Newsletter from the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) for Sustainable Natural Resource Management
EGP is a joint initiative of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The EGP supports countries to integrate environment and human rights into the governance of the mining sector.
ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING (ASM):
Liberia Interview: Improving Environmental Protection by Working with ASM Miners & Communities Impacted by Mining
The EGP has been working with regulatory authorities and agencies in Liberia to develop a user-friendly ASM handbook. The publication will provide guidance to miners and host communities on regulations, norms and practical steps to improve health, safety, and environmental and human rights protection in ASM. In an interview with the EGP, Abraham Tumbey, EGP focal point in UNDP Liberia, outlines how the upcoming handbook launch can help improve the governance of the ASM sector.
ASM Learning Bubble starting on September 15, 2021!
Learning Bubbles are meetings where EGP Country Teams, Partners and Focal Points meet peer-to-peer and across countries and regions to engage in learning and sharing. EGP's first Learning Hub focusing on ASM will be held on Wednesday, September 15, 2021. The event will bring together EGP's country teams, partners and focal points in Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mongolia, Namibia, Peru, and Zambia. Information on how to register for the event has been sent out to partners through UNDP focal points.
The online participatory event – coordinated by EGP’s Global Team at UNDP and SEPA - will help shape ASM guidance documents being prepared with EGP support. These guidelines will deliver practical guidance to ASM miners and assist policy makers in supervising the ASM sector.
GENDER EQUALITY IN MINING:
Register for the Gender & Mining Governance MOOC starting on September 13, 2021!
Do you want to become more skilled at evaluating the impact of mining projects on communities, with a particular emphasis on women? Are you interested in amplifying women’s voices in mining governance? Do not miss the 2021 edition of the Gender & Mining Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), offered by the EGP, the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF), and UNDP's Learning for Nature programme.
This four-week interactive course, available in English, Spanish and French, will start on September 13, 2021, and feature the following themes:
- Week 1: Introduction to Gender and Mining Governance
- Week 2: Women's Participation in Decision-Making in the Mining Sector
- Week 3: Gender-Based Violence in the Mining Sector
- Week 4: Investment in Gender in Mining Governance
EGP Joins New Partnership: Women & the Mine of the Future (WMF)
The EGP is joining forces with the IGF, the International Women in Mining (IWiM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to launch a new project to improve women's participation in mining workforce and supply chains.
The new partnership, Women & the Mine of the Future (WMF), will advance women's participation in the context of new technologies transforming global mineral supply chains and the rising demand for minerals for low-carbon energy transition, such as lithium for electric vehicle batteries. The project will support evidence-based decision making by establishing a baseline to uncover existing gender-disaggregated profiles of workers in large-scale mining and its supply chains. The WMF seeks to:
- Improve gender-disaggregated data collection and analysis on mining occupations, skills, and job profiles.
- Provide guidelines and policy recommendations on how to empower and support women in their career paths, while fighting against gender stereotypes, bias and discrimination.
- Support women employees in mining communities to have access to better job opportunities in the mining sector and its supply chains.
LEARNING & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (LEKM):
EGP Launches New LEKM Ecosystem and Templates
The EGP Learning & Knowledge Management (LEKM) ecosystem seeks to build capacity within our community of practitioners to reflect, capture, and share their learning. It provides structured tools, learning opportunities and exchanges across the local, country, and global levels.
EGP Country Teams have assigned focal points responsible for facilitating EGP learning and knowledge management. The second EGP focal point meeting will take place on October 1, 2021, focusing on knowledge exchange and the sharing of good practices.
- Visit the LEKM section of the EGP website
- Download the report from the inaugural LEKM Focal Points meeting (May 25, 2021)
EGP Blog: Meeting the Challenges of COVID-19 - Raising Local Community Voices in Sustainable Mining Governance
The social, political, economic, and environmental consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic pose severe challenges for sustainable mining governance. The EGP has responded to these challenges by helping to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and making the voices of local communities and stakeholders heard in Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberiahttps://www.environmentalgovernanceprogramme.org/meeting-the-challenges-of-covid19, Mongolia, Namibia, and Zambia.
Learning Hub Report: LEKM Focal Points Meeting (May 25, 2021)
EGP's Learning & Knowledge Management ecosystem was presented in an interactive online meeting with EGP Focal Points and the Programme Global Team at UNDP and SEPA, on May 25, 2021. The LEKM ecosystem seeks to build capacity within the EGP community of practitioners to:
- Monitor project progress across different levels and in the perspective of all stakeholders, including their reflection in planning and follow up;
- Generate ideas to constantly improve project implementation, adjusting the project direction based on learning; and
- Create feedback between global and local levels by providing concrete tools, exchanges and events that stimulate cross-level and cross-country learning.
Upcoming Webinar Series:
1. Escazú Agreement, Human Rights & Healthy Ecosystems
The EGP is convening a webinar series, in partnership with the Stockholm University and UNDP's Regional Hub for Latin America, on the implementation of the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (Escazú Agreement). The agreement entered into force on Earth Day this year after being ratified by half of its 24 signatory countries.
The webinars will be held in October 20201. They seek to catalyze action to implement the agreement in synergy with the SDGs and relevant biodiversity-related Multilateral Environmental Agreements. The webinar series - hosted by UNDP's Learning for Nature programme - will distill lessons learned and good practices from Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The webinars are designed for government officials and environmental organizations, including environmental and human rights defenders, women- and youth-led collectives, and indigenous peoples and their associations.
"This landmark agreement has the potential to unlock structural change and address key challenges of our times" - António Guterres, UN Secretary-General
Learn more:
- EGP Blog: The Escazú Agreement & The Right to a Healthy Environment
- Registration will be open soon on the UNDP Learning for Nature platform. For more information, please contact the course team at [email protected].
2. Deforestation & Mining: Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues on Mining-Related Deforestation
Starting in October 2021, the EGP is organizing a series of online multi-stakeholder dialogues about mining-related deforestation in partnership with the New York Declaration on Forests' Global Platform Assessment Secretariat (NYDF), the World Conservation Society (WCS), and the Forests for Life Partnership.
The webinar series will identify actions to protect intact forests in areas impacted by mining, in support of NYDF's Goal 3, to significantly reduce deforestation derived from extractive industries. The NYDF is a non-binding international agreement that aims to halt natural forest loss by 2030, contributing to global climate and biodiversity goals and the SDGs.
The dialogues will build on the 2018 event on Forest-smart Mining to Advance the NYDF and the SDGs, and the 2019 event on Transforming Extractive Industries and Infrastructure to Achieve NYDF Goal 3.
Learn more:
PARTICIPATORY ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING (PEM):
EGP Global PEM Guide
Participatory Environmental Monitoring (PEM) has the potential to aid governments, communities and companies towards more inclusive, participatory and responsive governance of the mining sector.
The EGP is working with countries and international partners to prepare a global guide on participatory, community-based monitoring of mining activities., The guide will extract lessons from initiatives to strengthen PEM in Argentina, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mongolia and Peru. It will feature a self-assessment tool to assess at what stage of development their organizations are regarding PEM activities. The global guide will be launched in early 2022.
Learn more:
PARTNERS & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
UNV Success Story: Empowering the Youth through the Young Environmental Journalists Programme
United Nations Volunteers (UNV) has published a story about the Young Environmental Journalists (YEJ) campaign, featuring reflections on lessons learned from 2019 and 2020 participants. Read the article here.
“Joining the Young Environmental Journalists is indeed an opportunity to contribute in shaping environmental sustainability and tackling the salient issues around environment and human rights in the mining sector” - Brian Owino, Kenyan YEJ Participant
New CCSI Blog: Citizen Participation, Politics and Power in the Extractive Sector
The Columbia University Centre for Sustainable Investment (CCSI) has published an article in its Politics of Transparency and Accountability Blog Series by its Executive Director Elisa Peterand and Olena Pavlenko, Global Council Chair at Publish What You Pay (PWYP). The blog post discusses key challenges different actors face in pushing for more accountability in the extractive industries. Read the article here.
Panel on ESG in the Mining Sector
The Edumine knowledge platform convened an industry-wide panel on best practices in developing, delivering, and measuring Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-focused training programmes in the mining sector on April 20, 2021. The panel discussion featured Jeff Geipel from Mining Shared Value and Sarah Gordon from Satarla, a risk management and consulting firm, who is a Visiting Lecturer at Imperial College in London. Watch the video recording of the event here.
ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME (EGP)
EMAIL: [email protected]
WEB: WWW.ENVIRONMENTALGOVERNANCEPROGRAMME.ORG
Amazing programme. Thanks
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