How the Sustainable Development Goals risk undermining efforts to address environmental and social issues in the small-scale mining sector

Hirons, Mark

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.08.022

Cited by 65 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…In relation to SDG3.9, the challenge is to reduce potential mercury poisoning. The SDG14.1 targets to reduce marine pollution of all kinds and the challenge here is to decrease the risk of mercury leakages into rivers and oceans ( Hirons, 2020 ). This study may contribute to the development of indicators to estimate the progress both for the EU policy developments (Mercury regulation, Zero Pollution Action Plan) and the SDGs targets.…”

Section: Policy and Future Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury in European topsoils: Anthropogenic sources, stocks and fluxes

Panagos

Jiskra

Borrelli

et al. 2021

Environmental Research

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Mercury (Hg) is one of the most dangerous pollutants worldwide. In the European Union (EU), we recently estimated the Hg distribution in topsoil using 21,591 samples and a series of geo-physical inputs. In this manuscript, we investigate the impact of mining activities, chrol-alkali industries and other diffuse pollution sources as primary anthropogenic sources of Hg hotspots in the EU. Based on Hg measured soil samples, we modelled the Hg pool in EU topsoils, which totals about 44.8 Gg, with an average density of 103 g ha −1 . As a following step, we coupled the estimated Hg stocks in topsoil with the pan-European assessment of soil loss due to water erosion and sediment distribution. In the European Union and UK, we estimated that about 43 Mg Hg yr −1 are displaced by water erosion and c. a. 6 Mg Hg yr −1 are transferred with sediments to river basins and eventually released to coastal Oceans. The Mediterranean Sea receives almost half (2.94 Mg yr −1 ) of the Hg fluxes to coastal oceans and it records the highest quantity of Hg sediments. This is the result of elevated soil Hg concentration and high erosion rates in the catchments draining into the Mediterranean Sea. This work contributes to new knowledge in support of the policy development in the on the Zero Pollution Action Plan and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 3.9 and 14.1, which both have as an objective to reduce soil pollution by 2030.

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Section: Policy and Future Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury in European topsoils: Anthropogenic sources, stocks and fluxes

Panagos

Jiskra

Borrelli

et al. 2021

Environmental Research

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“…The current study covered four main specific areas of women empowerment. It includes women sustainable footprints in the mining sector [41], women access to finance [42,43], women participation in minimizing sustainable environmental risks [44], and women economic autonomy in the mining sector [45]. Based on the specific factors, the study constructed women's freedom indicators to assess their role in conserving resource market, i.e., (i) Women's Green Ecological Footprints (WGF): Gender differences are mostly visible in different consumption patterns with different carbon footprints.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecofeminism and Natural Resource Management: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied

2021

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Women have a right to excel in all spheres of activity. However, their roles are mainly confined in the resource extraction industry due to masculinity bias. African women are considered exemplary cases where women have low access to finance and economic opportunities to progress in the natural resource industry. This study examines the role of women’s autonomy in mineral resource extraction by controlling ecological footprints, financial development, environmental degradation, economic growth, and changes in the general price level in the Democratic Republic of the Congo data from 1975–2019. The autoregressive distributed lag estimates show that in the short-run, women’s autonomy decreases mineral resource rents; however, this result disappears in the long-run and the positive role of women’s autonomy in increasing resource capital is confirmed. Ecological footprints are in jeopardy from saving mineral resources both in the short- and long-term. Financial development negatively impacts mineral resource rents, while women’s access to finance supports the mineral resource agenda. The positive role of women in environmental protection has led to increased mineral resource rents in the short- and long-term. Women’s social and economic autonomy increases mineral resource rents in the short-term, while it has evaporated in the long-term. The Granger causality has confirmed the unidirectional linkages running from women’s green ecological footprints, access to finance, and women participating in environmental protection to mineral resource rents in a country. The variance decomposition analysis has shown that women’s economic autonomy and access to finance will exert more significant variance shocks to mineral resource rents over the next ten years’ period. The results conclude the positive role of women’s freedom in the mineral resource sustainability agenda. Thus, there is a high need to authorize women through access to finance and economic decisions to restore natural resource capital nationwide.

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“…In Kenya, female miners can have access to land but cannot control land and mining activities as well (Mishra, & Reddy, 2012). The majority of women in mining in Kenya like any other African countries are in the informal artisanal mining sector, which has little regulation and is often dominated by men (Hirons, 2020). While small-scale mining has been legalised in Kenya, detailed rules are needed to guide the operationalization and engendering of this provision(Analysis of the Mining ACT, 2016).…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…To ensure artisanal mining becomes a sustainable economic opportunity for both men and women, there is an urgent need to formalize small-scale mining operations (Zollo, 2019). Hirons (2020) in a study, local perspectives on the artisanal and small-scale mining in the Madre de Dios gold fields, Peru noted that formalization is not only about the control and mitigation of the adverse impacts of ASM but also about harnessing the helpful participation and channelling benefit flow toward politically chosen directions. The article emphasised the need for the government to formalising artisanal mining operations; supporting women artisanal miners with training and technical expertise and engendering policies and development plans involving women artisanal miners.…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the Mining Legal Framework on Women Participation in Artisanal and Small Scale Mining: Lessons from Taita Taveta County (Kenya)

Mugo¹,

Mwaura²,

Omolo³

2021

IJARBSS

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Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is increasingly the focus of the national efforts to effectively regulate the sector as an initiative to ameliorate national benefits by increasing women participation in the sector while seeking to address challenges that they face. Despite women's participation in the ASM sector being estimated at nearly 50% in the mining areas, their significant participation has largely been overlooked. The study investigated the effect of legal framework on women participation in ASM. To achieve this, the study used data from a cross-sectional survey of 146 women working at different nodes of the ASM sector in Taita Taveta County. Descriptive statistics and linear regression was employed to analyse data. The results show that the requirements for mining permits have a positive effect on women participation in ASM while the process of obtaining a mining license had a negative influence. We recommend policy frameworks that facilitate easy access to mining licenses by women in the ASM sector. Specifically, there is a need to establish a field office for offering the ASM mining licenses and reduce bureaucracies associated with obtaining mining permits.

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How the Sustainable Development Goals risk undermining efforts to address environmental and social issues in the small-scale mining sector

Cited by 65 publications

References 86 publications

Mercury in European topsoils: Anthropogenic sources, stocks and fluxes

Mercury in European topsoils: Anthropogenic sources, stocks and fluxes

Ecofeminism and Natural Resource Management: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied

Effects of the Mining Legal Framework on Women Participation in Artisanal and Small Scale Mining: Lessons from Taita Taveta County (Kenya)

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