Socio-environmental conflict: an opportunity for mining companies

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.08.108

Journal of Cleaner Production

Volume 84, 1 December 2014, Page 34

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.08.108 Get rights and content

Highlights

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Socio-environmental conflict reflects a demand for innovation.
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Socio-environmental conflict presents mining companies with opportunities to lead.
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Conflicts raise fundamental questions about development, democracy and environment.

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Cited by (17)

Multi-regional land disturbances induced by mineral use in a product-based approach: A case study of gasoline, hybrid, battery electric and fuel cell vehicle production in Japan
2022, Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Citation Excerpt :
Even though the implementation of detailed traceability efforts for each of the many resources involved in automobile production is a daunting task, the automotive industries is earnestly undertaking the challenge to adopt and implement detailed traceability approaches (Fuzi et al., 2013). Considering the controversies surrounding the mining sector with regard to conflicts (Bebbington 2014), the commodity-focused telecoupled land disturbance assessment conducted in this study would make it possible for the automobile companies to detect not only the location of the land associated with their economic activities, but also the extent of the contribution. This will enable these companies to design more appropriate CSR strategies to mitigate the international land disturbances associated with their products.
Resource use in the country of final demand has severe environmental impacts in other distant countries and regions through resource exploitation. In the narrative of telecoupling, the land disturbance caused by economy-wide international trade has been widely addressed using a multi-regional input-output analysis, but not sufficiently considering the telecoupled land use associated with a specific manufactured product. In this study, using the total material requirement, a new methodology is proposed for evaluating telecoupled land disturbances induced by manufacturing a given product in a given country. This product-focused method is a hybrid approach based on the integration of inventory data of a given product (bottom-up) and the global trade database (top-down). The developed methodology was applied to evaluate the multi-regional land disturbances induced by the production of gasoline vehicles (GVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) in Japan, as a case study. Finally, the implication is further discussed from the perspective of supply risk, governance, and corporate social responsibility. It was found that the transition of automobile technology in Japan results in changes in the countries and regions most exposed to the telecoupled land disturbances: i.e., from Australia (26% for GVs) to Chile (27% for BEVs) and South Africa (20% for FCVs). The algorithm developed is relatively simplified so that it can be readily implemented to determine the telecoupled land disturbances associated with any product in any country for a sustainable interaction in their mineral trade with other distant countries and regions.
Hydrosocial displacements: Sources and impacts of collaboration as a response to water conflict near three Chilean mines
2021, Resources Policy
Industry and scholarly attention to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Social License to Operate (SLO) and Creating Shared Value (CSV) has contributed to the emergence of collaboration between mining stakeholders as a desirable response to conflict over water. This article examines why and how new collaborative mechanisms have emerged in practice, and with what effect on socio-environmental dynamics in communities under pressure from the impacts of mining and climate change. The research is based on qualitative fieldwork among civil society, the private sector, and the public sector near the Escondida, Los Pelambres, and Andina mines in Chile, as well as among national-level representatives of each of these stakeholder groups in Santiago. Results indicate that companies’ discursive emphasis on collaboration reflects actual changes in industry practice that are an improvement of community relations methods. However, the ways this collaboration is currently carried out may result in a transformation and displacement of harms at the root of conflict, rather than permanent solutions to them. Whether, how, and where harms are transformed and displaced depend upon the interaction of geographical and social factors, with the negative impacts of mining tending to flow downstream and/or from more powerful to less powerful communities. These findings are conceptualized in a framework of “hydrosocial displacements,” which adds explanatory and predictive capacity to scholarship in political ecology on the hydrosocial cycle. In addition, the framework offers a policy tool for stakeholders to assess the context of water conflicts and achieve solutions—rather than displacements—of their causes.
Mining companies and communities: Collaborative approaches to reduce social risk and advance sustainable development
2021, Resources Policy
In the past 15 years progress has been made advancing sustainability in the mining sector. Yet mining-community conflict continues to grow. While the causes of conflict are often complex and interwoven, water is a frequent trigger of mining-community tension. Mineral resources are often found in areas of water scarcity and in regions susceptible to climate change. Furthermore, mining requires substantial volumes of water for operations. Competition with communities and other industrial users for this increasingly scarce resource, gives rise to questions about whether mining can yield sustainable outcomes.
This paper investigates a hypothesis that it is possible to deliver more sustainable outcomes than those offered by traditional engagement and corporate social responsibility strategies if mining companies seek to resolve problems shared by both company and community, for example water supply.
A comparative analysis of two mining projects in the resource-rich region of Arequipa, Peru is employed to consider whether creating shared value may yield more sustainable outcomes than traditional corporate social responsibility approaches, may reduce conflict between mining companies and communities, and advance the agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Mining legacies––Broadening understandings of mining impacts
2021, Extractive Industries and Society
Making or breaking social license to operate in the mining industry: Factors of the main drivers of social conflict
2021, Journal of Cleaner Production
Mining companies are under public scrutiny for their impacts on society. Previous studies have discussed aspects of the drivers of social conflicts and the factors that lead communities to grant or withdraw SLO; however, no previous research has attempted to bring together the range of conflicts in a single paper. The purpose of this research was to identify the factors that influence the main drivers of social conflict and how these factors must be aligned to help a company earn SLO instead of losing it. This qualitative research consisted of a case study analysis of two mining companies that operate in Peru and also included insights drawn from in-depth interviews and the emerging literature on SLO. The findings indicated that there were different factors for each driver of social conflict and that a company’s strategic actions with regard to these factors could help it either earn or lose SLO.
Frameworks for conflict mediation in international infrastructure development: A comparative overview and critical appraisal
2019, Journal of Cleaner Production
Citation Excerpt :
We also note that the persistence of infrastructural conflict is not necessarily an indictment of a stagnant industry. Murguía and Böhling (2013) have argued that CSR discourses may exacerbate conflict; by contrast, Bebbington (2014, p. 34) takes a more sanguine view that conflict may emerge from the exercise of new-found legitimacy. In this light, community-developer tensions are not necessarily undesirable: “While improved [developer] performance might dissipate conflict,” he writes, “it may also lead communities and other concerned populations to continue demanding better and better performance in much the same way that consumers keep demanding better and better products.”
While the extractive industries and related infrastructures are highlighted as key to economic development, they often come at a cost. Most projects involve a network of stakeholder parties; even though developers are allocating more resources to stakeholder engagement, conflict surrounding infrastructure development continues to rise. Whilst the causes of this paradox are numerous, ranging from the increasing demand for natural resources to the limited regulatory capacity of governments in the global south to oversee developers, they also highlight the lack of engagement with effective conflict resolution mechanisms. This paper undertakes a comparative review of 21 existing frameworks or “toolkits” presented by international organizations for avoiding and resolving mining-related conflicts in emerging markets. This review and analysis has four aims: i) to identify the dominant trends in frameworks that address conflict arising from the extractive industry and related infrastructural systems; ii) to identify the weaknesses and limitations of existing frameworks; iii) to assess opportunities for innovation that might increase the adoption of more effective conflict resolution strategies; iv) to forecast how existing frameworks may need to adapt and respond to emerging global shifts in development investments. Addressing these aims will contribute to a better understanding of how conflict resolution discourses, procedures, and strategies function in a sector that is critical to sustainable and equitable development.

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^☆: These comments draw on research that has been supported by the Ford Foundation, the UK Economic and Social Research Council and Rimisp-IDRC, as well recent collaborations with the Ministries of Environment and of Economy in El Salvador.

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Letter to the EditorSocio-environmental conflict: an opportunity for mining companies☆

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Letter to the Editor
Socio-environmental conflict: an opportunity for mining companies☆