Mining – India 1
1. Government approves controversial mine 1
2. Projects must pass green test: HC 2
3. CIL may import thermal coal for first time 3
4. Dubal in talk with India for alumina project in Orissa 4
Mining – International 5
5. ESA to start coal mining project 5
6. Illegal mining bleeds Dong Nai 6
7. Mozambique, Australia sign coal mining contract 8
8. Tunlan mine blast exposes safety challenge 9
9. Fresh government delay in revision of mining lawsL ’Consultations’ still going on, official quoted as saying 13
10. Coal and iron ore contract win 15
11. The mining proposal and the return of the Mummy 16
12. Churchill Mining more than doubles East Kutai Coal Project resource to 3.18 billion tonnes 21
Other News – India 22
13. No trimming of wage rates under NREGA 22
14. UK-India project to study climate change in Orissa 22
15. Poorest countries unprepared for impacts of climate change 23
16. Climate Change Threatens Coral Reefs and Livelihoods 25
17. Rights of indigenous Filipinos discussed today at UN forum 25
18. Ghana: Government & the Millennium Development Goals 26
19. Canada is increasingly alone on aboriginal rights 31
Mining – India
Government approves controversial mine
18 May 2009
A Dongria Kondh woman.
© Jason Taylor
The Indian government has given Britain’s Vedanta Resources final approval to start a controversial bauxite mine in the hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe.
The tribespeople, furious that the lush hills where they live will be devastated, have mounted a series of blockades and large-scale protests in recent years. They say the mine will end their way of life forever, and have vowed to block Vedanta from destroying the top of their mountain, which they hold sacred.
The Indian ministry for environment and forests has now granted Vedanta the environmental clearance it requires to start mining. The mine, in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa, eastern India, could begin operations within weeks.
Dongria Kondh spokesman Lodu said, ‘If the government give the mountain, we will say ‘sell your own mountain’. This is the Dongria Kondh’s hill, it is not yours to sell.’
Vedanta is already operating a bauxite refinery at the foot of the mountain. Hundreds of people have lost their homes to the refinery, which has been condemned by government officials for its ‘alarming’ rate of pollution.
Actress Joanna Lumley, narrating Survival’s film ‘Mine: story of a sacred mountain’, said, ‘It’s only because the Dongria have known their lands so intimately and for so long that this extraordinary forest survives. The Dongria know that [the mine] will ruin their homes, pollute their lands and destroy their lives. We cannot let their fate be decided in a corporate boardroom.’
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Unless this decision is reversed, it will be the death knell for the Dongria Kondh. Much has been made during the elections this month of India’s status as the world’s largest democracy, but from the Dongria Kondhs’ point of view there’s precious little democracy at work.’
http://www.survival-international.org/news/4561
Projects must pass green test: HC
18 May 2009, 0625 hrs IST, Vishal Sharma, TNN
CHANDIGARH: Distressed by the shocking findings of enquiry reports on illegal mining in ecologically fragile lower Shivalik hill areas falling in
districts of Yamunanagar, Ambala and Panchkula, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the state government to lay out an environmental impact
assessment blueprint before pushing ahead with its "commercial enthusiasm" over mining in the region.
Asserting that Haryana is a public trustee of natural resources and legally bound to protect the same from private encroachments and "commercial enthusiasm", the HC has banned all non-forest activity, including the mining of major and minor minerals, in the lower Shivalik ranges duly notified as "forests" by the state government under sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA). In their 26-page order on May 15, chief justice Tirath Singh Thakur and justice Surya Kant advised the government to think beyond "commercial gains" and clarified that the Central notification of September 14, 2006, requiring "prior environmental clearance" for mining was not restricted to new projects alone but covered even those afoot.
The court's observation annihilated the argument put forth by Chandi Mandir Stone Crushers Consumers Company, one of the petitioners, that the 2006 notification was applicable only in cases where new mining activity was to be undertaken and that projects already underway were out of its ambit.
Pointing out that even the existing mining activity in lower Shivaliks "cannot continue without environmental clearance", the bench set a February 28, 2010, deadline for miners and government to get their act together. Next year onwards, Central clearance would be mandatory even for existing mining projects.
Brushing aside the state government's argument that the onus for getting environmental clearance for to-be auctioned mining sites lay on mining contractors, the judges drafted do's and don'ts for it, listing preparation of environmental impact assessment report and appraisal of mining projects by environmental panel among others in it.
The bench also called the government's bluff of granting short-term permits by dividing the mining area into small zones so as to side-step environmental norms, saying even those could not be granted without due clearance. Under Central norms, environmental clearance is mandatory in cases where mining area is 50 hectares or more.
Incidentally, the green order on Shivalik mining has come days before Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan reached in Chandigarh to attend a seminar on `Law and Environment' being organized by Asia Pacific Jurist Association whose patron-in-chief and president are CJ Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Surya Kant respectively.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi/Projects-must-pass-green-test-HC/articleshow/4543752.cms
CIL may import thermal coal for first time
Monday, 18 May 2009
BS reported that with the Indian government revising the coal import target from 25 million tonne to 35 million tonne for 2009-10 to meet the growing requirements of the power companies, Coal India Limited has got its act together by planning to set up an import cell to import coal on its own.
As per report, CIL aims to import 4 million tonne of non coking coal this fiscal for the first time since its inception mainly to meet the demands of power generating firms in the country. It may be noted that 4 million tonne of imported coal would be equivalent to 6 million tonne of coal produced in the country as the calorific value of imported coal was about 50 per cent higher than domestic coal.
Mr PS Bhattacharyya chairman of CIL said “We will set up an in house import cell soon which will work out the modalities for the import of non coking coal. CIL aims to import 4 million tonne of non coking coal in 2009-10 which is the target given to us by the Planning Commission.” He said the overseas destinations from which CIL would import non coking coal would hinge on the specifications of coal for our consumers.
In 2008-09, the country imported about 18 million tonne of coal as against the target of 20 million tonne of imports. National Thermal Power Corporation, the country’s largest power producer, which planned to add around 3,000 MW power this fiscal aimed to import 12.5 million tonne of coal this fiscal compared to 8.2 million tonne which it imported in 2008-09.
As per report, CIL would provide 312 million tonne of coal to power utilities this fiscal, compared to 292 million tonne which the navratna coal PSU provided in 2008-09. It had recorded a 6.4% growth in its coal output of about 400 million tonne in 2008-09 and it expects a 7% growth this fiscal. The coal PSU’s production was projected around 520 million tonne by 2012. But, the demand for coal in the county would reach 730 million tonne by then, thereby creating a shortfall of over 200 million tonne.
(Sourced from Business Standard)
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/05/18/OTQ4OTM%3D/CIL_may_import_thermal_coal_for_first_time.html
Dubal in talk with India for alumina project in Orissa
Monday, 18 May 2009
Reuters cited Mr Abdulla Kalban CEO of Dubai Aluminium Co as saying that it will be holding talks with the Indian government on its bauxite alumina project in Orissa next month.
The bauxite mine and alumina refinery and smelter, a JV with Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen and Toubro, was originally scheduled to start in 2009, but Dubal has said in the past it expected delays due to bureaucratic issues in India.
Mr Kalban said "We are going on with our India project. We are just waiting for the elections to be completed and then we will hold talks in a month's time with our partners and the government."
He said phase one of the facility will have a 1.4 million tonne output capacity per year, while phase two, involving an aluminium smelter, would add another 1.4 million tonne per year of alumina. No deadlines had been set for either phase.
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/05/18/OTQ3NjM%3D/Dubal_in_talk_with_India_for_alumina_project_in_Orissa.html
Mining – International
ESA to start coal mining project
Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) Holdings is set to start its coal mining project in August as the power utility positions itself to self-sustain coal deliveries to its Hwange Power Station, an official said.
In an interview with Sunday Business, ZESA chief executive officer, Engineer Ben Rafemoyo, said the power utility’s joint venture project with a yet to be named investor which also includes the expansion of Hwange Power Station (HPS) is expected to start in the next three months following the completion of most of the logistics.
“The project is nearing completion in terms of the governance and the joint venture is almost done.
“The project is not only about the mining of coal but we are focusing more of expanding HPS by additional generators which are seven and eight and we hope by August things will be happening,” Eng Rafemoyo said.
Early this year ZESA confirmed that it had found a financier for its long-term coal-mining project in Hwange’s Sinamatela and Western Area Coalfields reserves.
If the power utility manages to run eight units, HPS would be able to generate between 700 and 800 megawatts depending on the availability of sufficient coal deliveries from both the joint venture project and Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL).
Meanwhile, stage one of the refurbishment of HPS under the agreement between ZESA and NamPower is set for completion next month.
ZESA and NamPower signed an agreement in February 2007 to provide for loan financing by NamPower to the tune of US$40 million for the refurbishment of Hwange Power Station Stage One units (1 to 4) as well as the provision of a Power Purchase Agreement to underpin the investment made by NamPower.
“The refurbishment of units under phase one is almost complete with the last unit, unit two being targeted to be completed next in June.
“The two routers of the unit were taken to South Africa for repairs and balancing and we expect them to be delivered before the end of this month,” Eng Rafemoyo said.
When completed all the four units will inject 480 megawatts into the main electricity grid while the anticipated additional of two more big generators is expected to raise the output to 600 megawatts.
http://www.sundaynews.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=3489&cat=8
Illegal mining bleeds Dong Nai
(18-05-2009)
DONG NAI — Rich with sand, stone and soil, the southern province of Dong Nai is being drained of its natural wealth because of illegal exploitation.
According to the local Natural Resources and Environment Department, more than 100 mines are operating in the province, 30km east of HCM City.
Most of them contain hard minerals taken out as construction materials, including pozzolan, laterite stones and sand.
It is estimated that the province’s mines annually provide the market with around 2 million cubic metres of construction sand, 5 million cubic metres of construction stone, 2 million cubic metres of construction steel, 245,000 cubic metres of kaolinite, 75,000 tonnes of laterite stones, and more than 200,000 tonnes of pozzolan stones.
The actual number, however, is much higher as illegal exploiters are everywhere, seizing a remarkably large share, according to the department. Among them, sand and soil are the most illegally exploited.
Sand exploitation
With an abundant supply of fine sand, the Dong Nai River has been blacklisted as the hottest site for these illegal activities.
Duong Anh, vice chairman of the Dinh Quan District’s People’s Committee, said the district had fined only nine illegal sand mines and confiscated 1,240 cubic metres of sand.
"In fact, that confiscated amount is just like a drop in the ocean as cunning sand thieves often manage to trick authorities and thus avoid punishment," Anh said. "For instance, when being caught in the act and pursued, they often sink their boats."
Vinh Cuu District finds the fight against illegal sand exploitation even much more challenging as its river borders Binh Duong Province, enabling thieves to escape easily to the neighboring province.
Only a handful of violators were captured and fined last year in the district.
Deep holes
Long Thanh District is on its way of becoming a lowland dotted with deep holes as more and more of its surface earth has been removed by soil diggers.
The soil is then used to level construction sites.
Many areas of the district have gradually been turned into thousand-square-metre ponds.
Making use of the local authority’s loopholes and lack of awareness, illegal soil diggers have invaded further into Phuoc Tan, a remote commune of the district, and have already leveled many hills.
"It is incredible to learn that they can level a 20-metre-tall hill and dig 30 metres deeper for months without being discovered by the local authority," said an official of the department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The province has stopped licensing sand exploitation in rivers of many of its districts due to the serious consequences of erosion, which has altered the flow of the Dong Nai River’s current and deepened its streambed.
The department’s latest investigation found that the river is more than 20-metres deep.
Thieves continue to challenge the ban and mineral resources are exploited in an unplanned and unscientific way by the locals because fines are much smaller than earned profits.
"There were only 60 violators fined during the past three years, with a total amount of VND400 million (US$22,222).
Violations included breaching of exploitation plans, failure to submit periodic reports and lack of environmental supervision.
The fine amount is next to nothing compared to the potential profit. So there’s always a no-fear attitude," said Vo Van Chanh, the Dong Nai Natural Resource and Environment Department’s vice director. —VNS
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=07SOC180509
Mozambique, Australia sign coal mining contract
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Mozambican government and the Australian company Riversdale Mining on Friday signed a mining contract under which Riversdale will develop an open cast coal mine at Benga in Moatize district in the western province of Tete.
At the ceremony held at the Riversdale training center in Tete city, Minster of Mineral Resources Esperanca Bias also delivered the Benga Mining Concession Title to Riversdale Managing Director Steve Mallyon.
The government approved the concession and the contract at the beginning of this month.
Mallyon said Riverdale has so far invested 60 million U. S. dollars in preparatory work. The full investment in the mine is estimated at 800 million dollars.
He expected the production to begin in late 2010, with a yearly output of 20 million tons.
According to Mallyon, the output will include 30 percent of high quality coking coal, 30 percent thermal coal and 40 percent waste.
He expects mining to continue at Benga for at least 25.
"At Benga we are committed to building value for our shareholders in a way that impacts positively on the Tete community," Mallyon said, adding the mine would create 1,500 direct jobs and 4,500 indirect jobs.
Mallyon said Riversdale will take its social responsibilities to local communities seriously, pledging support for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Riversdale has already set HIV and malaria prevention programs into motion, in addition to support for local schools and health units, he said.
Besides Benga, Riversdale has 22 mining exploration licences in other parts of Tete province, where further major coal discoveries are likely. Mallyon said the company will further explore possibilities.
http://www.yourindustrynews.com/mozambique,+australia+sign+coal+mining+contract_32539.html
Tunlan mine blast exposes safety challenge
By Jianjun Tu
A methane blast at the Tunlan coal mine in Shanxi on February 22 killed 78 miners and the last body was not recovered until five days later.
China's numerous collieries, most of them township and village enterprises (TVEs), have long been the world's most deadly. Since the inception of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, official sources have put China's cumulative coal mining fatalities at more than 250,000, and independent estimates are much higher. While the official coal mining death tolls in 2008 were 3,210, a 54% drop compared with 6,995 in 2002, China's 2008 fatality rate of 1.182 deaths per million tonnes of coal mined means that the world's largest coal producer's safety standard still ags far behind the second largest one, the United States, by at least 55 years [1].
Due to the recent economic slowdown, China has been experiencing a potential coal surplus for the first time since the late 1990s, which should offer a long-awaited window of opportunity to address its safety challenge. Yet, the deadly Tunlan accident has revealed that the fundamental illness of China's safety governance mechanisms remains unscratched by scrutiny.
The Tunlan coal mine blast
Unlike most of China's coal mining accidents, the blast at Tunlan has nothing to do with TVE mines, which account for about one third of China's coal output, but 77% of its coal mining fatalities [2]. Instead, the Tunlan Mine boasts one of the best mining facilities in China. Its parent company, Shanxi Coking Coal Group (SCCG), is China's largest and the world's second-biggest coking coal producer.
Tunlan is not only the first SCCG mine to utilize fully mechanized mining equipment, but also the first colliery in the world to utilize the "Large Cross Section Supporting Technology", which is Tunlan's proprietary invention and won the first class prize of the National Technical Advancement Award.
Being a gaseous mine with fugitive methane emissions rate at about 20 cubic meters per tonne of coal mined, Tunlan has installed a highly efficient ventilation system, and utilized coal bed methane to fuel its boilers. Many of Tunlan's dedicated underground inspectors are equipped with state-of-the-art methane detectors, which further eliminate the possibility of explosion. Since 2004, Tunlan has prided itself for zero mining fatalities. Not only were Chinese officials surprised by the bloody explosion at one of the country's best collieries; many survivors were caught tragically unprepared.
Another unique quality of the Tunlan blast rests on how the accident was covered by the Chinese media, regarded as the propaganda machine of the state and ruling party. While the reporting of major catastrophes is a sensitive topic under heavy government control, the Chinese media nevertheless have become increasingly critical toward coal mining accidents.
The authorities classified the country's most deadly coal mine accident, at Laobaidong, in Shanxi, in 1960, which killed 682 miners, as a "state secret"; it was eventually disclosed by China Coal Post in 1998 [3]. On July 17, 2001, when 81 coal miners died in an inundation accident in Nandang County, courageous reporters working for Yangcheng Evening News and other media risked their lives to get the story for the outside world [4].
Yet, in recent years, Chinese media has become less critical on sensitive topics, which is especially evident in the news coverage of Tunlan blast.
Drivers underlying the catastrophe
Though the February 22 blast happened at a state-owned mine, the most important contributing factor is the authorities' inability to develop an effective strategy to manage China's TVE mines. After China was opened to the outside world in 1979, state-owned mines were unable to meet burgeoning demand due to heavy welfare obligations to their bloated workforces and retirees.
Beijing was forced to allow private investment into the coal industry. In 1991, the number of TVE mines reached an astonishing 100,000, and the share of coal production by TVE mines grew to 46% in 1997 from 17% in 1979 [5], which soon led to problems such as tax evasion, environmental degradation and mounting accidents.
In the late 1990s, lured by a temporary coal surplus, Beijing launched a national campaign to close TVE mines. Since then, China's coal industry has been a love-and-hate relationship between state and private enterprises: 1) with governmental favoritism, state-owned mines expanded rapidly; 2) Beijing ordered targets for TVE mines' closure; 3) fearing loss of tax revenues and often personal gains, local officials quietly resisted Beijing's orders, and many TVE mines that were supposed to be closed still secretly operate; 4) the burgeoning economy needed much more coal than state enterprises could meet, and Beijing realized it had no choice but to loosen permit requirements; and 5) TVE mines flourished in the market again.
Though TVE mines are the de facto swing producer in the Chinese coal market, with a critical role to meet any shortfall between domestic demand and what state-owned mines can produce, their contribution to the Chinese economy has been intentionally downplayed in the past.
Instead, TVE mines are the easiest targets whenever it becomes necessary to point fingers. Because the number of TVE mines is being reduced to 10,000 by 2010, the private coal mining industry as a whole has no incentive to make long-term investments to improve mines safety. Overproduction (typically 150% to 300% of design capacity) and falsification of death tolls whenever possible are the norms. While TVE mines are the weakest link of China's coal industry, many state-owned mines are expanding at breakneck pace and often produce much more than they should without adequate safety margins.
To solve its safety challenge, Guangdong, one of the most developed provinces and a major coal consumer in China, shut down all collieries within its geographic boundary in 2005. Though undeniably effective, such an administrative decision not only deeply hurt the interests of all stakeholders in Guangdong's coal industry and wasted indigenous resources, but also put extra pressure on China's over-loaded transportation infrastructure. In addition, the subsequent transferring of sizable death tolls from a wealthy coastal province to much poorer hinterland areas such as Shanxi is also morally questionable.
Similarly, in the wake of the Chinese Spring Festival, annual sessions of people's congresses, and people's political consultative conferences, TVE mines have been closed across the country just for the sake of political sensitivity.
In January 2009, though China's national coal output declined by 11% on a year-over-year basis, production by key state-owned mines actually grew by 12% on a similar basis [6]. As a result, many state-owned mines were operating beyond their safety margins in early 2009.
Though Tunlan's annual capacity was retrofitted from 4.0 to 5.0 million tonnes in 2005, an anonymous source cited 4.0 million tonnes as Tunlan's optimal output level, and 4.5 million tonnes as its safety threshold, beyond which equipment overcapacity and worker fatigue would make its operations prone to accidents. In 2008, Tunlan produced 4.62 millions tonnes of coal, which already exceeded the alleged threshold, so whether the extensive TVE mine closures early this year has encouraged Tunlan to operate beyond its safety margin is a legitimate question that deserves attention during the accident investigation.
The heavy death tolls at Tunlan are also a direct result of the low productivity of China's coal industry. Considered to be one of China's best collieries, Tunlan is actually not exceptional in this regard and as many as 436 miners were crowding its tunnels when the blast occurred.
To counter individual accidents that were causing heavy fatalities, the Shanxi government in 2005 put limits on the number of miners allowed to work at an underground colliery in accordance with its design capacity. For a 0.09 million tonne mine, the maximum number of allowable miners is 29. For a 0.9 million tonne mine, the limit is set at 99, instead of 290, because of the expected economy of scale [7]. Given Tunlan's design capacity of 5 million tonnes, 436 underground miners at one shift do not even meet the expected minimum productivity standard implied by Shanxi government's 2005 regulation.
To make matters worse, both Tunlan's investment on safety equipment and emergency training for its miners are insufficient. When the blast occurred, Tunlan's methane alarm system did not set off a signal. While the accident at Tunlan was a localized methane explosion, the number of miners that were directly killed was not so high. Yet if the evacuation had been implemented under an ideal scenario (for example, well-trained miners with adequate protection), the final death toll would have been far less than the actual level.
Unfortunately, many first-round survivors still had no clue what had happened even after they were ordered to evacuate; some did not at first wear their self-rescue equipment. For those who remembered such a procedure, several of them were reported to have fainted when they rushed through the mine shaft. As a result of such a messy evacuation, all 340 miners evacuated from the mine showed symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Of 114 miners hospitalized, 11 died and 26 were found to be in critical conditions.
To further complicate the matter, the lack of qualified employees is endemic to China's coal industry. Low incomes, highly undesirable work conditions and negative exposure in the Chinese media make it extremely difficult for Chinese collieries to attract and retain qualified employees, which creates a shortage of the expertise required to raise mine safety standards.
According to the Safety Training Center of the SCCG, more than 80% of Tunlan's trained safety inspectors, arguably the most important position for safety operations, only received middle school education, and none of them has a college or higher level degree [8]. As Tunlan is actually one of the best state-owned collieries in China, the picture of staff qualification is far bleaker for other coal mining enterprises, especially China's numerous TVE mines.
Is there a way out?
Given the large size of operating collieries in China, Beijing's efforts to reduce the number of operating mines is legitimate. Yet, instead of blindly closing coal mines whenever a major accident happens in the adjacent region or just for the sake of avoiding political sensitivity, the authorities should take each mine's unique conditions into consideration even if a safety rectification campaign is necessary.
At present, Beijing plans to reduce the number of "small mines" (a politically correct terminology for TVE mines) to 10,000 by 2010. At the same time, shutting down a coal mine based solely on its capacity is not only unfair for small collieries that strive to meet safety standards but also encourages more to operate illegally across the country, which will have a detrimental impact on the accounting methods used in calculating Chinese coal statistics.
TVE mines are widely regarded as the black sheep of China's coal industry, and private colliery owners are often portrayed by the media as rude, self-aggrandizing and tax-evading upstarts. Yet, since 1978, TVE mines have provided more than 35% of China's cumulative coal output to fuel China's burgeoning economy [9], and have become an indispensable part of China's energy sector.
They were always Beijing's last resort whenever a coal supply shortage occurred due to the flexibility of their operations. As a result of the extremely complex geological structure of China's coal resources, a large portion of Chinese coal deposits are only suitable for small-scale underground mining operations. Without a reasonable presence of private enterprises, the level of competition required for long-term healthy development of China's coal mining industry cannot be ensured.
Further, TVE mines are important taxpayers in many coal-producing regions, they employ large number of migrant workers, and are important to China's social stability. Not only the governmental favoritism towards state-owned mines needs to be reconsidered, the indispensable role of TVE mines to the Chinese economy should also be formally recognized.
The most formidable measurement imposed by Beijing regarding safety management so far may be the "The Safety Framework Governing Resignation of Responsible Officials". Meng Xuelong, the former governor of Shanxi, was the first provincial cadre in China to resign under such a safety framework after a major mining-related accident in September 2008. Following Meng's resignation, Beijing appointed Wang Jun, the former director of the State Administration of Work Safety, as the acting governor of Shanxi. While Wang Jun's political ascendancy in Shanxi has shown Beijing's determination to reign in China's chaotic coal industry, the Tunlan blast nevertheless demonstrates that the "top-down" punitive measurements used toward government officials alone are insufficient to solve China's mounting safety challenges.
As the Chinese economy becomes increasingly market-oriented, Beijing should adopt an alternative approach that can be described as "enforceable sticks with sufficient carrots". While punitive measurements for safety violation are an indispensable component to solve China's safety challenges, enforceability should be a prerequisite for introducing such enactment.
For instance, introducing overly ambitious targets (for example, TVE mine closures) is a very counterproductive practice that should be avoided. More importantly, a legal and taxation environment featuring transparency and stability should be nurtured to create a fair playground for all coal enterprises, especially TVE mines. Only if such types of carrots are made available can sufficient resources in the private coal mining industry be directed towards safety investment and long-term growth instead of attention being spent on beating around the rules and colluding with local officials.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/KE19Cb01.html
Fresh government delay in revision of mining laws ’Consultations’ still going on, official quoted as saying
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
The government has come under fire for unexplained delays in tabling a much-awaited bill intended to make key changes to the country’s mining sector legislation.
’’I don’t know exactly what has stalled this bill. In fact, even changes to the existing national mining policy have not been concluded, and we have not received any feedback from the government,’’ parliamentary energy and minerals committee chairman William Shellukindo told THISDAY in an interview.
Responding to international media reports that the government is still consulting with various stakeholders including mining companies and the Tanzania Chamber of Mines before tabling the bill, Shellukindo said his Bunge watchdog committee has not been given any explanation for the delay.
’’The tabling of the new mining bill is not even in the schedule of the upcoming parliamentary session,’’ added the committee chairman, who is legislator for Bumbuli constituency on a CCM ticket.
An official with the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Development has been quoted by the Dow Jones Newswires service as saying the government is now in the process of finalizing its consultations with the various stakeholders, before going ahead with the tabling of the bill.
The minister, William Ngeleja, was initially due to introduce the bill during the last National Assembly session in Dodoma, back in February.
Last month (April), the Tanzania Chamber of Mines issued a warning to government not to raise taxes, saying such a move could deter further investment in the key sector.
The Dow Jones Newswires report also quoted Teweli Teweli, spokesman for Barrick Gold Tanzania Limited - the country’s largest mining investor company � as saying the government had not consulted the said stakeholders about proposed changes to the laws.
The government has proposed taking 10 per cent stakes in the country’s numerous gold mines, removing tax breaks and incentives, and increasing royalties for the sector.
The proposed amendments to the country’s mining legislation follow recommendations made by a presidential mining sector review committee chaired by former Judge Mark Bomani.
Tanzania’s mining sector is dominated by gold mining, with the country now ranked as Africa’s third-leading gold producer after Ghana and South Africa.
The nation’s annual gold output is expected to hit 2 million ounces this year, compared with 1.75 million ounces last year, following the commissioning of the Buzwagi Gold Mine in Shinyanga region last month.
Apart from the Canadian-headquartered Barrick Gold Corp., other international mining companies operating in Tanzania include Australia-based Resolute Limited and South Africa-based Anglo Gold Ashanti Limited.
Minister Ngeleja was yesterday not immediately available to confirm exactly when the government intends to table the proposed amendments to the mining sector legislation.
The shadow minister for energy and minerals in parliament, Habib Juma Mnyaa (Mkanyageni-CUF), was like Shellukindo also critical of the government for the delay in tabling the new mining bill.
The opposition lawmaker said he was puzzled as to why the government was dilly-dallying on the matter.
’’I don’t know what’s going on. There are a lot of delays in the implementation of important decisions in this ministry (of energy and minerals),’’ he told THISDAY by phone from Pemba Island.
Mnyaa, who is also a member of the parliamentary energy and minerals committee, said legislators are sure to seek answers from the government on this particular delay.
’’We haven’t received any feedback from the government. Our committee will start holding its pre-budget meetings on May 25, and we will ask the government for an explanation,’’ he said.
The Clerk of the National Assembly, Dr Thomas Kashililah, confirmed to THISDAY that the government is yet to submit the mining bill to his office for tabling in parliament.
A scathing independent report titled ’A Golden Opportunity? � How Tanzania is Failing to Benefit from Gold Mining’ highlights the inherent problems in Tanzania’s mining sector regime, where foreign-owned mines continue to post record gold production figures, but pay minimal taxes.
The 2008 report estimated that the combined loss to the country over the past seven years, as a result of low royalty rates, unpaid corporation taxes, and tax evasion by major gold mines, amounts to a staggering $400 million (approx. 500bn/-).
The report also noted that the concentration of gold mining activities in the hands of large multinational companies, at the expense of small-scale artisan miners, has left at least 400,000 people out of work in the country.
http://www.thisday.co.tz/News/5769.html
Coal and iron ore contract win
The contracts are with customers including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, with the majority of the contracts are in central Queensland.
In a first for the company, Monadelphous will be working on two dragline shutdowns for BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) at its Blackwater coal mine in the Bowen Basin in central Queensland.
company has been awarded a contract to fabricate and construct a radial stacker for BMA’s Peak Downs coal mine.
In Gladstone, central Queensland, Monadelphous has been awarded a package of work to install an Automated Alumina Delivery System and associated infrastructure as part of Rio Tinto’s Boyne Smelter Development Project.
The company has also received a notice of award from Rio Tinto for construction of a Coal Handling Preparation Plant (CHPP) and associated coal handling plant as part of its Clermont Mine Project.
In Western Australia, Monadelphous has been awarded a contract with BHP Billiton Iron Ore for structural and mechanical pre-works at Nelson Point as part of its Rapid Growth Project 6.
All projects are scheduled for completion in the second half of calendar 2009, except for the work at Boyne Smelter which at this stage is expected to end in second half of calendar 2010.
http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/Article/Coal-and-iron-ore-contract-win/481718.aspx
The mining proposal and the return of the Mummy
Ken Krall , Commentator
Published 05/17/2009 - 10:20 p.m. CST
There have been many stories about the dead coming back to life. Jane Loudon published a novel in 1827 called The Mummy, about the year 2126 in England where society had become technologically advanced, but morally bankrupt. Scientists were able to bring to life an Egyptian mummy who tries to redo the mistakes of the past, but things don't work out.
Spring is also a time of rebirth. But this spring, like the Mummy in Loudon's book, a mining company has returned to ask Oneida county for permission to explore for minerals at an abandoned site in the Town of Lynne in western Oneida County. I cringed a bit. I'm not here to debate whether mining should or shouldn't happen in the Northwoods. Rather I'm going to discuss the anticipated swirl of controversy that always results from mining in Wisconsin.
Mining perspective
A little history: northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula have riches in the granite. Copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver all have been found in varying amounts in specific places.
The most well-known, the Forest county deposit near Crandon, was purchased Oct. 28, 2003, by the neighboring Forest County Potawatomi and the Mole Lake Sakaogon Chippewa Communities from the last in a long line of minerals developers, most notably beginning with Exxon in the 1970s. The tribes said they would not develop the site.
About 1990, Noranda Minerals looked at two sites in Oneida county, both on county forest land: one in Enterprise, and a much larger deposit, now said to be seven million tons, in the town of Lynne.
The Enterprise site turned out smaller than Noranda wanted to profitably mine, so they focused on Lynne. Opposition mounted from a wide variety of interests to an open pit mine situated that close to the relatively pristine Willow River-Flowage.
Noranda pulled out in 1993, citing a dispute with the Wisconsin DNR and its permitting process as a main contributor to the decision. Earlier, an open pit mine at Flambeau further north was permitted by the DNR and operated from 1993 to 1997.
Mining brought out the best and worst from the public, and best and worst are clearly defined by your point of view. Some groups that often don't like each other find common ground (no pun intended) in either supporting or condemning mining. It creates much news copy, but like the Mummy coming back after a long time, I'm not sure we want to go through the process to the same degree all over again.
New, or same-old same-old?
On May 7, Tamerlane Ventures of Blaine, Washington, made the initial overture to an Oneida county committee about their Lynne site. Tamerlane's CEO Ross Burns told the committee they wanted permission to sample the Lynne site to see what it contains, then report back to see if it's what they want to pursue.
The process begins in Oneida county, but ultimately could be determined by the 800-pound gorilla not overly visible in the room that day: the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
A couple of things struck me as odd about the overture. Tamerlane acted like the Town of Lynne sight was just recently discovered by them and they were approaching it like Dorothy coming to the magical kingdom of Oz. They said they weren't going to consider an open pit mine this time, but "new technologies" (also claimed by other mining companies in other attempts) would enable the underground extraction of minerals.
Burns said this approach would (his claim) be more environmentally friendly. Noranda certainly is a competitor of Tamerlane's, so getting their info would probably not be possible.
But somewhere in the deep, dusty archives at the DNR offices in Madison there's likely a booty of public information gathered from Noranda's exploration attempts. How much would have changed that hasn't already changed since the Ice Age? Admittedly, the underground approach will need new research.
I called the DNR office in Madison to get their perspective, and they supposedly hadn't heard about Tamerlane's request in Oneida county's forest land. I did an interview about what the process would be should Tamerlane decide to go forward, and it was said to take five to seven years.
While many of you know I like public input, how many times do you need public hearings? The DNR guy said there would be many public hearings, taking years, along with many studies. Unlike the 1990s process, the Internet today provides plenty of instant input if you so desire. Didn't we do this process before?
Mining hearings redux
During the last mining merry go-round, anyone who enjoys observing people had a bounty to see. The mining opponents came from far and wide, along with local opponents. The message was universal: metallic mining is bad for the environment. It is, but the question should be, how bad?
One time on a computer message board, an opponent was ripping a proposal to build a new power line in Wisconsin and also threw in an anti-mining plug as well. I reminded her that the electricity she was using helped produce the need for the power line she opposed, and the metal used in the computer she was keyboarding came from somewhere, possibly Malaysia, where there are virtually no mining rules. She moved to the area to “get back to nature,” but even her modest footprint produced some kind of need for electricity and metal. With growth comes consequences, regardless of whether you consider yourself separate from the problem.
On the other hand, the environmentalists correctly point out the disasters left behind for the locals to clean up and deal with for generations. These are not imagined disasters, but very real, as some in Canadian and Upper Peninsula communities point out. That the pit at some point might have produced acid runoff near the Wolf River at Crandon was an obstacle the mining companies couldn't overcame.
Mining proponents show off the Flambeau Mine as a successful example of reclamation, while opponents point out maybe not yet – there could be future problems to contend with.
Then there's the groundwater contamination issue. The mining companies say they can seal the pollution away, opponents say it might happen in the short term but probably not long term. Throw out an issue, and you get passionate and logical arguments on both sides.
Tamerlane representatives went out of their way to be friendly during the initial session, and quite frankly, from where I sat, appeared to be a bit like deer caught in the headlights of a nearly full county board room and a number of media representatives on hand. Maybe many of the people in the room had been through this before?
The Tribal factor
Some prior mining companies came to town with a bit of a sneer on their faces, as if the high and mighty corporate execs could deal with the hicks. It didn't turn out to be so easy. They especially underestimated the legal power of the Native American tribes.
Fred Ackley from Mole Lake got up at the Tamerlane Ventures hearing to say he and others would speak for the fish, birds and animals who can't testify at a public hearing. He also reminded the committee that since the Noranda and Crandon attempts, both Mole Lake and the Potawatomi communties have gotten federal Class One water and air rights, respectively.
In short, even though not directly near Mole Lake, the pollution produced in Lynne could affect them and he offered the committee his experiences from the Crandon mine.
About 25 miles away, the Lac du Flambeau community would be the closest to the proposed mine site and has received federal Clean Water designations.
Some of the mining companies in the prior attempts acted like the pig farmer who wants to construct a pig farm on a lake. It was their land, they said (in Crandon it was; in Lynne it's county land), and their property rights allowed them to use it. That is true, but the pig farmer on the lake didn't realize that what he did with his land affected the neighbors, property rights or not.
Weighing the pros, the cons
The “Not In My Back Yard” factor is also present. Most people can oppose or favor something until they see development close to them they don't like. I've seen rock-ribbed conservatives go nuts about some project near them that might affect their property, even though in the past they've triumphed free enterprise.
The mining companies always talk about the high-paying jobs mining brings, and that is true while the mine is open. But the jobs tend to go once the mine closes.
Cleanup from problems also is a factor. The firms have to leave a large pool of money behind to help pay for potential cleanups, but it isn't hard to see that fund would be quickly depleted should something go amiss.
Oneida County, and most Wisconsin counties, are in the midst of a budgetary crunch caused by a federal government short on cash, who pushes that problem to the states, who ultimately pushes the shortage to the counties.
The offer of "new money" from a mine will likely be very attractive to shrinking county coffers. Also attractive is the idea of plain old jobs, something that in the recession can't be downplayed.
New jobs in the area will have a positive affect on many other businesses. People in northern Wisconsin and the U.P. need work, and those with jobs saying we don't need that work up here might want to switch roles and see if they see it in the same way.
But opponents point out the jobs received might not offset the potential loss. More people requires more money for schools, law enforcement and other services, and those costs have to be factored in.
Shortening the process
I'm wondering if conditions aren't right for the Tamerlane Ventures proposal to be decided in a quicker way than was experienced in the past. The county committee referred the matter to another committee and I could see the long, drawn-out process beginning again. Years of posturing by dozens of groups, contentious meetings, nasty attacks.
Some creative thinking on all sides might bring a decision sooner than five to seven years. Don't the many sides of this issue deserve a decision by the DNR sooner than that? Much of the material is already a known item, and the new proposals certainly can't take that long to examine and comment.
As I was leaving the county board room, a person who had been around during the decades-long mining controversies caught my eye. "Here we go again," he said, and I nodded.
While spring is a time to set the clocks forward and move on, it appears the Mummy is coming back to life, and we could well be springing back to the future.
http://www.newsofthenorth.net/article/Columnists/Krall_Space/The_mining_proposal_and_the_return_of_the_Mummy/24830
Churchill Mining more than doubles East Kutai Coal Project resource to 3.18 billion tonnes
by Ian Mclelland
Not surprisingly, shares in Churchill Mining (AIM:CHL) were marked up at the start of trading this morning after the company announced a whopping increase in the size of the global resource at its 75% owned East Kutai Coal Project in Indonesia’s coal district.
The total resource at East Kutai now stands at 3.18 billion tonnes of medium calorific coal, more than double the previous update of 1.4 billion tonnes. The resource is based 40,900 metres of drilling, with a substantial portion of the drilling focused on the north-eastern areas of the Investama Resources Block and north-western areas of the Ridlatama Tambang Mineral Block.
The revised figure is unimaginably large, but other coal companies provide helpful context. For example, the well-known undeveloped Phulbari coal resource in Bangladesh totalled 572 million tonnes; Western Canadian Coal’s resource inventory with three producing mines totals just 158 million tonnes.
The revised resource estimate now qualifies East Kutai as one of the largest undeveloped coal projects in Indonesia, and places the project into the same league as the 3.3 billion tonne Pakar deposit, which came into production last year and is only 55 kilometres south-west of Churchill’s project. Unofficial Indonesian estimates put Churchill’s likely resource at 4 billion tonnes.
Churchill Mining noted that the new resource exceeds the company’s own initial target of 500 million tonnes by more than 600%, and yet the company has only drilled approximately 30% of the licence area. The additional resources will be upgraded to JORC compliant categories “within a month”.
East Kutai’s coal is defined as medium calorific with low sulphur and ash content and moderate moisture, i.e. good quality thermal coal that needs no washing.
Churchill Mining also confirmed that it recently obtained its approvals and mining licenses for the East Kutai Coal Project from the Indonesian Government.
“Given the potential world-class size of the EKCP resource, that the project now has the scale to be of strategic value to major Asian power groups – particularly those in Indonesia, India and China,” the company stated. “Due to the large size of the deposit, Churchill has focused its mine and infrastructure planning to create a bulk mining operation producing up to 20 million tonnes of coal per annum. The Company has also set a new JORC reserve target of 500 million tonnes to support this production level; the original target was 150 million tonnes.”
Paul Mazak, MD of Churchill said the new resource catapulted the company to a new level: “The new EKCP global resource catapults Churchill Mining to a new level in the coal mining industry in Indonesia. This result confirms our first impression since we started drilling in Kalimantan, that Churchill has discovered a huge new coal system which ultimately will have a significant strategic value to power providers who require big volumes of coal supply. The Company continues to actively engage energy groups with large balance sheets to progress our plans to mine this large resource.”
http://proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/5685/-churchill-mining-more-than-doubles-east-kutai-coal-project-resource-to-318-billion-tonnes-5685.html
Other News – India
No trimming of wage rates under NREGA
Gunjan Pradhan Sinha Posted: Monday , May 18, 2009 at 0002 hrs IST
New Delhi:
The government is in no mood to pare the wage rates under its flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme despite the strain on the exchequer, due to substantial hikes in minimum wages by states during the last two years and concerns that higher wage rates led to ineffective targeting.
States revise their minimum wages periodically, and as many as eight states increased their minimum wages substantially in 2007-08. Some, like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, almost doubled it to Rs 100 a day from Rs 58. This had led to an escalation in the budget and also criticism that even households that were not really below poverty line (BPL) were queuing up for jobs under NREGA.
“The Minimum Wage Act is already in place and states notify wage rates. The Centre had decided not to fix the minimum wage earlier since states knew the local economy and were better placed to fix wage rates,” Rural Development secretary Rita Sharma told The Indian Express.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/No-trimming-of-wage-rates-under-NREGA/461367
UK-India project to study climate change in Orissa
Express News Service
First Published : 18 May 2009 11:39:55 AM IST
Last Updated : 18 May 2009 11:51:20 AM IST
BHUBANESWAR: The United Kingdom and India have decided to take up a regional project in Orissa to assess climate change impact and vulnerability and develop adaptation options for agriculture, forestry
, water resources and heatwave conditions.
Of late, climate change has seriously affected livelihood, water and food availability, economy of the marginalised resulting in migration and a lot of other issues in several parts of India. However, the current prolonged heatwave conditions in the State might be due to climate change and it calls for a major research to find out the reasons.
The project for Orissa to be carried out by Winrock International, India, will thus be based on finding various reasons of extreme climate changes in the State and how to tackle them in future.
A similar project on vulnerability and adaptation assessment due to climate change will also be carried out by Delhi-based Development Alternatives in Madhya Pradesh.
The two nations have announced five new projects to assess the potential impact of climate change in India and to undertake regional projects to identify and develop adaptation strategies. This was announced at the first ‘‘Indo-UK Programme on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation-Phase II’’ workshop in New Delhi recently.
This is the second phase of a collaborative research programme that follows a major assessment of the impact of climate change on India, carried out by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
This programme assessed the impact of climate change on water resources, agriculture, forests, industry, sea-level and human health.
The projects in the second phase will develop improved scenarios to predict the impact of climate change for India up to 2050. They will look at the impact of climate change nationally on water resources, agriculture and forestry, and the socio-economic effects of climate extremes and explore linkages between these sectors. The UK has committed 500,000 pounds for the second phase of the study.
Speaking at the workshop, David Warrilow, Head of Climate Science and International Evidence, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the UK, said, ‘‘Climate change will pose increasing threats across the world. India, along with many developing countries, is particularly vulnerable to changing patterns of rainfall, including droughts and floods and other extreme events. These regional projects will help India to assess the risks of climate and develop adaptation strategies.’’
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=UK-India+project+to+study+climate+change+in+Orissa&artid=FwplZ2Ip2Oo=&SectionID=mvKkT3vj5ZA=&MainSectionID=oHSKVfNWYm0=&SectionName=nUFeEOBkuKw=&SEO=UK,%20Orissa,%20India
Poorest countries unprepared for impacts of climate change
18 May 2009, 0758 hrs IST, IANS
LONDON: The world's poorest nations are unprepared for the strain climate change will put on their public health systems, according to studies by
the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and its partners.
The findings came ahead of a major summit of health ministers from Commonwealth nations in Geneva that began Sunday. They show that in the most vulnerable countries very little has been done to assess or address the threats climate change poses to health, said Mike Shanahan, spokesman of the London-based IIED.
Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in IIED's climate change group, said: "This in part reflects a failure of wealthy nations to meet promises to help the poorer nations adapt to climate change".
The studies found that health systems in many of the least developed countries are already stretched to breaking point dealing with immediate concerns such as malaria and other infectious diseases.
There has been minimal research into how climate change will affect health and what can be done to reduce the threat, leaving hundreds of millions of people uninformed about the dangers.
A study in Zambia showed that floods and droughts can increase disease levels in some areas by as much as 400 percent. Dysentery appears to increase with drought, while pneumonia and malaria increase with rainfall.
"Zambia is vulnerable to droughts, floods, extreme heat and shifts in rainy season length," said George Kasali of Energy and Environmental Concerns for Zambia, who carried out the study in the country.
"Almost all of these climate hazards will have a negative effect on health. Despite the increased frequency of these hazards in the last decade, Zambia has not yet developed any climate-informed policies for the health sector."
"There is very little awareness of the potential impact of climate change on human health within health sectors in the least developed countries," said Hannah Reid, a senior researcher in IIED's climate change group.
"There have been very few assessments of how climate change will affect food security, access to water, flood risks and diseases such as malaria."
Huq said rich countries must provide funds to help poorer nations adapt to climate change. "Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, rich countries promised back in 2001 to support poor countries in their efforts to adapt.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Developmental-Issues/Poorest-countries-unprepared-for-impacts-of-climate-change/articleshow/4545064.cms
Climate Change Threatens Coral Reefs and Livelihoods
Climate change is threatening the existence of coral reefs which threatens the livelihoods of millions, especially in the region.
According to a report by Radio New Zealand International, 'a new scientific report says that around 100 million people risk losing their homes and livelihoods unless drastic steps are taken to protect the coral reefs of the Southeast Asia/Pacific region'.
According to the report, University of Queensland researchers say that these reefs could be wiped out in coming decades because of climate change, threatening the livelihoods of many communities in countries like PNG and Solomon Islands.
The group has presented its study at the World Ocean Conference, citing 300 published scientific studies and 20 climate change experts.
It told the conference there's a critical need for action to be taken, including an 80 per cent cut in global carbon emissions by 2050, to save the marine ecosystem.
The issue is a critical one for the region where people depend on the sea for food, especially nations in the region that are made up of atolls.
Meanwhile, according to news from the Conference, the leaders of Coral Triangle Six Countries signed The Coral Triangle Initiative Leaders Declaration on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security in Manado, where the conference was held. It concluded on Friday.
The aim of the leaders of Indonesia, the Philippines, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Malaysia is to ensure a brighter future for the peoples of the Coral Triangle that is a moral obligation to care for the greatest wealth of marine life on the planet, to nurture these animals, plants and ecosystems.
http://solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=4006
Rights of indigenous Filipinos discussed today at UN forum
May 18, 2009, 10:30am
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) will discuss today the implementation of the UN declaration on human rights, seeking to safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of an estimated 18 million indigenous Filipinos.
Eugenio Insigne, the first Filipino tribal leader elected as UNPFII member, said in the convention, beginning May 18 and ending May 29, the Philippine delegation will hold a dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on human rights situation and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples.
Included in the 11-day old forum is UNPFII’s comprehensive dialogue with six other UN agencies and funds appropriations, said Insigne, also chairman of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
Insigne, a member of the Tinguian tribe of Abra, said UNPFII’s other agenda includes the election of its officers, follow-up on its recommendations on economic and social development; indigenous women; and the declaration of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
“It also includes discussions on the future work of the UNPFII, including issues of the economic and social council and other emerging issues,” the NCIP chairman said.
UNPFII is advisory body to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) which discusses indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.
Insigne is representing the Asia and Pacific Region in the UNPFII from January 9, 2009 up to December 31, 2010 replacing China’s representative, Xiamei Qin.
Insigne has been actively involved in the indigenous people’s struggle for most of his adult life, working with organizations such as director of the Cordillera Tribal Communities Development Forum Foundation and served as general counsel of the Binongan Tribal Foundation.
A former city prosecutor of Valenzuela City, he was also former president of the Tribal Lawyers Assembly of the Philippines and was a member of the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army-Cordillera Bodong Administrative Negotiating Panel in the 1986 Cordillera Talks. The NCIP is in charge of protecting the legal and historical rights of an estimated 18 million indigenous peoples belonging to 110 ethno-linguistic groups that constitute 17 percent of the Philippine population. (Chai Luci)
http://www.mb.com.ph/node/200982
Ghana: Government & the Millennium Development Goals
Last Updated: Monday, 18 May 2009, 2:12 GMT Previous Page
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), founded on the 2000 Millennium Declaration, itself a document endorsed by nearly every government on Earth, have found their way into almost all the international agreements governing the flow of development aid and support throughout the global system.
Here in Ghana, MDGs are embedded into the Growth & Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) - the successor to the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy I (GPRS I) -, the country's medium-term guiding-post to development (2006 - 2009). The GPRS II is in turn the basis of such international development initiatives as the HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Country), eHIPC (enhanced HIPC), and MDRI (Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative). The same MDG-inspired plan also underlies bilateral initiatives such as the Millennium Challenge Account program in Ghana, funded by the United States.
Note that these "development initiatives" are on the above account legally binding agreements under international law, backed as they are by multilateral or bilateral treaties. In that sense, the MDGs and GPRS mechanisms have also attained legal-mandatory effect on Government of Ghana. Which is further to say that the flexibility of a government to reorder our development priorities at will is open only to the extent that it is also willing to undertake the onerous, complex, and time-consuming process of widespread consultations with local and international stakeholders to revise the GPRS frameworks, but even so it will be constrained by the thinking and philosophy behind the MDGs.
Two issues immediately arise, which are best treated separately but not necessarily at the same time. The first is that this reality mocks the rancour of partisan politics in this country: there is a "general consensus" amongst the policy making elite about "what" needs to be done in this country, but the "how" details are much too complex for the political platform and so in substitute of the hair-splitting debates that occur in other parts of the world our political class has embraced the artificial animosity of scandal mongering. All the bluster notwithstanding, there isn't much at the "strategic level" they can do different from each other, except to tinker and embroider with the inner lining of implementation, and give grand meaning to the jingle, "May the better Manager win!"
The second issue, which we address in this article, is that the MDGs are much too important to be treated like holy cows, that is: to be left undisturbed on the pastures of cowering complacency and talked about in hushed tones. However we look at it, the fact remains that we are tied to the apron strings of donors because for half a century we have preferred to talk about "structural transformation" rather than to work consistently at it. And these donors swear by the MDGs.
Whether it is the IMF's Poverty Reduction & Growth Strategy, from which we were kicked out in 2002, readmitted in 2003 after a doubling of petrol retail prices, and weaned off by Government of Ghana's commitment to create "fiscal space"; or the so-called Exogenous Shocks Facility, which it would seem our 6-man delegation to the World Bank - IMF Spring Conference have been eyeing for a while now; the MDGs remain the driving logic of eligibility.
So we need to look a bit more closely at these 8 statements of action.
Here is the list of MDGs.
1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and hunger (Sample Target/Indicator: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the number of people whose income is less than $1 a day)
2. Education: Achieve Universal Primary Education.
3. Gender equality: Promote Gender Equality & Empower Women.
4. Reduce Child mortality: (Sample Target: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.)
5. Improve Maternal health: (Sample Target: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.)
6. AIDS and other diseases: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases (Sample Target: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.)
7. Ensure Environmental sustainability
8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development
The first criticism of the MDGs framework is its internal incoherence in crucial ways, which affects measurement and therefore monitoring, evaluation and benchmarking against other policy measures.
Our own version of this criticism is principally based on the classical formulation by Attaran, Easterly and other empirical investigators who have looked at the goals within the context of their saliency in measuring progress in development. Professor Easterly for instance suggests that while the goals look perfectly sound from a global perspective, they can yield perverse insights at the country level. We are however mindful of Ghana-specific factors and therefore shapes our analysis in a manner that converts the generic criticism into a highly relevant Ghana-focused assessment.
The first goal
Take the first goal for instance: halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 in comparison with 1990. This is a relative measurement. In Ghana, as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, poverty rates were very high in 1990. To require a reduction of 50% is therefore to require a growth rate in per capita income much higher than meeting the same target would require in a region, such as Western Asia, that in 1990 had a significantly lower level of prevalence. When the effect of higher population growth (which dilutes per capita income growth) is also factored in, the GDP growth requirements for meeting the goal begin to look unrealistic. The danger here is that the goal seems set up to make Africa fail. Thus, despite almost feverish growth in many places on the continent this decade (until very recently), the MDGs still paint a picture of an Africa that is stagnant. Such an impression undermines both FDI (foreign direct investment) and technology transfer, which are the two critical inflows that transformed the Asian tigers of popular imagination.
Where it is not the goal that is designed without regard to region-specific characteristics, it is the choice of indicator. Take gender equity, for instance. Ghana's performance according to MDG3 has worsened because the number of female parliamentarians has fallen. Yet, many analysts will argue that concerning gender equity generally the reverse is the case. Government of Ghana is living up to stated intentions by appointing more women to executive decision making level than ever before. The Judiciary is likewise enjoying an era of feminine empowerment, with the appointment of the first female Chief Justice in the country's history. Indeed, the Legislature, the source of Ghana's negative ratings on MDG3, has paradoxically elected the first female Speaker.
So why did the designers confine the indicator to legislative influence, when there are three, roughly co-equal, estates of the republic? Some call it "arbitrariness" and one is compelled to concur.
It is not just the measuring effect of the goal indicator that can produce perversity. Its actual definition can also constitute arbitrariness. "Poverty" according the MDGs is defined by a benchmark of "earnings below $1 a day". It is often not made clear in the UN's reports whether this figure is to be employed as a household indicator or a per-capita indicator, perhaps in acknowledgment that widely varying sizes of households across the world will complicate measurement. Further, varying inflation rates and varying levels of purchasing power parity means that "$1" is not as simple as it sounds. Most people are aware that you could purchase a very nutritious meal in India for 50 cents (about 75 Ghana pesewas) but the same amount will only get you a mash of inedible, low-nourishment, grub in Ghana. The calculations that established "constant dollar" rates over time can therefore get more complicated than is easily appreciated. That is why the UN has had to adjust the "base year" from 1985 to 1993 and increased the "$1" figure to "$1.08". It goes on and on.
And at any rate, as Professor Easterly famously asks, why is somebody earning $0.99 as poor as someone earning $0.1" Which in MDG terms will be to ask what happens if Ghana between now and next year moves all the 39% or so people living below the "$1.08 poverty line" to an income level of $0.99, while Uganda moves 1% of its MDG-defined poor people above the $1.08 mark, while the remainder remains where it is? Well, what happens is that Uganda will be more "on course" to meet the MDGs. Professor Easterly does not put it in these terms; he asks why a movement from one level under the poverty line to a higher level isn't considered welfare progress in the same manner that movements above the line are. We believe the logic extends to comparative measurements.
Gender equity
The MDG on gender equity advocates - as an indicator of progress - that women move out of the agricultural sector, making no room for productivity increases in that industry that could improve rather than undermine the welfare of those who work in it, whether male or female. The justification for this choice of indicator is of course historical, since for many decades under-remunerated labour has tended to be concentrated in agriculture, with women as the principal victims. But the doctrine derived from this fact is at odds with ongoing trends in agric reform thinking across the continent. Whether the new thinking is justified or not, many countries, Ghana included, believe that agriculture could be so modernised as to ensure sustainable livelihoods for rural folk and as a means to stem rural-urban drift. Thus, an adherence to the imperatives of MDG3 would probably engender chaos in the policymaking of many poor countries, Ghana included.
It is in this context of ambiguity and ambivalence attending the link between the MDGs and national-level development strategy that we must assess both the statement that Ghana is doing well in comparison with our African neighbours and the seemingly counter-statement that the Global Economic Crisis will interfere with the country's attainment of the goals by 2015.
Neither statement, to be brutally frank, means much to development strategy reform in this country. The MDGs are a wonderful set of ideals, stated abstractly and as an exhortation to governments in Ghana and Africa to move beyond rhetoric. But as a guiding light for development strategy formulation (underline "strategy"), they are probably less useful.
The wise framers of the Growth & Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) - the medium term development framework for Ghana that must be reviewed late this year - knew this, though they diplomatically chose to argue instead that the plan was simply not ambitious enough. Beyond the widely-shared consensus that the MDGs are minimalist criteria, they, again diplomatically, hinted that their measuring framework could not be the mechanism to monitor and analyse delivery by the public sector.
One hopes that this perspective did not stay bound to sheet, and that it actually pervades our policymaking establishment.
Data collection
But then the question needs to be asked about the data collection activities that seem to indicate that actual policymaking is dictated, at implementation level, by the MDG framework. We refer to such exercises as the Ghana Living Standards Survey. Beyond easy to collect and interpret data, such as under-five mortality and maternal mortality statistics obtainable from health posts, what methodology has been guiding the gathering and processing of data related to the other more complex MDGs, seeing as we have demonstrated their inherent tortuousness.
We suspect that somebody has been taken these factors for granted. Hence the complete divorce from Accra thinking witnessed at decentralised level. The folks at district level know clearly and intuitively that these "development statistics" are obfuscating true measurement, analysis and interpretation and are therefore less useful for policymaking than they are often made to seem.
If it is as we suspect, then the advice should be that all of us - in the public sector and outside it - should be generally wary of the technical papers purporting to serve as strategy guides to policy implementation in various ministries. They probably lack the necessary connection to reality, much less to the true development agenda at the local level.
It all goes back to a point we have often made: there are sufficient markers and pointers to 'what' should be done, the mess is in the 'how'. And the mess is in the 'how' because we have taken 'management' for granted and elevated 'schematics'. If our Chief Directors and Ministers of State were actually driving step-by-step implementation of agreed upon development strategies, they would have known that the blueprints are faulty because of the numerous 'slips' that would have occurred in the ordinary and routine course of their jobs.
Those readers with an experience of work in the private sector must be nodding by now. You can easily finger a bad manager by noting her inability to detect obvious misreporting. Because: wrong measurement at one level of the business always undermines delivery at another level. This is basic business strategy 101. In public management, we concede, distorted incentives make this difficult at mid-management level, which is where the troubleshooting in the private sector chiefly occurs. However that reality is counterbalanced by another: the higher stakes and incentives at top level.
Simply put, any Minister of State or Chief Director beloved by his technical people is probably not doing a good job at grilling them on reporting. In the context of this article, any senior political manager happy with just working with the GLISS does not deserve our commendation, or more bluntly, any Chief of Staff not engaged, on a frequent basis, in a phone catfight with the NDPC over MDG-guided reporting (HIPC, MDRI, MCA, GPRS etc.) is probably not earning all his salary.
http://news.myjoyonline.com/features/200905/30223.asp
Canada is increasingly alone on aboriginal rights
By Jennifer Reid, Citizen SpecialMay 16, 2009
Last month, Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced in parliament that Australia had reversed its position on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP), and was ready to sign.
The DRIP, which was adopted in 2007 by the UN's General Assembly, resulted from two decades of discussion about the rights of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples. The document says that indigenous peoples deserve specific rights above and beyond those articulated in other UN documents, rights that will support them in their attempts to recover culturally, economically, and politically from colonization and alienation from land and resources.
The DRIP was signed by 143 nations, but four former British colonies with sizeable indigenous populations voted against it. The group of dissenters, known as CANZUS, included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
The CANZUS states have had a lot of issues with the text of the declaration. It is, they claim, neither transparent nor capable of implementation. It is contradictory and confusing. Its provisions relating to land open the possibility of indigenous claims that could override those of non-indigenous citizens. And clauses relating to self-determination could lead to indigenous claims for rights that threaten the stability of states. At the very least, they argue, the document could be interpreted as extending legislative veto power to indigenous peoples, thus privileging them as a class of citizens.
According to the Canadian government, Canada's refusal to sign the declaration was a difficult decision but it was "the right one," since the DRIP does not actually address the interests of indigenous peoples, nor does it balance the rights of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.
What kind of balance exists in Canada at this time? Forty per cent of aboriginals live in poverty while the national rate is less than half of that. Unemployment among aboriginals runs over 30 per cent at a time when the rate is peaking nationally at around eight per cent. There are just over 600 First Nations communities in Canada and more than 100 of them don't have potable water. Cases of diabetes are up to five times higher among aboriginal peoples than among Canadians generally, and the suicide rate is six times higher.
But according to the government, the DRIP would privilege the rights of indigenous peoples over those of others, and the government is committed to equality.
Would endorsing the DRIP really tip the political and economic balance in favour of aboriginal Canadians? Hardly. Article 19 seems to be the sticky one. It calls for consultation and co-operation with indigenous peoples when drafting laws that affect them, and the Canadian government is convinced that this could give them veto power, an unfair advantage over other Canadians, and generally authority to mess with the unity of the Canadian state.
Yet Article 46 clearly states that in the exercise of those rights specified in the DRIP, the rights of all citizens (indigenous and non-indigenous) must be respected equally. Moreover, the article is clear in terms of protecting the stability of the state: nothing in the Declaration, it says, can be interpreted as authorizing any action that could sabotage "the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent states."
That's a significant escape hatch. And last month, Australia recognized it. In its about-turn, Rudd's government explained that without the DRIP, indigenous Australians would never enjoy equality with other Australians. They are simply too marginalized, discriminated against and impoverished -- a state of affairs that is mirrored in Canada. As a further potential strike against the CANZUS club, New Zealand's government immediately announced that it will consider whether Australia's re-interpretation of the Declaration might be applicable to New Zealand. And in early May, the new Obama administration announced that it is reconsidering its position too. Before long, Canada could well find itself the only remaining DRIP naysayer.
In matters aboriginal, we have often shown ourselves to be aligned with Australia. Take, for example, Rudd's Feb. 13, 2008 apology to the "Stolen Generations" -- 100,000 aboriginal children who were forcibly taken from their families between 1910 and 1970, and placed in church or state institutions where they were undereducated and subjected to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Four months later, Stephen Harper formally apologized to the survivors of Canada's Indian Residential Schools system -- over 100,000 aboriginal children who were taken from their homes to church and state run institutions where they were undereducated and subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Or again, in 2000, Reconciliation Australia was created as an organization intended to promote reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Australians. We were a little slower on the uptake in this case, but Canada agreed to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2006.
Apologies, and an avowed desire for reconciliation are Canadian and Australian values when it comes to aboriginal/non-aboriginal relations. Let's hope this affinity extends to the DRIP.
Jennifer Reid is a religion professor at the University of Maine Farmington. She is the author of Louis Riel and the Creation of Modern Canada.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Business/Canada+increasingly+alone+aboriginal+rights/1603379/story.html
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