Related projects
This website has been developed as part of a 3-year project to establish the B@B Platform. The contract supporting the work on the Platform has now come to an end and the European Commission is currently reflecting on the future scope and mandate of the Platform. In the short-term the contents of the website will therefore not be updated.
Stakeholders
The non-energy extractive industry sector can be roughly divided into construction minerals (quarrying), industrial minerals (not all hard-rock) and metallic minerals (usually hard-rock), although these categories are not always distinct. Industry associations and biodiversity-related initiatives tend to divide along somewhat similar lines.
Thus, industry reflection and guidance on mining-biodiversity linkages is spearheaded by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), while similar discussions in the oil and gas industry are centred in the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA).
Government stakeholders include agencies charged with the allocation of mining or drilling concessions, state enterprise (which may be directly involved in the extractive industry), finance ministries that receive taxes and other revenue from extractive industry, environmental and health and safety agencies, trade ministries, labour ministries and planning ministries, and local authorities.
For example, though relationships between local authorities and the non-energy extractive industry vary widely between different regulatory systems, it is often the case that local authorities are primarily responsible for the planning and environmental regulation of extractive developments and ancillary facilities. Companies must usually apply to the concerned local authority for planning permission and licenses/permits to authorise any discharges, emissions and waste generation. Local authorities will often impose strict limit on emissions including noise levels.
During the EIA process for a given development, the potential impacts are always discussed with the relevant local authority, which may propose amendments such as road diversions, underground belt conveyors or even cable transfer systems. However, in exercising their regulatory competences, local authorities are usually conscious of the potential long term benefits that extractive developments can confer to local communities in the form of employment and new streams of revenue. In order to reach agreements that safeguard the environment while promoting local interests and creating bankable investment opportunities, the non-energy extractive industry and local authorities must be willing to engage in dialogue with each other, and indeed with local residents and other relevant stakeholders.
For the general public and local authorities, landscape and biodiversity conservation is of increasing importance and site restoration is now usually a prerequisite for extractive developments. The quality of site restoration depends largely on the conditions imposed by the concerned local authority and indeed the cost of restoration. Alternative after-uses, such as for the conservation of wildlife or the creation of public green spaces, are now commonly also requested by local authorities.