Environmental management guidance released for governments

The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) has released a new guide for governments presenting key mining issues and recommendations.

The report, Guidance for Governments: Environmental Management and Mining Governance, draws from the IGF’s Mining Policy Framework

It highlights the key issues, benchmarks, and standards in four main areas of environmental management in mining – water, biodiversity, waste, and emergency preparedness and response – and governments’ role in ensuring that each is managed in support of sustainable development.

The new guidance helps governments by:

• Outlining key issues relating to water management, biodiversity protection, mine waste management, and emergency preparedness and response in the mining sector.
• Highlighting the good international standards and practices used by governments and companies to support strong environmental management.
• Describing what governments must do to protect the environment across the mine life cycle: before, during, and after mining.

‘Environmental management is a critical part of good governance in the mining sector,’ says Alec Crawford, Senior Policy Advisor with the IGF and co-author of the new guidance. ‘Governments have an important role to play when it comes to managing water resources, protecting biodiversity and ecosystems, storing mine waste, and preparing for and responding to emergencies.

‘Successful environmental management across the mine life cycle depends on strong legal frameworks, regulations, and policies.’