Heinrich Boell Foundation Yerevan Office-South Caucasus Region in cooperation with “Ecological Right” NGO launches a new project “Improvement of Mining Strategy”.
The goal of the project is to raise awareness of affected communities and civil society on alarming issues in mining sector policy development process and influence on decision making to improve the social and environmental policy of the new Mining Strategy.
It should be marked that Armenia has no systemized and environmentally balanced mining policy adopted so far, which leads to poor and exhausting resource management. All actors in mining sector emphasize the importance of development of comprehensive mining strategy, as a mechanism to overcome existing environmental problems and social tension around the sector. Likewise, the existing legal and institutional framework of extractive sector has huge gaps to conduct valid environmental impact assessment, to estimate impact on human health or green economy. Therefore, the mining strategy is perceived to be the most important document with regard to improvement of economic and environmental policy in the extractive sector, as well as social justice for mining-affected communities.
The main activities of the project are: implementation of comprehensive analysis of draft mining policy to reveal and highlight non-balanced social and environmental policy-making in mining sector with the following suggestions to correspond the strategy paper with the sustainable development and climate friendly agenda; development of suggestions on cost-benefit assessment of mining sector, based on the EU guide on cost-benefit analysis of industrial projects with following suggestion to incorporate the mentioned policy into the mining strategy; examination of influence of mining in the economic activity and health conditions of women who live in the areas of active mining industry. The project will be implemented through collaboration with the relevant public authorities (policy makers), population of mining-affected communities and civil society.
Finally, research paper will be developed consisted of three sections – legal (including implementation level of relevant provisions of CEPA Agreement), institutional and cost-benefit assessment issues of new mining strategy.