The Rise in Conflict Associated with Mining Operations: What Lies Beneath?
Publisher: Canadian International Resources and Development Institute
Author(s): Tony Andrews, Bernarda Elizalde, Philippe Le Billon, Chang Hoon Oh, and Ian Thompson
Date: 2017
Topics: Conflict Causes, Extractive Resources, Governance, Land
Countries: Burkina Faso, Congo (DRC), Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone
The past 15 years have seen a sharp rise in the number of reported incidents of conflict associated with mineral exploration and mining activities worldwide.1 This increase in conflict has raised some serious questions about the considerable energy and resources expended over the same period to improve corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and approaches to conflict prevention and management.
Company practices may indeed be an important element of causality. However, there are a number of additional factors potentially contributing to the exhibited trend of increasing conflict, including for example, a) the unprecedented increase in commodity demand and global mining activity during this period, b) increasingly savvy, empowered and sophisticated communities, c) a tendency in the past for host governments to focus on attracting foreign direct investment in the absence of well-designed mineral development strategies, d) the persistent inability of governments in many host countries, to perform their roles and responsibilities in supporting responsible, sustainable mineral development at the national and local levels, e) the expanding issue of fair distribution of benefits, a key underlying driver of what is commonly referred to as resource nationalism and last but not least, f) the increasing manifestation of water as a socio-environmental issue.
Despite a rich literature on mining-related conflicts, we still do not fully understand what lies beneath the obvious manifestations of these conflict incidents. The Canadian International Resources and Development Institute (CIRDI) has financially supported Phase 1 of this project which commenced in August, 2015. CIRDI was formed in 2013 by the Government of Canada in partnership with three leading Canadian universities (University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and Polytechnique de Montreal). CIRDI’s mandate addresses the development of new policies and practices that lead to more responsible, sustainable approaches to mineral development and mining around the world.