ABCG: On Mining and Conservation in Africa
As conservation NGOs focus on larger landscapes such as ecoregions and hotspots, they must consider engaging with other sectors that impact biodiversity such as the mining industry. The African continent is richly endowed with mineral reserves and ranks first or second in terms of concentration of world mineral reserves of bauxite, cobalt, diamond, gold, manganese, platinum-group metals and titanium minerals (rutile and ilmenite), among others. Mineral exploration and production constitute significant parts of Africa’s economies and remain important to future economic growth. Consequently, there is an increasing interest in mining activities occurring in important areas for biodiversity conservation, especially as some African nations open up more opportunities to the private sector.
FY2012 Accomplishments
ABCG members Conservation International (CI), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have worked together on several critical aspects of overlapping areas of mining interest and biodiversity concern in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The total mineral wealth of the DRC is estimated to be $24 trillion—50 percent more than the United States Gross Domestic Product in 2011. Most mineral reserves are still untapped, but they could potentially make DRC the richest country in the world. DRC has the world’s largest reserves of cobalt and columnite-tantalite (coltan), the world’s second-largest reserves of copper (equivalent to 10% of the world’s reserves), and significant reserves diamonds and gold . As a result of a decade of war, civil unrest and instability, most mining operations are artisanal . Since 2004, however, gradual improvements in security and state control over mining areas have allowed formal actors to re-enter the sector. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of exploration and exploitation concessions granted by the DRC government. In January 2011, the Ministry of Mining listed 7,732 mineral permits covering 112,731,739 hectares, which represents 48 percent of the DRC territory. Between 2008 and 2011, the number of mining permits granted by the DRC government increased by 35%, covering an additional 14 million hectares (ha). In April of this year, the government announced that it plans to triple the size of the protected estate to reach 17% of the territory in protected areas. With the area under mining permits increasing rapidly, competition between mining and conservation interests can only intensify in the upcoming years.
Our goal is to develop and implement a model for engaging companies and governments on biodiversity conservation and stewardship in Central Africa, beginning a comprehensive approach in the DRC. The project identifies critical biodiversity areas as well as mining company explorations and operations (including small scale and artisanal mining hotspots) that need to be prioritized for conservation engagement.
In FY2012, ABCG completed the following:
On 11-12 October 2011, ABCG's Extractive Industries Group, made up of members Conservation International (CI), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), held a strategic planning workshop. The aim was to bring together in-country field representatives of ABCG partners with US-based staff and other relevant stakeholders to share work products developed by ABCG Extractive Industries Group and develop a strategic approach for further addressing extractive industry and biodiversity issues in the DRC and possibly neighboring countries in FY 2012. Presentations included:
- Africa, Conservation and Mining, by Frank Hawkins, CI
- The ABC's of ABCG, by Natalie Bailey, ABCG
- Mining & Biodiversity Overlaps in DRC, by Mahlette Betre, CI
- Review of the National Legal Framework for Mining & Conservation in the DRC, by Christine Tam, WWF DRC
- Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Protected Areas and Critical Ecosystems, by Kirsten Hund, WWF DRC
- U.S. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010), by Peter Veit and Anne-Gaelle Javelle, WRI
- Mining in the Ituri Landscape: Challenges for Biodiversity Conservation, by Corneille Ewango, WCS
A brown bag presentation and discussion on 12 October 2011highlighted the preliminary results of these four ABCG member organizations’ work addressing the issues of mining and biodiversity in the DRC.
This work is generously supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development's Biodiversity Analysis and Technical Support (USAID BATS) program of the Africa Bureau.
On 19 December 2001, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) held a meeting to learn more about the impacts of large-scale and small-scale mining on conservation entitled: “Mining and Conservation in Africa: Why, When, How and Whether to Engage with Mining Companies and Artisanal & Small-Scale Miners." The meeting discussed the environmental impacts of mining, the role of artisanal mining, ways to engage the corporate sector in conservation, and impacts of mining to rural society. Click here to read a summary of the meeting.
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