Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Planning for the social impacts of mine closure is essential to an effective closure
process, especially in developing countries where impoverishment can lead to a
high level of mine dependency. This article presents the initial results of a study
that seeks to monitor and improve social wellbeing and sustainability through
mine closure. The research responds to an initiative by a network of community
environmental organisations in the Peruvian Andes interested in improving the
sustainability of the social outcomes of mines in their communities.
The research adapted value-focused decision analysis (R. Keeney, Value
Focused Thinking: A Path to Creative Decision-Making, University Press,
Harvard, 1992), a methodology that has been successfully applied in participatory
planning processes in North America, to the Andean context. In this way it
generated indicators, which captured the complexities of the social situation in the
Andes without losing pragmatic utility for evaluation and planning processes to
which they are currently being applied.
Keywords: sustainable mining; mine closure planning; value-focused decision
analysis; indicators; rational planning
1. Introduction
This article presents the initial results of a study which sought to assist concerned
citizen groups in communities affected by mining operations, to monitor and
improve the social impact of these projects on their communities during mine
closure. In this study, a framework of socio-environmental sustainability indicators
was developed using information gathered from communities located in the
neighbourhood of mines in Peru. It is expected that the outcome of the study will
benefit mining companies in general.
The article begins with a discussion of the need to plan for and measure socio-
environmental outcomes throughout the mine life cycle, in order to achieve
sustainable results at closure. It then presents the context of the study within the
work of the Ancash Regional Network of Local Environmental Monitoring
Organizations (RROLVAA) and the Andean Program of the Mountain Institute.
(1) The promise of sustainable development: The increased focus on mining in the
Peruvian economy has led to ongoing debate over the role that mining should
play in the country. There is general agreement that mining should contribute
to the sustainable development of local communities and regions as well as
that of the country. The expectation of both short- and long-term tangible
and intangible benefits is the predominant reason that many local
communities agree to having mining operations in their vicinity [3]. However,
International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment 135
For all of the above reasons, it is suggested that mine closure planning be
expanded to include a wider range of concerns, including all of the elements of
community wellbeing that is important to neighbouring communities. In addition, it
is suggested that these elements be monitored using indicators that encompass the
full range of community concerns. These arguments also support the need to
encourage the development of democratic mechanisms, which articulate local
perspectives on sustainable development through participatory monitoring and
permit continuous learning and future improvement.
Mining and Local Sustainable Development is the promotion of the efficient rational
management and conservation of natural resources without impacting present or future
generations, respecting local culture and customs in a climate of trust, transparency and
openness in communities close to the development of mining activities. It benefits civil
society, state and mining companies equitably in order to enable economic, social and
environmental development based on an integral shared vision (p. 6) [10].
has some similarity with the definition of the sustainable mining community
produced by leading scholars in the field [11]:
A sustainable mining community is one which could realize a net benefit from the
introduction of a mine which lasts through mine closure and beyond. In practice this
means that the community must adhere to the three fundamental pre-requisites of
sustainable societies outlined by George Francis (1999): ecological sustainability,
economic vitality and social equity (p.192).
In addition to the conceptual work carried out by the RROLVAA, the network
also developed a strategic plan to guide implementation of the framework on the
ground in the various communities. A key element of this strategic plan was the need
to monitor and evaluate community outcomes in terms of the Mining and Local
Sustainable Development model, using objective indicators that measured results
rather than subjective measures elicited from stakeholders, or the input measures
favoured by the mining industry.
For understandable reasons, input measures and quantifying actions entirely
within the control of the company appear to be the preferred corporate indicators of
mining social responsibility (e.g. numbers of dollars invested in development projects
around mine sites). However, because of the complexity of the development
processes, sidetracking of development funds, and low levels of community-
corporate trust, such input measures tend to augment tensions between the
companies and the communities in Peru: local stakeholders ruminate on where the
money may have gone rather than recognising the social investment by a company.
There was also consensus that the indicators used should be based on community
aims and visions rather than on those of outside actors (company, NGO or distant
government) because, in the end, it is the community that bears the impacts and
determines whether the benefits are appropriate. In addition, as mining is a
temporary land use, local communities and governments ultimately have the
responsibility for ensuring that there are lasting benefits after mine closure, within
the existing legal framework.
This work presented the result of collaboration between the Mountain Institute,
RROLVAA and the University of British Columbia (UBC). It forms part of the
PhD research program of Carol Odell at UBC in mining and socio-environmental
sustainability. Carol became involved in the Mining and Local Sustainable
Development initiative in order to provide expertise on the social impacts of mining
and to guide the design of effective indicators to be used by the committees. These
indicators were designed to serve both in the monitoring of impacts and benefits on
communities and also as a planning tool for development projects that would
address both short-term and long-term (post closure) interests using an integrated
sustainable development approach.
5. Research methodology
Based on the aims of the RROLVAA and on the analysis of the strengths and
limitations of existing social indicator frameworks, the research employed the value-
focused decision analysis (VFDA) methodology [22]. This methodology enabled the
design of indicators, the evaluation of development outcomes and the design of
projects for the future. VFDA is a rational decision-making process based on multi-
criteria analysis using carefully designed interview techniques to identify a clear set
of values and objectives from which a concise series of measures (indicators) is
designed. These indicators are then used to drive the selection of alternative projects
and development strategies and in assessing the trade-offs between alternatives until
acceptable alternatives can be identified. Its distinctive characteristics are the
approaches it uses to incorporate subjective information about decision-maker
values into the rational planning process and its focus on building alternatives
International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment 139
capable of performing well over the range of desired objectives, rather than selecting
between pre-defined options. The process is iterative and the series of steps is shown
graphically in Figure 2.
The VFDA process has been employed with considerable success in participatory
planning initiatives associated with large scale industry in the Pacific Rim area of
Canada and the United States [23,24]. In addition, the approach has had some
application in developing countries [25] and with indigenous communities in Canada
[26]. Applications to mining have so far been limited to expert and conceptual
assessments [27,28]. In a participatory format, the approach is promoted as having
significant potential to increase transparency around the distribution of impacts and
benefits which are at the heart of so much of the conflict around mining operations
[8]. In addition, experimental applications have demonstrated that the tool is capable
of designing alternatives that are superior to negotiated outcomes [29] due to its
focus on maximising performance over a range of criteria. This contrasts with the
goal of meeting the minimum conditions for multi-party agreement, which is often
seen in negotiated processes [22] (pp. 238–239). In combination with negotiated
approaches, it probably has even greater potential.
Figure 2. The eight steps in the value-focused decision analysis (VFDA) process (Adapted
from [22]).
sub-groups: for example, objective views from women living in communities directly
impacted by the mine. Once interviews in the initial sample of communities had been
carried out, workshops were used to validate the initial results and to adapt the
results to specific situations.
(1) Interviewees were asked about changes that had accompanied mine
development in the households and communities (or the most recent 10
years of mine operations in the case of mines which had a longer history).
They were then asked to characterise these changes as positive, negative or
mixed and interviewers probed to ascertain the reasons that these issues were
important both at a community and family level. For instance, if a person
complained about contamination arising from the mine as a negative impact,
the interviewer would question why contamination has a negative effect on
the individual and community. They might be told that this contamination
was detrimental because it led to decreased agricultural production and
increased skin irritations among local children.
(2) Interviewees were asked about their goals for development in their
communities for the next 5 years. Techniques, such as asking what the
interviewee would do if they were the mayor, were used to expand thinking.
Again the rationale underpinning the goals was pursued.
(3) In order to assess interviewees’ longer term interests, respondents were asked
about how they wanted to see their community after the mining operation
closed down, if this issue did not surface without prompting. This question
was followed by queries aimed at understanding the underpinning objectives
and clarifying the immediate steps required to achieve this desired state of the
community at mine closure.
While some informants were forthcoming with a variety of concerns, others were
more reticent. For this reason, interviewers used a number of prompts when
interviewees were less forthcoming. The prompts were based on a local adaptation of
the range of issues captured in the 7 questions to sustainability initiative, a North
American multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at monitoring a comprehensive range of
mine outcomes [30].
The degree of tension and distrust in the communities was an important factor
limiting the representation of the interview sample. It was found that especially those
people who were currently employed in certain mines and those who had current
leadership positions in mine-affected communities were in some cases less willing to
be interviewed than others in the community. The reluctance was stronger where
mining operations were larger and intra-community tensions higher. This reluctance
was explained by some research participants as being related to interview fatigue or
to generally high levels of distrust. Other informants explained the reluctance to be
interviewed as related to the personal interests that community leaders have
142 C.J. Odell et al.
employed in order to obtain personal and family benefits from the mine, which could
lead to discomfort during the interview process. Others still related this reluctance to
fear of losing potential or existing benefits from the mine if others reported that they
had talked to outsiders without permission. Interviews were carried out in either
Spanish or Quechua (or both) depending on the informant’s comfort level. The
interviewers were local development specialists experienced in interviewing. In some
cases, local committee members carried out interviews, while in situations where
intra-community tension was intense, interviewers were less closely connected with
the communities.
6. Results
6.1. Structuring objectives
Each interview was recorded using digital tape recorders and the recordings were
used to create detailed notes concerning the content of interviews. These notes
formed the basis for coding the interviews according to themes and the relationships
between themes using the NVivo7TM software. The relationships between the themes
were used to structure the ideas expressed in the interviews into influence diagrams
that graphically depicted the relationships between the different perceived impacts
and benefits and their links with community objectives and values. Because a
theoretical sampling approach was used, the importance of objectives was gauged by
the explanations of relevance and importance for a particular group in the
community, rather than by the overall number of mentions.
Figure 4 shows a portion of an influence diagram for one community and
demonstrates the importance of these diagrams for understanding the interrelation-
ships between objectives and experiences, with many objectives resulting directly
from negative impacts experienced. In the diagram, the relationships between a
diverse set of impacts and benefits result in a dynamic of concentration of benefits in
the hands of a few (white ovals), while the majority of the population is increasingly
impoverished (grey ovals). This process begins with the sale of land resulting in the
loss of grazing animals: an ongoing source of capital, food and savings for
community members. In addition, the dominance of individual interests in the
strategies of many community leaders leads to a concentration of employment
opportunities and associated wealth accumulation in the hands of a few families, an
effect that is magnified by the arrival of additional family members from the city.
These growing families find that their land and housing assets are inadequate, while
unemployed families have lost their safety mechanism for paying, for example,
unanticipated medical expenses (selling livestock). Lacking these ‘savings’, un-
employed families sell land to employed families thus increasing the polarisation of
impacts and benefits. Another dynamic that exacerbates the increased poverty of
many families is the amplified salary expectations of people in communities close to
mine sites and the weakening of community rotating labour and reciprocity systems.
This leads to a situation where many people, who have land but no income source,
are unable to farm their land, because they cannot afford to pay others in the
community to assist in the labour intensive tasks of planting, cultivating and
harvesting. At another mine site studied (influence diagram not shown), the rotation
of unskilled jobs among local community members limited this type of dynamic,
where some people become wealthy while others are impoverished, leading to
generally stronger benefits and less negative impacts.
Figure 4. Portion of the influence diagram for community two, showing relationships between impacts and benefits.
International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment
143
144 C.J. Odell et al.
The influence diagram was used to create a second type of analytical diagram, the
means-ends diagram. The means-ends diagram separates intermediate or tactical
‘means’ objectives from the underlying ‘fundamental’ objectives. For example, as
shown in Figure 5, reducing contamination was an aim mentioned by many
interviewees. When asked why this was important, answers almost always
concentrated on crop production and animal and child health. Further discussion
revealed that good crop production was perceived as important to produce food for
consumption, as well as to earn money to pay for living costs (food, education and
health), while child health was seen as an aim in and of itself. In this way, improving
health was identified as a fundamental objective while reducing contamination was
seen as a means objective.
Within the VFDA methodology, this separation of means and ends objectives is
critical to the creation of practical concise indicator frameworks, which avoid
overlap between indicators. Such overlap limits the applicability of many indicator
frameworks to decision making because they tend to double count many issues. For
example, analysis of Figure 5 demonstrates that if indicators of contamination and
child health are both included in an indicator framework, then, aggregating the
outcomes of contamination and child health would cause the double counting of
contamination in the aggregated total. This type of structuring, focusing on desired
results, also assists analysts to concentrate on creative strategies for achieving the
fundamental outcomes desired rather than becoming bogged down in means
objectives, which bias selection towards predetermined projects.
The next step was to design a logical structure for the fundamental objectives
identified, which reflected the objectives described in the interviews but also made
sense from a local cultural perspective. In order to achieve this, an objectives tree was
created in conjunction with the local researchers. The resulting structure reflected the
central place of the family and fields in rural communities, while also allowing
critical elements of community and municipal institutions to be measured. An
example of an objectives tree is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6. The objectives tree for community two showing objectives and sub-objectives.
146 C.J. Odell et al.
The aims for mine closure wellbeing focused on the existence of income sources
and productive resources that will outlast the mine and the level of capacity
remaining in the community. Once again, this category recognises the critical role of
combined income and agro-pastoral resources in the local economy, as well as the
need to diversify income generation strategies to provide more robust wellbeing in
communities. Process concerns centred on interactions between the mine, commu-
nity leaders and community members, which emerged as significant concerns in the
analysis. These cannot, strictly speaking, be seen as fundamental objectives in their
own right; however, more than a decade of VFDA practice has shown that these can
be viewed as important contributors to the fundamental objective of promoting
continuous learning [31], so they were included in the objectives tree under this
criterion. The continuous learning rubric includes the sub-objectives of increasing
public participation in decisions, promoting transparency and implementing
participatory development planning.
with quality of pasture for livestock and water resources available for aquaculture.
Similarly, other indicators depended fundamentally on existing conditions, with high
school completion a key objective in many rural areas, while access to computing
resources and technical training were desired indicators of educational competitive-
ness in more urban communities. Still other communities focused on developing
entrepreneurial skills within their communities.
In some communities, certain objectives were largely redundant. For example, in
one district, conflict over distribution of benefits and impacts was a key concern,
with self-interested leaders monopolising mine-related benefits within their families.
In contrast, in another district, inequities were most evident between different
impacted communities and thus inter-community rather than intra-community
equity was the most pressing issue for measurement. Thus, in the first district, the
measure of stress in the community compared the percentages of families who were
148 C.J. Odell et al.
becoming poorer with those who were becoming richer, while in the second district,
the ability of community and district leadership to ensure fair distribution of
community benefits was measured by counting the number of development
initiatives in each community over a 2-year period. These features of the specific
social context of each mine determined the key parameters for measuring the
objectives in the community.
The objectives in rural communities were compared with those in urban areas,
those of communities close to different mine sites were compared with each other
and those of directly impacted communities were compared with those of indirectly
impacted communities. This analysis was then used to present the results of the
analysis at a RROLVAA workshop where these comparisons were used to refine
indicators for each of the communities represented in the RROLVAA. In some
cases, separate indicator sets were designed for individual villages within the district
represented by the RROLVAA. For example, in the coastal areas, some
communities engaged in fishing, others in agriculture and others were largely urban,
thus different indicators of family wellbeing were necessary for these different
communities.
7. Initial conclusions
One general finding of the research is that there is no simple set of indicators that has
universal applicability to all mine-impacted communities in the Ancash region.
Despite this finding, it can be seen that, the general objectives for all of the
communities are largely similar, with key differences in the relative importance of the
objectives in each community and the details of the most effective way to measure the
objectives within each community. Objectives related to livelihood strategies and
conflict dynamics were those most commonly requiring changes from the initial
indicators developed. Other examples of specific modifications that were needed in
different communities included the following:
(1) In one community, prostitution and associated losses in the strength of the
family institution were noted as a serious problem. In this community, the
local town was distant from larger cities, which in other cases served to
displace this type of impact from the local area to urban centres. Here, family
integrity became an important sub-objective for the fundamental objective of
family wellbeing.
(2) In two other situations, several respondents noted the links between local
residents who contracted with the mines and changing values in the local
community. Here, a measure of community cohesion was added to the
measures of community wellbeing.
8. Next steps
The field research phase continued into 2008 and consisted of applying the developed
indicators framework to the design and assessment of strategies and projects at the
community level in RROLVAA communities. In addition, the research included
150 C.J. Odell et al.
Acknowledgements
This study was carried out with the support of a Doctoral Research Grant from the
International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. Information about this
organization can be found on their website at www.idrc.ca. In addition, Carol Odell’s doctoral
study was supported by a Bridge Strategic Research Fellowship and a University Graduate
Fellowship at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. The Mountain
Institute’s activities in this field were made possible by a donation from the USAID
(Cooperative Agreement HFP-A-00-02-00030-00/Matching Grant Program). The researchers
are grateful to the community members who willingly participated in the study.
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