The United Nations “… needs to challenge the assertion that mining is always beneficial…” – Watts Up With That?
Essay by Eric Worrall
The only thing separating us from a Venezuela-style economy where ordinary people rummage through trash bins for food is politicians who listen to bad advice.
UN may set new roadmap on “critical” transition minerals
Posted on 08/20/2024, 4:51 PM
Comment: A high-level expert group is working to define principles for responsible mining, which will be presented to the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Via Claudia Velarde, Stephanie Weiss And Jessica Solórzano
Claudia Velarde is Co-Director of the Ecosystems Program at the Inter-American Environmental Defense Association (AIDA), Stephanie Weiss is Project Coordinator at AIDA, and Jessica Solórzano is Economist at AIDA.
The global push towards renewable energy, aimed at reducing climate-changing emissions, has shown that the environmental and social costs of extracting the necessary minerals are weighing heavily on local communities and ecosystems.
Many argue that electric mobility and renewable energy will help mitigate climate change – but their widespread adoption will require massive increases in mining for minerals such as lithium, which are key to their development.
…
Our thinking on what the Board cannot ignore points to three factors: current status a “developmental” approach; a high degree of technological optimism regarding mining; and a lack of urgency regarding ecological limits and community rights.
First, we acknowledge that Ban is under pressure from powerful forces, but Ban will need to resist the assertion that mining is always beneficial to economic growth and the prosperity of nations. This status quo view reinforces the notion of unlimited natural resources for human consumption, echoing the promises of economic development in the early 20th century that contributed to the current climate crisis.
The Council must not ignore the possibility of reduced growth or impose restrictions on extractive activities that could lead to reduced consumption of materials and energy. Nor must the Council ignore other forms of traditional and local knowledge that could provide alternative development possibilities.
Then, with regard to the impacts, pollution and other ecosystem disruptions caused by mining, it has been consistently argued that assessment and evaluation are necessary – and that these can preserve ecosystem integrity.
…
I don’t think we should ignore glimpses of what I believe is the green movement’s real agenda – the dismantling of the industrial revolution and a return to a medieval peasant economy.
Did you know? Venezuela was the 4th richest country in the world per capita in the 1950s.? There is no path to reduced consumption that does not involve enormous suffering and economic disruption. Whether the reduced consumption is due to economic imbalances, price controls, or government sanctions on important economic activities such as mining, the result is always an economic recession or a new depression, or in extreme cases, a complete collapse.
Related
