Mining development,income growth and poverty alleviation: A multiplier decomposition technique applied to China

Mining has grown rapidly and is expected to continue to develop solidly in the future with the economic development in China. Based on this trend, how an increase in the outputs of mining sectors affects household income and poverty alleviation is an issue worthy of study. A multiplier decomposition method within a social accounting matrix (SAM) framework shows the linkages through which a mining sector's output contributes to household income growth and poverty alleviation. The decomposition applied to China reveals that mining development has more significantly positive impacts on the high and middle income household than low income household. Moreover, the decomposition incorporated with the Foster, Greer and Thoerbecke (FGT) poverty measure shows that the ‘coal’ sector contributes most to poverty alleviation and the low income household group, which has the biggest poverty rate, is the smallest beneficiary from the mining development. Thus, the policy implication is proposed that the government should give appropriate adjustment on the distribution of income between rich and poor households and help the unskilled human capital from the household group at a low income level to handle advanced technology of mining through education and training to reduce poverty more effectively.     

Risk attitudes and mitigation among gold miners and others in the Suriname rainforest

This article analyses the question: do attitudes towards risk influence participation in small‐scale gold mining, a hazardous activity that generates uncertain income? This question is examined by measuring and comparing the risk attitudes of gold miners and non‐mining community members in the rainforest of Suriname, South America. The author presents a multivariate model to predict the duration of work in mining areas as a function of risk tolerance, age, education, and household demographics. The results suggest that a greater tolerance to risk increases the duration of a person's mining career. However, attitudes explain only a fraction of the variation in occupational choices. Qualitative data suggest that these choices are primarily shaped by local barriers to human capital development and by national economic volatility. Given their marginal position in society and the multitude of mining risk mitigation strategies, it is questionable whether gold mining exposes Suriname forest peoples to greater risks than other subsistence alternatives. The author argues that sensitivity to local historical and cultural conditions would improve the efficiency of policies aimed at developing a more sustainable mining industry. By zooming in on the daily lives of miners, anthropology can complement macro‐scale analyses and contribute to policy interventions in the small‐scale mining sector.     

Recycling Policy in Areas of Low Income and Multi-storey Housing

The paper considers the participation of households in recycling programmes in areas of multi-storey, low income housing which are often considered unattractivefor such programmes.A model of the material recycled is presented together with a review of socio-economic, housing, technological, policy and other factors influencing household recycling. This is followed by a case study of two areas in the city of Edinburgh. Results suggest that the level of recycling is influenced by collection methods, for all materials except glass, with half of the recyclers starting as a result of the introduction of kerbside collection. Housing characteristics such as the storey-level in buildings without lifts , household size and access to cars all influenced recycling participation rates. Housing tenure was not found to be significant. This suggests that well designed kerbside collection programmescan have a significant impact in areas with high levels of multi-storey dwellings, low income and public housing.     

Natural Resource Dependency and Decentralized Conservation Within Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project,Nepal

Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project (KCAP) in Nepal is among the first protected areas in the world to institute a completely decentralized system of conservation and development. Proponents of decentralized conservation claim that it increases management efficiency, enhances the responsiveness to local needs, and promotes greater equity among local residents. This study assessed local equity by evaluating the levels of dependencies on natural resources among households and the factors affecting that dependency. Data were collected via detailed surveys among 205 randomly selected households within the KCAP. Natural resource dependency was evaluated by comparing the ratio of total household income to income derived from access to natural resources. Economic, social, and access-related variables were employed to determine potential significant predictors of dependency. Overall, households were heavily dependent on natural resources for their income, especially households at higher elevations and those with more adult members. The households that received remittances were most able to supplement their income and, therefore, drastically reduced their reliance on the access to natural resources. Socio-economic variables, such as land holdings, education, caste, and ethnicity, failed to predict dependency. Household participation in KCAP-sponsored training programs also failed to affect household dependency; however, fewer than 20% of the households had any form of direct contact with KCAP personnel within the past year. The success of the KCAP as a decentralized conservation program is contingent on project capacity-building via social mobilization, training programs, and participatory inclusion in decision making to help alleviate the dependency on natural resources.     

Controlling urban air pollution caused by households: uncertainty, prices, and income

We examine the control of air pollution caused by households burning wood for heating and cooking in the developing world. Since the problem is one of controlling emissions from nonpoint sources, regulations are likely to be directed at household choices of wood consumption and combustion technologies. Moreover, these choices are subtractions from, or contributions to, the pure public good of air quality. Consequently, the efficient policy design is not independent of the distribution of household income. Since it is unrealistic to assume that environmental authorities can make lump sum income transfers part of control policies, efficient control of air pollution caused by wood consumption entails a higher tax on wood consumption and a higher subsidy for more efficient combustion technologies for higher income households. Among other difficulties, implementing a policy to promote the adoption of cleaner combustion technologies must overcome the seemingly paradoxical result that efficient control calls for higher technology subsidies for higher income households.     

Mining with communities

To be considered as sustainable, a mining community needs to adhere to the principles of ecological sustainability, economic vitality and social equity. These principles apply over a long time span, covering both the life of the mine and post-mining closure. The legacy left by a mine to the community after its closure is emerging as a significant aspect of its planning. Progress towards sustainability is made when value is added to a community with respect to these principles by the mining operation during its life cycle. This article presents a series of cases to demonstrate the diverse potential challenges to achieving a sustainable mining community. These case studies of both new and old mining communities are drawn mainly from Canada and from locations abroad where Canadian companies are now building mines. The article concludes by considering various approaches that can foster sustainable mining communities and the role of community consultation and capacity building.     

Non-transport household energy consumption in Adelaide and Melbourne

The residential sector is the third largest sector of final energy use in Australian urban areas, accounting for about 12% of the country's total final energy consumption. What are the main determinants of energy consumption in the residential sector? This paper sheds light on this question by examining non-transport summer household energy consumption in Adelaide and Melbourne. Data were collected from a survey of 200 sample households and modelled according to a conceptual framework that not only emphasises household characteristics and housing stock characteristics but also controls the macro-environment factors. The findings reveal distinctive results in Adelaide and Melbourne. In Adelaide, household characteristics are the most important contributors in explaining non-transport household energy consumption. In Melbourne, the household characteristic as represented by income is important, but housing stock characteristics provide even more explanatory power. These findings contribute to the understanding of the factors that shape residential energy consumption and have policy implications in targeting household energy savings.     

Mine closure legislation in Indonesia: The role of mineral industry involvement

Major mining companies have recently embraced the sustainable development paradigm, in seeking to improve their competitiveness and increase shareholder returns. Successful mine closure is one important element of this process. Improved performance in this area is essential if surrounding communities are to see mining companies as responsible corporate and social partners.
In Indonesia, the new approach has coincided with the development of specific mine closure legislation. To facilitate the legislation, a consortium of mining companies joined to form the Industry Mine Closure Steering Committee. This Committee has lobbied the Government, actively negotiating to incorporate sustainable development ideals and practices into the new legislation. The Committee's aim has been to foster continued development of the mining industry, while taking account of variation in environmental, social and community conditions. In describing the process, this article seeks to provide guidance for the development of mine closure legislation in other nations.     

The relationship between mining and socio-economic well being in Australia’s regions

This paper examines the relationship between quality of life indicators and the gross value of minerals production from Australian regions. We used quality of life indicators, aggregated for 71 local government areas containing mining activities, of household income, housing affordability, access to communication services, educational attainment, life expectancy, and unemployment. We find no evidence of systematic negative associations between quality of life and the gross value of minerals production. Instead, mining activity has a positive impact on incomes, housing affordability, communication access, education and employment across regional and remote Australia. Whilst we do not establish causality between mining activity and quality of life, our analysis prompts a rethink of the resource curse as it applies within a single country. We did not find evidence of a resource curse, at the local government level, in Australia’s mining regions. Nevertheless, we note observations by many other researchers of negative social impacts on specific demographic sectors, localities, families of fly-in fly-out mining operations, and individuals. This contrast may be a scale issue, with the regional benefits of mineral wealth masking highly localised inequalities and disadvantage. We suggest that there is a need to better understand these impacts and, more importantly, the types of policy mechanisms government and industry can adopt to mitigate or avoid them.     

Contrasting community and corporate perceptions of sustainability: A case study within the platinum mining region of South Africa

The concept of sustainable development is debatable within the mining context as the fact that mineral resources are non-renewable makes mining inherently unsustainable. The need for a realistic definition of sustainability that can be applied to mining is important, in light of claims by the industry that sustainable development principles underpin aspects of their operations. Furthermore, the socio-economic upliftment that should logically follow the implementation of these principles is not visible in many mining areas. Within the theoretical frameworks of intermediate sustainability, our study aimed to determine the level of sustainability that is appropriate for the mining context. The evaluation of community perspectives within the Rustenburg platinum region in South Africa as a case study, based on qualitative information derived from structured questionnaires and informal interviews brings further clarity. We found out that the environmental and social costs associated with mining were high, while economic benefits to surrounding communities were low. The perceptions of community and corporations were found to contrast sharply: the reality experienced by community members fell well short of the optimistic scenarios presented in the corporate social responsibility reports of the mining companies, which has implications for the mining industry in the area. The Rustenburg region is typical of mining areas, more especially the developing world, and application of a realistic sustainable development concept here can help the mining industry elsewhere to move its operations onto a genuinely more sustainable path.     

Understanding the factors that influence household use of clean energy in the Similipal Tiger Reserve,India

Biotic pressure in and around protected areas (PA) is the primary cause of biodiversity loss in many developing countries across the globe. The pressure comes partly from biomass energy dependency in the form of heavy extraction of fuelwood from the forests. Although biomass fuels provide easily accessible and affordable sources of domestic energy to the rural masses, their combustion results in environmental and health‐related hazards. The objectives of this paper are to assess the patterns of household energy use in a subsistence forest economy and analyze the factors that influence their energy use choice for cooking and lighting. The paper uses primary data collected randomly from 244 households located in and around the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR), situated in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. Age of the household head, number of days in wage employment, number of adult males and females in a household, education of the household head and landholding size are found to be the major variables that determine household fuelwood collection sources inside the reserve. Considering household structure as an income indicator, the analysis clearly shows that non‐poor households prefer to use clean energy (i.e. solar) for lighting, while poor households tend to use solid fuel. Energy policies for development should be based on the realistic proposition that fuelwood will remain the major source of energy for cooking for substantial proportions of the world’s population. Promotion of public education, social forestry schemes and fuel‐efficient improved chulhas should be encouraged in order to reduce household dependence on fuelwood. Moreover, devolving sufficient property rights over forest resources to local communities may help secure their broad‐based and active participation in the decision‐making process, which may result in a positive change in the attitude of the local people towards biodiversity conservation.     

Rural Income and Forest Reliance in Highland Guatemala

This paper estimates rural household-level forest reliance in the western highlands of Guatemala using quantitative methods. Data were generated by the way of an in-depth household income survey, repeated quarterly between November 2005 and November 2006, in 11 villages (n = 149 randomly selected households). The main sources of income proved to be small-scale agriculture (53 % of total household income), wages (19 %) and environmental resources (14 %). The latter came primarily from forests (11 % on average). In the poorest quintile the forest income share was as high as 28 %. All households harvest and consume environmental products. In absolute terms, environmental income in the top quintile was 24 times higher than in the lowest. Timber and poles, seeds, firewood and leaf litter were the most important forest products. Households can be described as ‘regular subsistence users’: the share of subsistence income is high, with correspondingly weak integration into regional markets. Agricultural systems furthermore use important inputs from surrounding forests, although forests and agricultural uses compete in household specialization strategies. We find the main household determinants of forest income to be household size, education and asset values, as well as closeness to markets and agricultural productivity. Understanding these common but spatially differentiated patterns of environmental reliance may inform policies aimed at improving livelihoods and conserving forests.     

National benefits,local costs? Local residents' views on environmental and social effects of large‐scale mining in Chingola,Zambia

This study examined the environmental and social effects of large‐scale mining in Chingola, Zambia. Data was collected through semi‐structured interviews with 164 residents living close to Zambia's largest open pit mine, key informants and desk analysis of secondary data. Quantitative data was analysed using the chi‐square test, one sample T‐test and two sample Z‐proportions test, while qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Results show that the residents reported being most affected by sulphur dioxide air emissions and noise pollution due to the proximity of the copper smelter and heavy moving machinery to their residences. The residents received domestic water containing rust and copper ore particles from the water utility company which draws raw water from the mine. Although the mine was a source of employment for locals, over 4,000 jobs (representing a 33% decrease) have been lost over a period of 4 years, negatively affecting the local economy. Mine management attributed the job losses to high production costs and mechanization of mining processes. The residents perceived the job losses to have led to crime, alcohol abuse and prostitution among youths as well as a general increase in poverty levels. Analysis of air emissions data from the mine found elevated levels of dust, cadmium, copper and lead pollutants. Key informants from Nchanga Mine reported implementing bioremediation to reduce soil contamination by the heavy metals and recycling SO₂ to produce sulphuric acid. The study recommends an increase in social corporate responsibility from the mine management to ensure residents derive more substantive benefits from their proximity to the mine.     

Forest resources and household welfare: Empirical evidence from North Central Vietnam

Using secondary data from a socio-economic quantitative household survey of the North Central region of Vietnam, the main aim of our study is to analyze the causal effect of forest resources on household income and poverty. Based on the observed characteristics of a forest-based livelihood and forest-related activities, we use a propensity score matching (PSM) method to control for potential bias arising from self-selection. The PSM results indicate that households with a forest-based livelihood had a higher level of income and lower poverty rates than did those without. Interestingly, our findings confirm that a forest-based livelihood offers much higher income than any other type of livelihood adopted by local households. Also, the poverty rate among households with a forest-based livelihood is lower than those earning non-labor income or engaged in wage/crop and crop livelihoods. Among households and provinces, we find varying opportunities deriving from forest resources, suggesting that there are potential barriers hindering local households from pursuing a forest livelihood or participating in some forest activities. Therefore, government policy and regulations on forest management should focus on improving the access of households to forest resources, while enhancing the sustainability of these resources.     

Fishing Farmers or Farming Fishers? Fishing Typology of Inland Small-Scale Fishing Households and Fisheries Management in Singkarak Lake, West Sumatra, Indonesia

Technical and socio-economic characteristics are known to determine different types of fishers and their livelihood strategies. Faced with declining fish and water resources, small-scale fisheries engage into transformations in livelihood and fishing practices. The paper is an attempt to understand these changes and their socio-economic patterns, in the case of Singkarak Lake in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Based upon the hypothesis that riparian communities have diverse, complex yet structured and dynamic livelihood systems, the paper’s main objective is to study, document and model the actual diversity in livelihood, practices and performance of inland small-scale fisheries along the Singkarak Lake, to picture how households are adapted to the situation, and propose an updated, workable model (typology) of those for policy. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used to develop a typology of fishing households. The results show that small-scale fishers can be classified into different types characterized by distinct livelihood strategies. Three household types are identified, namely “farming fishers” households (type I, 30 %), “fishing farmers” households (type II, 30 %), and “mainly fishers” households (type III, 40 %). There are significant differences among these groups in the number of boats owned, annual fishing income, agriculture income and farming experience. Type I consists of farming fishers, well equipped, with high fishing costs and income, yet with the lowest return on fishing assets. They are also landowners with farming income, showing the lowest return on land capital. Type II includes poor fishing farmers, landowners with higher farming income; they show the highest return on land asset. They have less fishing equipment, costs and income. Type III (mainly fishers) consists of poorer, younger fishers, with highest return on fishing assets and on fishing costs. They have little land, low farming income, and diversified livelihood sources. The nature of their livelihood strategies is discussed for each identified group. This helps to understand the complexity and diversity of small-scale fishers, particularly in the study area which is still poorly known. This paper concludes with policy implication and possible management initiatives for environmentally prudent policy aiming at improvement of fishers’ livelihood.     

Gifting,ridding and the “everyday mundane”: the role of class and privilege in food waste generation in Indonesia

Current research on household food waste has not considered the impact of the inter-class power dynamics between employers and domestic helpers on food waste management and generation in the Global South. This article focuses on the issue of food justice and will demonstrate that it is important to reconsider household food practices within the framework of unequal power dynamics in household units – especially between employers and their domestic helpers. Informed by food waste regime conceptual framework, this paper will examine the complex food provisioning practices of Indonesian households. The research draws on 21 in-depth interviews with households of varying incomes, multiple site visits, participant observation and going along on grocery trips to better understand the power dynamics and practices that result in, or prevent the generation of household food waste. In addition, 12 key informant interviews with government officials, traditional food vendors, supermarket managers, and a waste collector was also conducted. In an Indonesian context, understanding the interclass dynamics of the household, namely, who gets to define what is “food” and what is “waste” is key to understanding the broader phenomenon of food waste in order to promote solutions to food waste prevention and food insecurity that is socially and environmentally just.     

Household size and composition and implications for housing need in Kumasi,Ghana: a research note

A simple method of calculating the scale of housing need for Kumasi, Ghana, uses two likely variations in household size distribution and an overcrowding threshold of 3 p.p.r., and a measure of preference. The two household size distributions take account both of trends and of changes which may occur if and when new housing is provided. At that time, released from the current constraints, household formation along traditional lines may again be possible. The preferred supply equates households’ perceived need to their ability to pay at current rents. The resulting range of rooms required is wide but even the lowest need is so far in excess of supply that conventional approaches are self‐evidently inadequate and greater client involvement must be encouraged.     

The carrot or the stick: individual adaption against varying institutional arrangements

This study employs a unique household-level data-set to investigate the effectiveness of various waste separation policies under consideration of local socioeconomic contexts. Our results confirm previous findings that most demographic factors are generally not statistically significant. The findings suggest that waste separation knowledge, social capital, free provision of sortable containers and community collecting recyclables are positively associated with household involvement in waste separation. More importantly, while an increase in the garbage fee motivates non-sorting households to separate their waste into two categories of recyclables and non-recyclables, it also crowds out households’ preexisting motivations for sorting waste into three or more categories. The introduction of a garbage fee indeed substitutes rather than complements free provision of sortable containers and community collection of recyclables. Apart from actively fostering the creation of social capital, local authorities should, therefore, comprehensively design a compatible policy mix to adjust and optimize current management schemes for enhancing waste management practices.     

Collecting data in artisanal and small-scale mining communities: Measuring progress towards more sustainable livelihoods

This short note discusses methodological obstacles to the collection of microeconomic data in artisanal and small-scale mining communities. International donor organizations are supporting policy efforts that enhance the contribution to poverty alleviation of this mining subsector. The design and evaluation of such policy interventions require data on income, expenditure, investment, and savings in mining households and communities. These data are difficult to come by. Incomes are variable; migrants may work far from home; miners often work informally and sometimes illegally; mining populations and communities are heterogeneous and transient; and miners have many reasons to distort information. Legalization and organization of miners in cooperatives would facilitate documentation and research. These processes, however, are beyond the control of the typical policy consultant or donor organization. On their part, these parties can adopt an alternative model of research. This model involves the community in project development, data collection, and monitoring. It emphasizes continuity, cultural diversity, trust building and learning. The data thus collected should provide a firm basis for programmes that promote more sustainable livelihoods in artisanal and small-scale mining communities.     

Can area managers connect policy and tenants? Implementation and diffusion of a new waste management system in Linköping,Sweden

Recycling and reducing household waste are political goals internationally, nationally and locally. In Sweden, households in apartment buildings seem to sort their waste to a lesser extent than households in single-family houses. This paper analyses the challenges of the diffusion of a new waste management system in apartment buildings, and focuses on a municipal housing company and the actions of its area managers. It is argued that area managers can be regarded as street-level bureaucrats who act as ‘collectors’ of tenants’ everyday practices in the studied implementation process. The study is based on interviews, document analysis and observations.