Written by Orestis Aslanidis, PhD student with SCENARIO DTP, University of Reading, UK.
Across the world, public protests against new mining projects have been common (1). A big concern of the protestors is the environmental impacts that mining can have on local ecosystems. At the same time, however, some mining is essential for the green transition because of the metals needed in renewable energy production. So how should it be approached?
Some insights to answer this come from the interview of Rodne Galicha, an environmental activist and leader of the Climate Reality Project from the Philippines. Rodne was interviewed by our on-the-ground team, Lynn de Miranda and Theo Keeping.
Rodne highlights the need for a rapid but just climate transition. Mining metals in a way that destroys ecosystems by cutting down trees, excavating land and contaminating soils can make local communities even more vulnerable to weather extremes caused by climate change. These trees and soils provide crucial local services such as mediation of heatwaves and protection against floods (2).
Rodne also emphasised that protesting against mining in his area is motivated because “it’s all about protecting your home”. This sentiment is understandable, as no one would like to see their home destroyed. Metal recycling can play a part in reducing metal mining. However, in order to scale up renewable energy to the level needed to stop climate change, mining is essential (3). It is thus about deciding which areas to mine and which to avoid.
Here, I discuss key considerations for prioritising mining projects:
Habitat quality and irreplaceability:
Natural habitats and ecosystems is what humanity depends on. Destroying them depletes the very resources and services that we rely on. We should thus be very careful with the type of projects we decide to undertake. It can be argued that not all habitats are of the same importance, with some supporting less biodiversity, less carbon and taking less time to recover after being disturbed. For instance, tropical ecosystems usually support more biodiversity than temperate ecosystems (4). On the other hand, there are many temperate and arctic ecosystems that store massive amounts of organic carbon in their soils (5).
Impact on local communities:
As Rodne mentioned, a lot of the mining occurs in areas that are not receiving enough support to adapt to climate change and where extreme weather events are already causing havoc. Adding extra mining pressure on top, can exacerbate the negative impacts of climate change on these communities.
As new metal deposits continue to be discovered worldwide, the attitude of local people will be a major factor in determining whether these resources can be used. People protesting against mining operations should first take into considerations the points raised above: How biodiverse is this area? How much carbon does it hold? How equipped is the community to combat climate change extremes?
These are important questions to ask; if we allow mining in wealthy regions that support low levels of biodiversity and carbon, we prevent mining in more biodiverse areas that have locked up more carbon and where people are more vulnerable to climate extremes. Hopefully this article gives food for thought to corporations but also to the general public when deciding whether an area is worth mining or worth being used for other activities such as timber harvesting. Sacrificing individual rights for the collective good is going to be important to combat the nature crisis.
Sources:
- Globalwitness (2024). Critical mineral mines tied to 111 violent incidents and protests on average a year. https://bit.ly/3Oo7uve
- Hernández‐Blanco, M., Costanza, R., Chen, H., deGroot, D., Jarvis, D., Kubiszewski, I., Montoya, J., Sangha, K., Stoeckl, N., Turner, K., & Van ‘T Hoff, V. (2022). Ecosystem health, ecosystem services, and the well‐being of humans and the rest of nature. Global Change Biology, 28(17), 5027–5040. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16281
- Giurco, D., Dominish, E., Florin, N., Watari, T., & McLellan, B. (2019). Requirements for minerals and metals for 100% renewable scenarios. In Springer eBooks (pp. 437–457). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05843-2_11
- Willig, Kaufman, D., & Stevens, R. (2003). Latitudinal Gradients of Biodiversity: pattern, process, scale, and synthesis. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics, 34(1), 273–309. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.012103.144032
- O’Rourke, S. M., Angers, D. A., Holden, N. M., & McBratney, A. B. (2015). Soil organic carbon across scales. Global Change Biology, 21(10), 3561–3574. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12959
