

Socio-economic and environmental implications of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) on agriculture and livelihoods

“…Policy will need to recognise that there are 'career farmers', and 'career miners' -'people who pursue a career within ASM with mineral-led spatial mobility strategies, social mobility aspirations, and collective identity characteristics, whose goal is to become successful miners or businessmen, not to return to agriculture' (Bryceson and Jønsson, 2010). We therefore support the recommendation of Fisher et al (2019) that in alluvial-mineral rich countries mining regulatory institutions should properly demarcate zones to accommodate both activities as a way of seeking to 'benefit from both their above-and-below-the-ground resources' (Slack, 2013). Where lands are already degraded, options for sustainable remediation should be both researched and given the necessary environmental management policy consideration (e.g., cleaner technologies and phytoremediation, as suggested by Owusu et al (2019)).…”

“…This situation typifies the case in most alluvial-mineral-rich economies. The ASM sector, for years, has served as a motor of especially low-skill employment en masse in countries such as Ghana (Banchirigah, 2008), Mali (Teschner, 2014), Malawi (Kamlongera, 2011), The Democratic Republic of the Congo (Geenen, 2012), India (Ghose and Roy, 2007), Indonesia (Fisher et al, 2019), Cameroon (Bakia, 2014), Mozambique (Dondeyne and Ndunguru, 2014), Senegal (Persaud et al, 2017) etc. Also the ASM sector 'can act as a platform for wealth creation, and as a stepping stone towards social mobility' (Verbrugge, 2016).…”

Farm labor, non-farm activities, and poverty alleviation: an ethnography on how upland farmers meet farm demands and sustain household needs.

“…While cultivation of the main crop was done during the farming season, livelihood activities were performed during off-farm season, field fallow, and slack period. In the scheduling of income-generating activities, upland farmers were to blend their on-farm activities with the off-farm activities like the case of Timorese farmers as Final Version reported by Fisher et al (2018). The authors explained that farmers' NFAs complemented farming activities arguing that the seasonal integration of manganese mining and farming was a natural blend of complementary activities "with farming providing household food requirements and some income, and mining providing income security when crops failed" (Fisher et al, 2018, p. 9).…”

“…In the context of small-farm households, it is the use of nonspecific household assets for non-agriculture activities (Meert et al, 2005) e.g., trade, handicrafts, services, and rents like plow animal rentals (Saha & Bahal, 2016;Srisopaporn et al, 2015) with the end-goal of increasing income (Makate et al, 2016). Moreover, in some studies, livelihood diversification was viewed Final Version either as a strategy by wealthy households to accumulate assets (Alobo Loison, 2019;Martin & Lorenzen, 2016) or as safeguards against economic fluctuations (Fisher et al, 2018) or as a response to crises (Gani et al, 2019;Mentamo & Geda, 2016). Previous studies demonstrated that LD could benefit farm investment by "employing a variety of nonmarket devices and incomediversification strategies" (Carter, 1997, p. 560) or could pauperize agriculture by withdrawing critical resources and inputs essential for agricultural productivity (Jayne et al, 2003).…”

In search of a future for mining: participative scenarios for Colombia

“…Illegal mining is not a unique Colombian problem it takes place in many other jurisdictions where regulation and enforcement is not strong enough to prevent it, examples includes Asia (e.g. [22], Africa (e.g. [23], and other Latin American countries (e.g.…”