The following 5 years will decide the way forward for our planet. By 2030, we should halt biodiversity loss and restrict international warming to under 1.5 levels Celsius (2.7°F).
Attaining these targets requires an enormous enhance in essential minerals to gasoline the renewable power transition. The Worldwide Power Company estimates that mineral demand will quadruple by 2040.
This stark actuality presents a dilemma: how will we steadiness the pressing want for minerals with defending our planet’s ecosystems and the rights of Indigenous communities? ‘No-go’ mining zones – the place mining is explicitly prohibited – provide an important a part of the answer.
First launched by the Worldwide Council on Mining and Metals in 2003 as a voluntary dedication to keep away from mining in World Heritage Websites, the idea has since gained momentum.
To guard biodiversity and guarantee justice for Indigenous Peoples, governments and industries should now transfer past voluntary measures, by making such zones legally binding.
Indigenous lands, which cowl greater than 32 per cent of Earth’s floor, are sometimes biodiversity hotspots. Research constantly present that ecosystems thrive beneath Indigenous stewardship. But these lands are additionally wealthy in essential minerals, with 54 per cent of ‘transition’ mineral mining tasks positioned on or close to Indigenous territories.
And it’s not simply renewables driving this both: mining for coal and gold drives 71 per cent of mining-related deforestation, with devastating penalties for communities. Within the Amazon rainforest, for example, gold mining has contaminated the water and meals provides of the Yanomami folks, placing lives and ecosystems in danger.
Establishing ‘no-go’ mining zones is a matter of justice. Indigenous peoples will need to have the fitting to free, prior, and knowledgeable consent (FPIC) over their territories, enabling them to train self-determination, safeguard their cultural heritage, and resist exploitation by highly effective firms. International locations should enshrine these rights and the creation of ‘no-go’ zones in nationwide authorized techniques.
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The transition to a inexperienced financial system should not come on the expense of justice and biodiversity. ‘No-go’ mining zones, whereas not an entire answer, provide a mandatory safeguard.
Governments should allocate assets to implement ‘no-go’ zones, whereas NGOs and civil society play a essential function in elevating consciousness and holding firms accountable. Business leaders, too, should embrace moral sourcing and transparency.
Public stress and investor demand for sustainability can drive these adjustments. Company commitments should ship actions to make sure that the minerals powering their merchandise are sourced with out inflicting human struggling or environmental destruction.
Biodiversity is on the road. Mining threatens practically 11,000 species globally and 77 per cent of mines function inside 50 kilometres of key biodiversity areas, affecting one-third of world forest ecosystems. Important areas such because the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia’s islands are wealthy in minerals however face deforestation and habitat loss.
‘No-go’ zones can present instant protections, notably for high-biodiversity areas which can not qualify or are but to be granted formal protected standing, or the place Indigenous land rights haven’t but been secured. Governments should act swiftly to ascertain these zones earlier than mining pursuits trigger irreversible injury.
Decreasing dependence on mining
The push for a renewable power future can’t rely solely on extracting extra minerals. Analysis suggests that we may cut back mineral demand by as much as 58 per cent via improvements equivalent to battery applied sciences which use fewer minerals, adopting round financial system practices, and investing to enhance recycling charges.
Consumption habits should additionally change. E-waste, one of many fastest-growing waste streams globally, reached an estimated 62 million tonnes in 2022, with solely 22 per cent documented as recycled. Lithium recycling stays alarmingly low at simply 1-3 per cent.
