Contribution of small-scale mining to employment,development and sustainability – an Indian scenario

Small-scale mining is more prevalent in India. The maximum production capacity of 50,000 tonnes/year has been accepted as a criterion to Indian small-scale mine. Such mines constitute about 90% of total number of mines, 42% of the total non-fuel minerals and metals, 5% of the fuel minerals. Some 3000 small scale mines account for a work force of about 0.5 million people. Yet this sector is a neglected sector in Indian economy and still considered as an unorganized sector. This paper examines the contribution of small-scale mines to employment and national mineral production, practices, and Indian policy on small-scale mining. It identifies the drawbacks in the existing Government policy and discusses the role of Government for up gradation in this sector. It focuses the need for technical up gradation and to ensure the economic and social infrastructure. It also discusses how the pursuit of sustainable livelihoods, poverty alleviation and indigenous peoples right in artisanal and small-scale mining be more effective when these communities are disadvantaged or neglected by Government policies. This paper concludes that this sector can make significant contribution to Indian economy and employment generation. It recommends that by establishing mining centre consist of shared mining and processing facilities, educating and training related initiatives it can be achieved.     

城市产业部门CO2排放三层次核算研究

城市是人类生产和生活的中心,超过75%的温室气体从城市产生,其中又以城市产业部门能源消费和工业过程非能源产生的CO2为主。本文基于投入产出模型,评价城市产业部门3个不同层次的CO2排放。以重庆为案例,核算其2002-2008年产业部门三个层次的CO2排放,包括能源消费直接排放、购买电力间接排放和全生命周期排放,并进行多层次对比。结果显示传统能源消耗和购买电力为对象的核算方法低估了产业部门CO2排放水平。2002-2008年,重庆各产业部门排放量逐年增加,碳排放强度整体呈现下降趋势。煤炭开采和洗选业、非金属矿采选业、非金属矿物制品业、电力、热力的生产和供应业,化学工业、金属冶炼及压延加工业、交通运输、仓储及邮电通讯业部门共7大行业是重庆碳排放的重点行业。部门交通设备制造业是重庆的优势产业,排放总量大,但是排放强度却相对较小,因此应大力发展该产业以促进重庆市低碳经济的发展。     

Chinese Mining toward Sustainable Development in a Global Perspective

In view of sustainable development, this paper presents the challenges faced by the global mining sectors, outlines an integrated approach of the global minerals industry for sustainable development, introduces actions for the mineral professionals toward sustainable development, and proposes changes in the mineral operations, management, and governance practices in the Chinese perspective.     

Chinese Mining toward Sustainable Development in a Global Perspective

Abstract

In view of sustainable development, this paper presents the challenges faced by the global mining sectors, outlines an integrated approach of the global minerals industry for sustainable development, introduces actions for the mineral professionals toward sustainable development, and proposes changes in the mineral operations, management, and governance practices in ttie Chinese perspective.     

Economic liabilities of environmental pollution by coal mining: Indian scenario

India is the first country to introduce environmental legislation in the constitution but because of lengthy legal procedures, it is very difficult to control environmental deterioration. There are many factors responsible for this deterioration. Coal mining is one such activity where deterioration is very severe and the present communication aims this aspect. Coal is the one of the most essential mineral having large reserves in India. It’s mining and beneficiation produce a variety of pollutants. The main pollutants emitted during the processing of coal are green house gases, coal dust and acid mine drainage. Many reports on different aspects of coal mining are available including reports on emission of different pollutants but the present work is probably only of it’s kind in which the authors have tried to determine environment liability directly in terms of economy. It was found that greenhouse liabilities, coal dust liability and sulphur liability are accounted for 12.07, 5.0 and 101.97 US$, making an overall 2.4% of the total economic gains due to coal mining. During the calculations approximate number of total workers and other parameters have been taken into consideration. Who pays for this irreversible damage is a question. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

阳新县矿产资源现状优势评价及资源承载力分析

矿产是国民经济建设的重要物质基础,是支持和保证工业生产部门发展的物质条件。合理开发利用矿产资源是实现经济可持续发展的重要内容。阳新县是湖北省的矿业大县,矿产资源十分丰富,但随着开发程度的不断加强,资源危机日趋严重。为了充分了解新阳新县的矿产资源形势,制定科学合理的开发利用规划,我们采用层次分析法,对阳新县矿产资源的现状进行了定量评价,从３０余种矿产中筛分出８种优势矿产,其优势排序为铜,钨铅,锌,膨     

21世纪中国西部矿产资源开发的战略思考

作为全国资源的富集区,西部矿业开发要在21世纪地区经济发展中作出应有的贡献,不仅需要一个长期的开发过程,而且更需要一个明智而有效的发展战略,从西部地区资源、环境、区位条件及长期实践出发,认真把握未来市场变化、积极推动精品为先发展,努力调整地区产品结构和合理组织空间生产应成为21世纪西部矿产资源开发战略的四项基本内容,上述战略的实施不仅有束于资源的保障、中央政府的认呆和资金与技术的支持,而且有赖于整个社会环保意识的加强。     

论矿产资源综合利用的系统功能与社会经济效益

矿产资源综合利用体现了全面提高资源效益、环境效益、经济效益和社会效益辩证统一的系统功能。它拟应成为各国促进国民经济可持续协调发展的一项重大国策。矿业系统工程与价值工程相辅并用，是大力提高矿产综合利用的社会经济效益的最佳对策。     

Government intervention in green industries: lessons from the wind turbine and the organic food industries in Denmark

Government intervention in green infant industries may be justified as a strategy to increase the provision of public goods. How should government policies be designed to promote such industries? One way to analyse this question is to compare government intervention in green infant industries in which it has been successful with green infant industries in which it has been less successful. The Danish government has intervened intensively in the wind turbine industry and organic farming sector mainly for environmental reasons since 1992 and 1987, respectively, but with very different impacts. While the electricity market share of wind energy reached 20% in 2007, organic food consumption lags behind with a food market share of approximately 8.5% in 2007. This paper compares the packages of policy instruments applied in the two industrial sectors and assesses whether differences in instrument choice may explain the significant differences in market shares. It is demonstrated that government intervention in the wind turbine industry has emphasized the use of policy instruments designed to increase demand for wind energy, whereas organic farming policy has put more emphasis on instruments motivating farmers to increase supply. This may be an important factor explaining variance in growth. Finally, the paper analyses whether the lessons from government policy aimed at promoting the wind turbine industry can be transferred to organic farming policy.     

循环经济产业体系论纲

循环经济的核心是物质在产业间和产业与环境间的循环流动。发展循环经济要落实到具体的产业和企业上。需搞清具有物质循环利用关系的产业及其间的关系。为区别传统经济产业间的关系，避免走入用传统产业理论指导循环经济建设的误区，本文提出产业体系和循环经济产业体系的概念。并将若干与某种生产要素有关的产业相互联系、相互制约而构成的整体称为产业体系。以物质要素循环利用关系为纽带的产业体系称为循环经济产业体系。根据物质在环境社会系统中的流动模式。将循环经济产业体系中的产业分成物资产业、人的产业和环境产业三大类。要在传统（线性）经济的基础上发展循环经济。需理性地按生态学原理规范经济活动。重点强化废弃物再生和回用的环境产业。使之同物资产业和人的产业相协调。产业体系是对产业结构概念的发展。循环经济产业体系是循环经济理论和建设的重要内容。构建循环经济理论体系、出台有关法律法规和产业政策。是循环经济建设工作的重点。     

Lead content in new decorative paints in India

The paint industry in India is broadly classified into two categories: organized sector and unorganized sector. Multinational and big Indian companies form the organized sector, whereas the small- and medium-scale industries which produce paints for the local market form the unorganized sector. The present study was undertaken to determine the level of lead in decorative paints in India. A total of 148 paint samples sourced from four organized sector companies and six unorganized sector companies were analyzed for the total lead content. Results of this study reveal that 39 % of the total paints tested (n = 148) contain lead more than 300 ppm, the voluntary limit prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standards, BIS (IS 15489:2011), and 45 % of the tested paints contain lead more than 90 ppm, the US limit. Further analysis of the data indicates that only 5 % of the tested paints manufactured by organized sector companies contain lead more than 300 ppm (n = 91), whereas 93 % of the tested paints manufactured by unorganized sector companies contain lead more than 300 ppm (n = 57). Comparison with earlier reported data suggests that while organized sector companies are gradually abandoning the use of lead-based compounds in their paints, the unorganized sector companies are still adding lead-based compounds intentionally in their paints despite the potential health hazards associated with it. The maximum concentration of lead obtained was 80,350 ppm in one of the paints manufactured by an unorganized sector company. The presence of high concentration of lead in yellow and green color paints indicates that color can be a predictor of lead content in decorative paints.     

Carbon price impacts on sector cost: based on an input–output model of Beijing

Under the pressure of sustained growth in energy consumption in China, the implementation of a carbon pricing mechanism is an effective economic policy measure for promoting emission reduction, as well as a hotspot of research among scholars and policy makers. In this paper, the effects of carbon prices on Beijing’s economy are analyzed using input–output tables. The carbon price costs are levied in accordance with the products’ embodied carbon emission. By calculation, given the carbon price rate of 10 RMB/t-CO₂, the total carbon costs of Beijing account for approximately 0.22–0.40% of its gross revenue the same year. Among all industries, construction bears the largest carbon cost. Among export sectors, the coal mining and washing industry has much higher export carbon price intensity than other industries. Apart from traditional energy-intensive industries, tertiary industry, which accounts for more than 70% of Beijing’s economy, also bears a major carbon cost because of its large economic size. However, from 2007 to 2010, adjustment of the investment structure has reduced the emission intensity in investment sectors, contributing to the reduction of overall emissions and carbon price intensity.     

Climate change adaptation and cross-sectoral policy coherence in southern Africa

To be effective, climate change adaptation needs to be mainstreamed across multiple sectors and greater policy coherence is essential. Using the cases of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, this paper investigates the extent of coherence in national policies across the water and agriculture sectors and to climate change adaptation goals outlined in national development plans. A two-pronged qualitative approach is applied using Qualitative Document Analysis of relevant policies and plans, combined with expert interviews from non-government actors in each country. Findings show that sector policies have differing degrees of coherence on climate change adaptation, currently being strongest in Zambia and weakest in Tanzania. We also identify that sectoral policies remain more coherent in addressing immediate-term disaster management issues of floods and droughts rather than longer-term strategies for climate adaptation. Coherence between sector and climate policies and strategies is strongest when the latter has been more recently developed. However to date, this has largely been achieved by repackaging of existing sectoral policy statements into climate policies drafted by external consultants to meet international reporting needs and not by the establishment of new connections between national sectoral planning processes. For more effective mainstreaming of climate change adaptation, governments need to actively embrace longer-term cross-sectoral planning through cross-Ministerial structures, such as initiated through Zambia’s Interim Climate Change Secretariat, to foster greater policy coherence and integrated adaptation planning.     

边境碳调节对中国EITE产业竞争力和碳泄漏的影响

碳市场碎片化状态使各国碳排放因减排力度差异而消长,不仅造成碳泄漏风险,同时对减排国家经济特别是排放密集产业的国际竞争力产生负面冲击。本文建立多区域多部门CGE模型,设计4种边境碳调节政策,模拟分析其对我国的福利、碳泄漏和出口型排放密集产业(EITE)竞争力产生的政策效应。研究显示,我国制定边境碳调节政策,既要考虑碳关税也要考虑出口返还,前者有利于改善我国的福利水平,后者可以收到抑制碳泄漏和保持EITE产业国际竞争力的效果,因而有必要把边境碳调节政策纳入我国碳市场制度设计。无论从产出还是贸易来看,我国EITE产业中的非金属矿、有色金属、钢铁产业在边境碳调节政策影响下,面临来自日本和亚洲其他国家的竞争压力,双方的碳泄漏和产业竞争力呈现此消彼长的动态变化。在我国碳市场建设过程中,边境碳调节政策与拍卖相结合,有利于在实现碳减排目标和维护产业竞争力之间实现平衡。     

Multi-stakeholder process of co-designing small-scale fisheries policy in South Africa

In 2005, a group of researchers, community-based organizations and lawyers got together with small-scale fishers to launch a class action law suit against the government of South Africa in its allocation system of Individual Transferable Quotas, on the ground that the system was unfair to small-scale fishing communities and threatened their right to practise their livelihoods. This effort resulted in the cabinet adoption of a new small-scale fisheries policy in 2014, with amendments being made to fisheries law (the Marine Living Resource Act 18 of 1998) to accommodate the issues and concerns of small-scale fisheries. Draft regulations and an implementation plan have recently been released, paving the way for the implementation of small-scale fisheries allocations in 2016. These legal and policy shifts are of great significance for small-scale fisheries, both in South Africa and elsewhere, and deserve careful examination. This paper discusses the processes leading to the development of a new small-scale fisheries policy and what has followed since. Specifically, the analysis focuses on a variety of collaborations between scholars from different disciplines; researchers from multiple fields; community practitioners representing diverse professional and community perspectives; and community organizations across local, state, national and international levels. The paper uses a model of change that crosses research and practitioner boundaries based on three key strategies: getting noticed; organizing at scale; and getting a seat at the negotiation table. It also considers the “transdisciplinary” process of involving all relevant actors in strategic, collective, reflection–action–reflection–action “from below”, which was crucial in the co-designing of this small-scale policy formulation in South Africa.     

Shifting sands: changes in community perceptions of mining in Ghana

The contribution of mining to the Ghanaian economy has been substantial. The mining sector is currently a major foreign exchange earner and contributes to long-term capital formation and fiscal payment to the state. However, the industry continues to have adverse consequences on the lives of local community dwellers, most of whom are often unprepared to deal with these impacts. Often, new mining exploration takes place on land that provides land-based livelihood to many rural people. Ironically, compensation payments seem to worsen poverty in the mining communities and bring about the social conflicts. Hence, whilst communities are highly welcoming of mining companies during exploration, they become resentful during operation of the mine. Using two communities in the Asutifi District of Ghana as case studies, this paper presents a candid assessment of the changes that occur in respondents’ perception of mining during, before and after the inception of mining. It also examines the gender dimensions of the impacts of mining activities as well as the communities’ sources of information. Since public participation is an integral part of the environmental assessment process in Ghana, the paper concludes by recommending among others, precise channels of communication and dialogue before mining begins and during the operation of the mine, to increase awareness among community members.     

A context-inclusive approach to support energy policy formulation and evaluation

Observing the many and varied reactions to the Kyoto Protocol, it becomes clear that different governments find themselves in different contexts that eventually direct them toward taking dissimilar positions on energy issues. This paper, through five integrated studies, investigates whether contextualizing energy issues is (are) relevant to support energy policy formulation and evaluation and provides insights into how to operationalize the contextualization. Instead of considering the most widely accepted tools currently used to assess and evaluate energy policy, this research proposes the utilization of a holistic framework that incorporates social, economic and environmental factors as well as their relations to the energy sector to better contextualize global, regional and national energy issues. This framework, which accounts for feedback loops, delays and non-linearity, is applied to case studies to investigate the longer-term performance of selected energy policies. Results of the study indicate the likely emergence of various unexpected side effects and elements of policy resistance over the medium and longer term due to the interrelations existing between energy and society, economy and environment. Furthermore, while side effects and unintended consequences may arise both within the energy sector and in the other sectors, they simultaneously influence society, economy and environment.     

矿业权集聚、经济增长与区域贫困减缓

本文基于泰尔指数法,计算并测度了中国资源富集区的城乡收入差距与行业(矿业)收入差距,然后结合矿业权集聚度的测度结果和中国资源税改革的变动特征,建立面板数据回归模型,考察了2004—2014年中国资源富集区矿业权集聚与经济增长、贫困减缓的长期关系。本文的主要结论是:资源税对矿业权集聚水平和矿业经济增长具有正向刺激作用,但矿业经济增长并不利于地区经济的整体改进,也不利于区域贫困减缓。资源税低水平征收对"资源诅咒"和"区域贫困"具有传导效应,进而对资源富集区的贫困减缓形成阻滞作用。另外,矿业权集聚对地区贫困的影响存在异质性,异质性揭示了区域资源性收益分配存在的差异。短期来看,矿业权集聚使中央企业惠及更多,是引致"富饶中的贫困"怪圈的重要原因;但长期来看,随着矿业权集聚度的提升,地方政府获得的累积性资源性收益不断上升,渐次增强了地方政府通过社会保障支出实施收入调节的能力,总体上有利于区域贫困的减缓。因此,为实现资源富集区的精准扶贫,资源主管部门在制定减贫措施前,应根据不同区域特点区别对待,短期内应着力于调整资源性收益分配机制,赋予地方更多资源性收益,并加大对社会的保障性支出;长期来看,应探索建立合理有效的资源税体制,促进经济增长方式的多样化,并鼓励科技创新,进一步提高社会群体的受教育程度,从根本上改变区域贫困产生的内生性环境和外生性环境。     

Environmental taxation for reducing greenhouse gases emissions in Chile: an input–output analysis

This study uses an environmental extension of the Leontief price model to analyse various tax rates on the carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions that are generated by the most polluting sectors of the Chilean economy. By using this methodology, it is possible to obtain a counterfactual scenario for the prices, levels of production and emissions of each economic sector, as well as, for tax collection, consumer spending and the consumer price index. This analysis is important because Chile is internationally committed to reducing its emissions by 30% by 2030. According to the results, to meet the target CO₂ emissions only using tax policies, tax should be approximately 20 times higher than their current levels in the electricity sector. Alternatively, a lower tax of US $30/ton of CO₂ and other GHGs applied to all sectors of the economy could reduce CO₂ and other GHGs emissions by up to 25.7% with less of a negative impact on the economy.     

Black granite mining and the implications for the development of sustainability in Zimbabwe: the case of Mutoko communities

Small- and large-scale mining land acquisitions and mining establishments continue to grow in Zimbabwe, but the question about the development of sustainability remains problematic. While mining establishments can be regarded as vehicles for development, the evidence of positive effects in terms of sustainability in this case is weak. The mining-sustainability nexus is characterized by conflicts regarding livelihoods, the environment, culture, and social relations. The paper argues that local sustainability challenges generated by mining activities cannot be resolved as long as there is institutionalized exclusion of local communities, hence, aspects such as revision of the current Mines and Minerals Act, involvement of communities affected by the extraction of granite, opportunities for skills development and training involving traditional leaders, children, youth, and women, extending community driven share-ownership schemes to granite mining and enforcing site remediation should be considered as crucial steps toward the development of sustainability in the mining sector.