Publication Name

MINING FOR CLOSURE

1.5

At the outset it is reiterated that a fundamental

point of departure for this document is the view

that ongoing mining activities are vital to sustain-

able development and environmental protection

in the SEE/TRB in general. This is a view shared

in varying degrees by development agencies such

as the World Bank Group (Onorato

et al.

, 1997;

Strongman, 2000) and federations of environmen-

tal groups such as the European Environmental

Bureau (European Environmental Bureau, 2000).

As such, a simplistic statement might be that this

document seeks to fill an important gap as an apo-

litical

“back to mining” guide

Further, this document will seek to address key

need areas to support the “next steps forward” at

both local (national) scale and in a transboundary

and regional perspective that were presented with-

in the Desk-assessment study for the Environment

and Security Initiative Project generated in 2004

(Peck, 2004) and some of the key items within the

Rapid Assessment report (Burnod-Requia, 2004).

It must seek to provide information and guidance

for regional decision makers on how they can move

policy instruments (measures) forward in the key

influential areas listed in the previous section.

In order to clarify what is meant by policy instru-

ments in this regard, excerpts are supplied in Box

1 after Lindhqvist (2000, p. 41) who divides policy

instruments into three different groups.

In addition to the above, prevailing social norms

or imperatives also contribute to the achievement

of policy related goals. Such norms describe the

overall values a society has or the way a society usu-

ally acts. Individuals or groups in the society are

expected to behave according to the prevailing im-

peratives (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983:152). Social

norms can be described as a condition rather than

a policy instrument in this context but it is held that

policy interventions can influence norms and vice

versa.

Thus, within this document it is sought to aid the

development of

inter alia

legaland/orregulatoryframeworksforkeymin-

ing actors (coercive regulatory instruments);

utilitarian measures designed to provide mate-

rial incentives for improved performance;

measures intended to supply or enhance ca-

pacity within the mining sector and the regu-

latory frameworks that enfold it;

manners in which the norms (accepted and

anticipated behaviours) of industrial, regulato-

ry and social actors can be influenced in order

to promote improved mining performance.

The brief work agenda presented in this docu-

ment is principally drawn from the Desk Study

(Peck, 2004) and from the Tisza Rapid assessment

(Burnod-Requia, 2004). It is intended that this doc-

ument provide a basis – or direction – for action

among regional decision-makers, policy makers,

and leading industrial actors in four key areas.

Action area 1: risk reduction at abandoned or or-

phaned sites

– actions among regional actors that

can facilitate the reduction of the very significant

risks associated with non-operational, abandoned

and/or orphaned sites where large quantities of

physically and chemically unstable, and/or poorly

contained mine wastes are stored. In particular the

most significant risks are related to the mass re-

lease of tailings wastes to waterways and the ongo-

ing generation of acidic, metals bearing effluents

from such sites affecting both surface waters and

groundwater.

Action area 2: risk reduction at operational sites

– actions that can facilitate the reduction of the very

an agenda for this

document

Box 1

Policy Instruments

The first group are so-called

regulative or coer-

cive instruments

. Here, a policy goal is achieved

through a legislative framework set by government.

Such frameworks specify what various actors are

allowed to do or not to do. Further, they specify

how certain activities should be conducted.

A second group called

economic or utilitarian

instruments

intend to have a steering effect to-

wards a planned goal. Through giving incentives

(both in financial or non-financial terms) aiming

at certain activities it becomes advantageous to

adopt certain (desirable) behaviour.

The third group are so-called

informative instru-

ments

. The provision of information through

awareness raising campaigns or education aims to

combat lacks of information and thus enable peo-

ple to act in a certain (more rational) manners.

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