Sustainable Markets Responding to the challenge of artisanal and small-scale mining How can knowledge networks help? 2013 Abbi Buxton www.iied.org IIED Sustainable Markets papers This paper was produced by IIED’s Sustainable Markets Group. The Sustainable Markets Group drives IIED’s efforts to ensure that markets contribute to positive social, environmental and economic outcomes. The group brings together IIED’s work on market governance, business models, market failure, consumption, investment and the economics of climate change. Published by IIED 2013 Citation: Buxton, A. 2013. Responding to the challenge of artisanal and small-scale mining. How can knowledge networks help? IIED, London Cover photo © Greenstock Media: Artisanal gold mining, Indonesia Sustainable Markets Group International Institute for Environment and Development 80–86 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8NH, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 7399 Fax: +44 (0)20 3514 9055 email: [email protected] www.iied.org ISBN: 978-1-84369-911-8 A catalogue record for this paper is available from the British Library. This publication can also be downloaded from: http://pubs.iied.org/16532IIED.html Responding to the challenge of artisanal and small-scale mining How can knowledge networks help? The author Abbi Buxton is a Researcher in IIED’s Sustainable Markets Group. She leads IIED’s research in mining. This includes research reviewing the mining and sustainable development agenda (against that laid out by the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development programme in 2002) and research on the governance of large-scale extractives such as the use and implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Abbi is the lead on IIED’s work on artisanal and small-scale mining, including the knowledge and network programme proposed in this paper. Abbi joined IIED in 2010, prior to which she worked in the private sector. Her research-based expertise is in market-based development, small-scale producers and value chains. Abbi has an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics. For further information contact: Abbi Buxton [email protected] Sarah Best, Interim Programme Lead, ASM Knowledge Programme, [email protected] Acknowledgements I would like to thank IIED colleagues Duncan Macqueen, James Mayers, Steve Bass, Bill Vorley, Emma Wilson and Emily Benson who all gave their time and insights in research for this paper. Thank you to the range of ASM sector stakeholders who took time to talk to me and share their thoughts on the sector. Special thanks to Karen Hayes of PACT for her feedback and comments on an earlier draft. CoNTENTS Contents Executive Summary v Introduction 1 1: What are the ASM challenges? 3 1.1 Mapping ASM activities 3 1.1.1 Understanding the scale and contribution 3 1.1.2 Understanding the diversity 4 1.1.3 Understanding ASM’s counterparts 4 1.2 Mapping the issues 5 1.2.1 Vulnerability 6 1.2.2 Marginalisation 6 1.2.3 Informality 6 1.2.4 Facing inherent structural challenges 7 2: Using knowledge to meet ASM challenges 11 2.1 What is the role of knowledge? 11 2.2 Mapping knowledge and policy in the ASM sector 13 2.2.1 The stock of ASM knowledge 13 2.2.2 The flow of ASM knowledge 13 2.2.3 Demand for ASM knowledge 13 2.2.4 The ASM knowledge–policy interface 14 2.3 Knowledge and network programmes 14 2.3.1 A virtual network 14 2.3.2 A knowledge review 15 2.3.3 A dialogue series 15 2.3.4 Learning groups 15 2.3.5 Large events 16 Conclusion: What next for designing a knowledge programme for ASM? 17 Annex 1: Excerpt from the summary of outcomes of the Roundtable on the future of CASM 19 Annex 2: Case studies on IIED’s knowledge programmes 21 Forest Connect 21 Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG) 23 The Forests Dialogue (TFD) 25 Poverty and Conservation Learning Group 27 References 29 Boxes, Tables and Figures Box 1: Defining artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) 1 Box 2: Defining ‘policy’ 11 Box 3: ‘Top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ 11 Table 1: Estimated number of ASM miners in different countries 3 Table 2: Mapping the problems and challenges of ASM 7 Table 3: Different types of knowledge 12 Table 4: Examples of FGLG outputs 24 Figure 1: Diversity in poverty-driven ASM 4 Figure 2: The ASM Poverty Trap 5 Figure 3: Forest Connect’s iterative process of action learning 22 EXECUTIVE SUMMARy Executive Summary Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) includes 20–30 doesn’t work. However, much of it is neither written down nor million people worldwide, with three to five times that number publicly shared. This is symptomatic of poor coordination and indirectly supported through their activities. Yet development sharing between development practitioners, consultants and donors, governments, wider industry players and NGOs often large-scale mining companies working with ASM communities neglect this sector, focusing on ASM’s negative impacts across the world. rather than on addressing its structural challenges to improve Marginalisation and informality means very little knowledge the sector’s opportunities for sustainable development. from ASM communities reaches and influences policymakers. ASM can be a resilient livelihood choice for people who are Yet this knowledge is invaluable in understanding local vulnerable or looking for economic diversity in their livelihoods. opinions and values and testing interventions for local In fact, ASM generates up to five times the income of other relevance and practicality. The failure to capture this ‘citizen- rural poverty-driven activities in agriculture and forestry. knowledge’ perpetuates uncertainties on both structural The sector employs 10 times more people than does the challenges and potential policy innovations for ASM. large-scale mining sector, and stimulates considerable local Better knowledge on ASM, which also addresses the economic development around ASM sites. accessibility and visibility of what is currently known and used Section 1 of this document reviews what is known about by policymakers, is essential for effective policy influence the challenges in the ASM sector. The environmental and and innovation. This knowledge needs to feed into national social impacts of ASM can be dire but so are the structural policy and institutional improvements to achieve change challenges underlying them. ASM is, for the most part, a ‘on the ground’ but also international industry initiatives and poverty-driven livelihood chosen by people who are both international sustainable development initiatives, where ASM vulnerable and marginalised. The diversity of sector players is currently poorly represented. (including women, children, migrants and the most vulnerable) Section 2 explores how a ‘knowledge intermediary’, which acts means considerable diversity in the drivers and incentives to link knowledge with policy, could address these gaps in the for ASM activity. The sector’s structural challenges include: ASM sector. A knowledge programme or network achieves weak laws, policies and implementation and government impacts at the local, national and/or international level by: marginalisation or repression; cultural marginalisation and exclusion of certain demographic groups; uncontrolled ■■ Helping participants find their way through dispersed migration; low barriers to entry into informal or illegal ASM information with its poor social and environmental protections; poverty- ■■ Ensuring wider understanding of little-known or little- driven, short-term decision making; poor access to financial understood ideas services, market information, technology, and geological data; ■■ Providing participants with the resources, capacities and political exclusion and ‘policy blindness’; and a serious lack of skills to impact policy change through knowledge data on ASM individuals and communities that reveal the true scale, nature and contribution of the sector. ■■ Bringing together a diverse range of stakeholders and building a community of shared values and standards One of the primary obstacles to addressing these challenges is poor coordination and use of what is, and an identification ■■ Enabling participants to carry out their individual activities of what isn’t, known about the sector from researchers, more effectively through learning from their peers practitioners and miners and communities themselves. Section There are many different ways of organising a knowledge 2 of this document discusses the gaps in both the stock of programme, depending on a sector’s particular needs. IIED’s knowledge on ASM and the way in which existing knowledge experience in this area points to a number of options that flows to influence policy at a national and international level. have been particularly successful in improving national and There is a large amount of practice-informed knowledge in the international policy in different natural resource sectors — ASM sector, offering ‘hands on’ experience of what does and outlined in Section 2 and covered in more detail in Annex 2. RESPoNDING To THE CHALLENGE oF ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING I This document suggests a mix of options to address ASM’s small-scale miners into these groups so they can help particular needs and challenges: identify local problems, challenges and possible solutions would specifically address the obstacles to citizen 1. Establish a ‘virtual network’ centred on an interactive knowledge flow into national policy. Such learning groups website database of projects, research, organisations can also take place across a number of countries with and events as a solid base for information-sharing international coordination to facilitate cross-country and knowledge coordination across a large number of knowledge sharing and international policy influence and interested stakeholders. Regular updates, analysis and innovation. horizon scanning of sector knowledge would ensure that users remain engaged with current understanding in ASM. 4. Set up a series of in-depth dialogues that bring together a diverse range of stakeholders to address 2. Conduct a ‘knowledge review’ by drawing on research, particularly contentious issues in the sector. These can practice-informed and community- (or citizen-) based be local, regional or international dialogues that address knowledge to design a tool for collecting baseline data on different issues at different times – working through a ASM communities. This tool should (a) allow policymakers process of knowledge synthesis and problem identification to understand and respond to the diversity and structural to reveal options and build consensus across sector challenges of the sector and (b) identify ‘success metrics’ stakeholders to build on synergies of influence and for monitoring the effects of policy on ASM. innovation. 3. Employ IIED’s ‘learning group’ model to convene select individuals within a country who meet, exchange Shared knowledge on ASM’s diversity of causes, motivations ideas and information, learn together and then put their and outcomes is the key to ensuring locally appropriate shared knowledge into action in their own working development responses for this important and neglected environment or networks. Incorporating artisanal and sector. INTRoDUCTIoN Introduction There are 20–30 million artisanal and small-scale miners environmental damage (particularly through the use across the world (see Table 1 for a breakdown by country) of mercury in gold mining) to the use of ASM revenue and the sector supports three to five times more indirectly. to finance conflicts, the social disruption and conflict However, there are no reliable figures, and this is symptomatic sometimes caused by ‘rush’ operations, the high incidence of a broader neglect and misunderstanding of the sector. of prostitution, and the spread of HIV/AIDS where migrant workers are involved. Box 1: Defining artisanal and small- At the extreme, governments consider the sector illegal and attempt to ban it through different means. In many scale mining (ASM) cases (since ASM falls outside the regulatory framework), Definitions for ASM are disputed; section 1.1 explores the they simply neglect it, thereby allowing negative social and diversity in the sector, including difference in scale, legality, environmental impacts to be aggravated … demographics and seasonality. But broadly speaking, The relationship between large companies and small-scale ASM operations exploit marginal or small deposits, lack miners is poorly understood and often troubled, with mutual capital, are labour intensive, have poor access to markets mistrust and sometimes conflict … and support services, low standards of health and safety and have a significant impact on the environment (MMSD However, there has been some progress over the past decade 2002:315). In this paper we use the phrase ‘artisanal and (Buxton 2012). MMSD tasked governments with responsibility small-scale mining’ and the abbreviation ‘ASM’ to mean for ASM and some have adopted more inclusive policies mining activities fitting this description. (including Uganda, Sierra Leone, Mongolia and Ghana), increasingly recognising ASM as a legitimate route out of poverty (Ethiopia is an inspiring case study). Organisations ASM occurs in some of the most remote areas in the world and including Oro Verde, Fairtrade International, and the Alliance involves some of the world’s poorest people. Despite the scale for Responsible Mining (ARM) have worked towards ethical of need, many development donors and programmes don’t supply chains for minerals, creating the Fairtrade and Fairmined engage with the sector, seeing ASM livelihoods as undesirable Gold Standard and highlighting the sector’s ability to lead and fearing that engagement may perpetuate illegal or innovation and change. dangerous activities. So ASM continues to be underfunded and neglected compared to other rural, poverty-driven activities The World Bank’s Communities and Small-scale Mining such as small-scale agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Each of initiative (CASM), launched in 2001, improved understanding those were mentioned in the post-Rio 2012 ‘Future we want’ of the sector, envisioning a positive livelihoods approach vision as important contributors to sustainable development. to ASM and responding to the need for cross disciplinary Artisanal and small-scale miners were not mentioned at any solutions and improved coordination between the major point in the document (UN 2012). stakeholders. Funding constraints restricted the initiative’s impact and eventually led to its closure. Although CASM The large-scale mining sector (LSM) is often in conflict with continues in name it is the technical assistance and capacity ASM over land and resources, and governments tend to favour building events that the World Bank is investing in rather than LSM or focus on top-down formalisation initiatives that fail to the knowledge and network programme. recognise the inherent structural challenges ASM faces. Yet demand for CASM’s networking and knowledge generation The problem framing has changed little since the Mining, role continues. An independent review of the CASM Minerals and Sustainable Development project of 2002 programme in 2010/2011 identified the value and demand (MMSD 2002:314): for a more active and responsive network and knowledge ASM activities are often viewed negatively by governments, programme ‘designed and resourced to actively seek and make large companies, environmentalists, and others. Concerns connections between key ASM actors and activities, as well range from the use of child labour and the potential for as to distil and promote lesson learning from ASM products I 1 RESPoNDING To THE CHALLENGE oF ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING I and literature’ (Resolve 2010:3).1 Such a programme would Section 1 explores existing knowledge and experience on ensure representation of ASM issues in major international ASM. It maps the key problems affecting the ASM sector fora and offer a space for dialogue between stakeholders at (as articulated by both stakeholders and the literature) and both regional and international levels, effecting change in both highlights some of the known structural challenges preventing public and private policy design and implementation. sustainable development. Section 2 looks at how knowledge might influence policy, maps the knowledge–policy gaps in the This paper lays the conceptual groundwork for such a ASM sector and discusses how ‘knowledge intermediaries’ knowledge and network programme by: can act to fill knowledge gaps. The paper concludes by setting 1. Outlining the artisanal and small-scale mining challenges out how an improved knowledge and network programme based on major sustainable development thinking; and could address the challenges of the ASM sector through knowledge and policy innovation. 2. Sharing IIED’s experience and understanding of knowledge programmes and networks that may work to meet the particular knowledge and policy gaps in the ASM sector. 1 See Annex 1 for the programme options proposed by Resolve and discussed in the CASM Roundtable in 2010. In that list of programme options, CASM 1.0 referred to the work of the existing CASM – primarily a website database and yearly conference. CASM 2.0 describes the more active and responsive network and knowledge programme discussed here. And CASM 3.0 refers to the in-country capacity building and technical assistance work that now provides the basis for the World Bank’s CASM programme. 2 I IIED