tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/rio-tinto-2386/articlesRio Tinto – The Conversation2023-10-25T19:10:36Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2138642023-10-25T19:10:36Z2023-10-25T19:10:36ZBeyond Juukan Gorge: how First Nations people are taking charge of clean energy projects on their land<p><a href="https://nntc.com.au/news_latest/the-net-zero-2060-goal-will-need-to-rely-on-australias-indigenous-estate-says-new-findings/">Many</a> of the big wind and solar farms planned to help Australia achieve net zero emissions by 2050 will be built on the lands and waters of First Nations peoples. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00994-6">More than half</a> of the projects that will extract critical minerals to drive the global clean energy transition overlap with Indigenous-held lands.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara">Pilbara</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_(Western_Australia)">Kimberley</a> regions have high rates of Indigenous land tenure, while hosting some of world’s best co-located solar and wind energy resources. Such abundance presents big opportunities for energy exports, <a href="https://theconversation.com/red-dirt-yellow-sun-green-steel-how-australia-could-benefit-from-a-global-shift-to-emissions-free-steel-179286">green steel</a> and <a href="https://www.bp.com/en_au/australia/home/who-we-are/reimagining-energy/decarbonizing-australias-energy-system/renewable-energy-hub-in-australia.html">zero carbon products</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/17/who-owns-australia">Almost 60% of Australia</a> is subject to some level of First Nations’ rights and interests, including exclusive possession rights (akin to freehold) over a quarter of the continent. So the stakes for all players are high.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-973" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/973/534c98def812dd41ac56cc750916e2922539729b/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In 2020, after news Rio Tinto had <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/trending-topics/inquiry-into-juukan-gorge#:%7E:text=In%20May%202020%2C%20we%20destroyed,on%20which%20our%20business%20operates.">legally destroyed</a> the sacred Juukan Gorge rock shelter in order to gain access to more than $100 million worth of iron ore, we wrote an <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-aboriginal-people-have-little-say-over-energy-projects-on-their-land-139119">article</a> questioning how much legal say First Nations people would have over massive new wind and solar farms planned for their Country. We asked whether the move to a zero-carbon economy “would be a just transition for First Nations?”</p>
<h2>The long but hopeful journey back from Juukan Gorge</h2>
<p>Much has happened in the past three years, and while more needs to be done, some signs are promising.</p>
<p>First, the furore and subsequent parliamentary <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/about/reporting/obligations/government-responses/destruction-of-juukan-gorge">inquiry</a> following the Juukan Gorge incident forced the resignation of <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/rio-tinto-ceo-top-executives-resign-amid-cave-blast-crisis/">Rio Tinto boss</a> Jean-Sebastien Jacques. Companies were put on notice that they can no longer run roughshod over First Nations communities. <a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">Research in progress</a> indicates the clean energy industry <a href="https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/kane-thornton-opening-address-to-the-australian-clean-energy-summit">has heard</a> this message. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-human-factor-why-australias-net-zero-transition-risks-failing-unless-it-is-fair-214064">The human factor: why Australia's net zero transition risks failing unless it is fair</a>
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<p>Second, in 2021 the <a href="https://www.firstnationscleanenergy.org.au">First Nations Clean Energy Network</a> – a group of prominent First Nations community organisers, lawyers, engineers and financial experts – was created and began to undertake significant advocacy work with governments and industry. </p>
<p>The network has released several <a href="https://www.firstnationscleanenergy.org.au/network_guides">useful guides</a> on best practice on First Peoples’ Country. Again, <a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">research</a> indicates the clean energy industry is paying attention to the work of the network. </p>
<p>Third, there is a question whether the <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/about-native-title">Native Title Act</a> allows large-scale clean energy developments to go ahead without native title holders’ permission. We are increasingly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629621003455">convinced</a> the only way such developments will <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2022/5/WP_143_Maynard.pdf">gain approval</a> through the Native Title Act is through an <a href="http://www.nntt.gov.au/ILUAs/Pages/default.aspx#:%7E:text=What%20is%20an%20ILUA%3F,least%20part%20of%20the%20area">Indigenous Land Use Agreement</a>. </p>
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<p>Moreover, <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/fncen/pages/326/attachments/original/1692660875/Queensland_policy_overview_-_First_Nations_and_Clean_Energy_Aug_2023.pdf?1692660875">Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/diversification-leases">Western Australia</a> have both implemented policies and South Australia is developing <a href="https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/lz?path=/b/current/hydrogen%20and%20renewable%20energy%20bill%202023">legislation</a> that make it clear these states will require renewable energy developers to negotiate an agreement with First Nations land holders. Because these agreements are voluntary, native title holders can refuse to allow large wind and solar farms on their Country.</p>
<p>As always, these decisions come with caveats. Governments can compulsorily acquire land, and many of the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19452829.2021.1901670">power imbalances</a> we observed in our earlier article persist. These include the power corporations have – unlike most Indigenous communities – to employ independent legal and technical advice about proposed projects, and to easily access finance when a community would like to develop a project itself.</p>
<h2>Promising partnerships on the road to net zero</h2>
<p>Are First Nations peoples refusing to have wind and solar projects on their land? No, they are not. Many significant proposed projects announced in the last few years show huge promise in terms of First Nations ownership and control.</p>
<p>In Western Australia the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-17/yindjibarndi-to-use-exclusive-native-title-land-for-renewables/102609826">partnership</a> between Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and renewable energy company ACEN plans to build three gigawatts of solar and wind infrastructure on Yindjibarndi exclusive possession native title. Mirning traditional owners hold equity stakes in one of the largest green energy projects in the world, the massive <a href="https://wgeh.com.au/mirning#:%7E:text=The%20WA%20Mirning%20People%20are,transcontinental%20lines%20in%20the%20North.">Western Green Energy Hub</a> located on their lands in the great Australian Bight.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-urgently-needs-a-climate-plan-and-a-net-zero-national-cabinet-committee-to-implement-it-213866">Why Australia urgently needs a climate plan and a Net Zero National Cabinet Committee to implement it</a>
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<p>Further north, Balanggarra traditional owners, the MG Corporation and the Kimberley Land Council have together announced a landmark East Kimberley Clean Energy <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/aboriginal-backing-for-3b-kimberley-hydrogen-project-20230717-p5dovg">project</a> aimed at producing green hydrogen and ammonia for export. </p>
<p>Across the border in the Northern Territory, Larrakia Nation and the Jawoyn Association have created Desert Springs Octopus, a majority Indigenous-owned <a href="https://octopusinvestments.com.au/insights/desert-springs-octopus-announces-new-renewable-energy-agreement/">company</a> backed by Octopus Australia. </p>
<p>Still, much more needs to happen to provide Indigenous communities with proper consent and control. In its 2023 <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Cook%20Labor%20Government/Milestone-new-legislation-helps-cut-red-tape-20230810#:%7E:text=The%20amendments%20which%20deliver%20a,Act%202023(the%20Act).">amendments</a> to allow for renewable energy projects on pastoral leases, the Western Australian government could have given native title holders more control but it chose not to. And much needed reforms to cultural heritage laws in WA were scrapped following <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-10/roger-cook-leadership-aboriginal-cultural-heritage-act/102706694?utm_campaign=newsweb-article-new-share-null&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web">a backlash from farmers</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/made-in-america-how-bidens-climate-package-is-fuelling-the-global-drive-to-net-zero-214709">Made in America: how Biden's climate package is fuelling the global drive to net zero</a>
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<p>In New South Wales, some clean energy developers seem to be avoiding Aboriginal lands, perhaps because they think it will be easier to negotiate with individual landholders. The result is lost <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/fncen/pages/232/attachments/original/1685504567/Norman_Briggs_Apolonio_Discussionpaper_012023.pdf?1685504567">opportunities for partnership</a>, much needed <a href="https://arena.org.au/first-nations-environmental-work/">know-how</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/solarinsiders/the-power-of-putting-first-nations-first?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fsolarinsiders%252Fthe-power-of-putting-first-nations-first">mutual benefit</a>. </p>
<p>In the case of critical mineral deposits on or near lands subject to First Nations’ title, <a href="https://nit.com.au/11-04-2023/5559/the-practical-effect-of-an-indigenous-voice-the-case-of-critical-minerals">not nearly enough</a> has been done to ensure these communities will benefit from their extraction.</p>
<h2>Why free, prior and informed consent is crucial</h2>
<p>To ensure the net zero transition is just, First Nations must be guaranteed “free, prior and informed consent” to any renewable energy or critical mineral project proposed for their lands and waters, as <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> makes clear.</p>
<p>So long as governments can compulsorily acquire native title to expedite a renewable energy project and miners are allowed to mine critical minerals (or any mineral) without native title holders’ consent, the net zero transition will transgress this internationally recognised right. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth government has agreed in principle with the recommendations of the Juukan Gorge inquiry to review native title legislation to address inequalities in the position of First Nations peoples when they are negotiating <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/australian-response-to-destruction-of-juukan-gorge.pdf">access to their lands and waters</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-road-is-long-and-time-is-short-but-australias-pace-towards-net-zero-is-quickening-214570">The road is long and time is short, but Australia's pace towards net zero is quickening</a>
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<p>The meaningful participation of First Nations rights holders is critical to de-risking clean energy projects. Communities must decide the forms participation takes – full or part ownership, leasing and so on – after they have properly assessed their options. Rapid electrification through wind and solar developments cannot <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/ark-energy-halves-size-of-queensland-wind-farm-but-doubles-size-of-turbines/">come</a> at the expense of land clearing and loss of biodiversity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">Ongoing research</a> highlights that when negotiating land access for these projects, First Nations people are putting protection of the environment first when negotiating the footprint of these developments. That’s good news for all Australians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213864/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ganur Maynard was formerly a member of the steering committee of the First Nations Clean Energy Network. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Riley, Janet Hunt, and Lily O'Neill do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s road to net zero must pass through Indigenous-held land, which is likely to host many clean energy projects. First Nations people want partnerships that help them protect their Country.Lily O'Neill, Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Climate Futures, The University of MelbourneBrad Riley, Research Fellow, Australian National UniversityGanur Maynard, Indigenous Knowledge Holder, Indigenous KnowledgeJanet Hunt, Honorary Associate Professor, CAEPR, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112812023-08-09T08:29:08Z2023-08-09T08:29:08ZWord from The Hill: Voice proponents and opponents draw succour from heritage backdown; ALP toughens Palestine policy to placate party; more questions follow Lehrmann inquiry<p>As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation’s politics team.</p>
<p>In this podcast Michelle and politics + society editor Amanda Dunn discuss the announcement from Western Australian Premier Roger Cook that a controversial cultural heritage law would be overturned, with the former legislation reinstated with amendments. The law was put in place after mining giant Rio Tinto blew up the Juukan Gorge, a sacred place for First Australians. </p>
<p>They also canvass the government’s continuing problems in the Voice campaign, and the fallout from the inquiry into the handling of the Bruce Lehrmann case. In a bizarre twist, the former judge who did the investigation is now in trouble with the ACT government, who appointed him.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In this podcast Michelle and politics + society editor Amanda Dunn discuss the WA government scrapping a controversial law, the government's policy on Palestine, and the fallout from the Lehrmann case inquiry.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112022023-08-08T05:52:51Z2023-08-08T05:52:51ZWA Premier Roger Cook says ‘sorry’ as he dumps Aboriginal cultural heritage law<p>The Western Australian government, announcing it is backing down on its controversial law to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage, has apologised to the people of the state for getting it “wrong”. </p>
<p>Premier Roger Cook on Tuesday confirmed the retreat, saying the government would now restore the state’s 1972 law, with amendments. </p>
<p>All the additional obligations which the new legislation put on landowners will now go. </p>
<p>The new law, passed with bipartisan support in 2021 in the wake of Rio Tinto’s destruction of 46,000 years old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in 2020, has only been operating several weeks. It has attracted extensive criticism from property owners, farmers and the resource sector. </p>
<p>Opposition leader Peter Dutton immediately drew a contrast with the Voice. </p>
<p>He told the Coalition parties meeting the WA law was well intended but had unintended consequences. “The good news though is that because it was legislation it can be remedied and the harm can be undone. But that’s not the case with The Voice.</p>
<p>"The changes to the Constitution proposed by the Albanese government would be permanent. Unintended consequences would also be permanent. Any notion that a future government could attempt to go back to the Australian public and ask to wind it back are fanciful,” Dutton said.</p>
<p>In his mea culpa Cook, who has been premier only two months, said: “The Juukan Gorge tragedy was a global embarrassment, but our response was wrong. We took it too far, unintentionally causing stress, confusion and division in the community.”</p>
<p>“We got the balance wrong, what we did hasn’t worked – it’s vital we manage cultural heritage in a common sense manner, so we can move forward together as a community,” he said. </p>
<p>“The complicated regulations, the burden on landowners and the poor rollout of the new laws have been unworkable for all members of our community – and for that I am sorry.” </p>
<p>He said the amendments to be made to the revived 1972 law would prevent “another Juukan Gorge”.</p>
<p>Indigenous representatives have expressed dismay at the WA government action. </p>
<p>Cook rejected suggestions he had been under pressure from the federal government to drop the new law in order to remove a referendum impediment. </p>
<p>But some in the “yes” campaign for the Voice believe it is helpful for their case. Liberal MP Julian Leeser, a “yes” advocate, welcomed the decision saying the issue had become a “big distraction”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>WA Premier Roger Cook has apologised to the state for getting the rollout “wrong”, while rejecting suggestions he was under pressure from the federal government to drop it to remove a referendum impedimentMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1988702023-02-01T04:21:06Z2023-02-01T04:21:06ZI study how radiation interacts with the environment – and the capsule lost in WA is a whole new ballgame<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507273/original/file-20230131-125-wacbvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4525%2C3021&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>By now, you’ve probably heard about a tiny radioactive capsule that went missing from the back of a truck somewhere in Western Australia. Inside is a small but dangerous amount of Caesium-137, a radioactive chemical element that can harm both people and nature.</p>
<p>My research <a href="https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/science/research/school-centres/centre-for-marine-ecosystems-research/research-themes/marine-radioactivity-and-tracers2/related-content/lists/reconstruction-of-environmental-change-using-natural-archives">focuses on</a> detecting human-caused radioactive elements in the Australian environment. </p>
<p>These chemicals can <a href="https://www.irsn.fr/EN/publications/technical-publications/Documents/long_term_environmental_behaviour_of_radionuclides.pdf">persist</a> in water, soil, sediments, plants and animals, and even travel up food chains. But the situation of the lost capsule is unique. That makes it hard to predict the environmental damage it might cause.</p>
<p>Should the capsule not be found immediately, we can’t just write it off as lost. A long-term system of surveys and sampling will be needed, across a broad area, to monitor for radiation and protect humans and the environment.</p>
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<img alt="rocky hills at sunset" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507275/original/file-20230131-24-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The landscape near Newman in remote WA, where the capsule began its journey. The environmental effects of the accident are unknown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Stay well away</h2>
<p>The radioactive capsule fell from a truck somewhere along a 1,400-kilometre stretch of road between Newman and Perth. Authorities are now searching for it.</p>
<p>The device was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/rio-tinto-apologises-after-radioactive-capsule-lost-australia-2023-01-29/">part of a gauge</a> being used at a Rio Tinto mine in the Kimberley region and was being transported by a contractor.</p>
<p>It contained Caesium-137, a nuclear fission product used in high-tech equipment. The radioactive element is also a byproduct of nuclear weapons and reactors.</p>
<p>The lost device is tiny – just 6mm by 8mm. The Caesium-137 is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/abcperth/videos/dfes-are-providing-a-live-update-about-a-current-hazmat-incident/1366569623917214/">contained</a> in ceramic material, which is then encased in a steel outer shell.</p>
<p>The capsule could eventually corrode when exposed to the elements.</p>
<p>People who come across the capsule could become seriously unwell, including developing burns, radiation sickness and, in the longer term, cancer. But plants, animals and ecosystems are at risk, too.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1618912394968981512"}"></div></p>
<h2>How might nature be harmed?</h2>
<p>It’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0265931X96892769">well-documented</a> that caesium can accumulate in food webs. </p>
<p>The capsule was lost in a remote outback area. There, small animals such as insects and rodents could ingest all or part of the capsule, and suffer ill-effects. Plants can also absorb radiation.</p>
<p>If those animals or plants are then eaten by other animals, the radioactive caesium may travel up the food chain.</p>
<p>Research has found lower animal population sizes and reduced biodiversity in high-radiation areas. Radioactive caesium from Chernobyl, for example, can <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-chernobyl-and-fukushima-radioactivity-has-seriously-harmed-wildlife-57030">still be detected</a> in some food products today.</p>
<p>The damage caused by radiation varies depending on the type of radiation emitted, the amount of radiation present, and the ways a person or organism interacts with it. An animal that ingests the capsule, for instance, would suffer more harm than one that briefly walked past it.</p>
<p>My PhD research involves testing for radioactivity in the marine environment of the Montebello Islands off WA, where Britain conducted nuclear tests in the 1950s. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I discovered human-caused radioactive elements including Caesium-137. The elements exceeded “background” levels – in other words, the levels you could expect in the soil in a suburban backyard or in sand at your local beach. </p>
<p>We are currently seeking to understand if these levels pose a risk to people and nature, and how the radioactive elements move around the environment.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tiny-radioactive-capsule-is-lost-on-a-highway-in-western-australia-heres-what-you-need-to-know-198761">A tiny radioactive capsule is lost on a highway in Western Australia. Here's what you need to know</a>
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<img alt="woman stands in coastal landscape with pipes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507276/original/file-20230131-24-kpf32l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author at the Montebello Islands where she and her team tested for radioactivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kathryn McMahon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The great unknown</h2>
<p>WA authorities are searching for the lost capsule by trying to detect radiation from Caesium-137 in the environment. But this will not be easy. </p>
<p>The radiation was not dispersed over a large area, such as in a mushroom cloud following a weapons test. It was encased and condensed – though it may eventually escape the casing. </p>
<p>Working out what harm the radiation may cause is also difficult. The two most notable releases of Caesium-137 to date have occurred overseas, at <a href="https://www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_28292/chernobyl-chapter-ii-the-release-dispersion-deposition-and-behaviour-of-radionuclides">Chernobyl</a> in Ukraine and <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-9404-2_1">Fukushima</a> in Japan. Both were large-scale releases from nuclear power plants – very different to the current situation in WA.</p>
<p>There have been smaller radioactive releases around the world. But most occurred in environments very different to Australia’s. We don’t have a great deal of information about how Caesium-137, and other radioactive elements, move through hot, arid environments such as ours.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="damaged nuclear power plant" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507277/original/file-20230131-16-8nj0xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Most Caaesium-137 releases to date have occurred overseas at places such as Fukushima.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP/KYDPL KYODO</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How long will the radiation last?</h2>
<p>This lost capsule is an entirely different ballgame to Caesium-137 releases in the past. Its radiation is currently 19 billion becquerels (a unit used to measure radioactivity). That is many orders of magnitude greater than what I’m dealing with at the Montebello Islands, for example.</p>
<p>If we apply what’s known as the <a href="https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ExponentialDecay.html">exponential decay equation</a>, in 100 years’ time the capsule’s radiation level will have fallen to about 1.9 billion becquerels. But even then it might still pose a risk to people or the environment. </p>
<p>Using the same equation, in 1,000 years, the radiation level will be about 1.9 becquerels. This might be too low for our current instruments to detect, and might not necessarily pose a significant safety hazard. However, the risk would still depend on many variables.</p>
<h2>The long game</h2>
<p>At the moment, the search for the lost capsule is in the acute phase. Let’s hope authorities find it soon. </p>
<p>If that doesn’t happen, the next step will be determining how to best keep looking for it. </p>
<p>The current resource-intensive searching – such as scouring highways on foot or slowly by vehicle – can’t go on forever. But if the capsule remains lost, ongoing sampling, surveys and monitoring is needed to protect people and the environment over the longer term. </p>
<p>Understandably, headlines about radiation accidents evoke public concern. But it’s important to stress that, if the device remains on the side of the road, the probability of a person stumbling across it by accident is very small. </p>
<p>Although unfortunately, the same can’t be said for wildlife.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-bananas-really-radioactive-an-expert-clears-up-common-misunderstandings-about-radiation-193211">Are bananas really 'radioactive'? An expert clears up common misunderstandings about radiation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madison Williams-Hoffman receives funding from the federal government RTP Scholarship program, Her PhD has also been partially funded by Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).</span></em></p>Should the capsule not be found immediately, we can’t just write it off as lost. A long term system of monitoring is needed to protect humans and the environment.Madison Williams-Hoffman, PhD Candidate in Environmental Radioactivity, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1905102022-09-23T11:03:57Z2022-09-23T11:03:57ZTo reach net zero the world still needs mining. After 26 years, here’s what I’ve learned about this ‘evil’ industry<p>On the wooded hill above the Stan Terg lead and zinc mine in Kosovo, there is an old concrete diving platform looming over what was once an open-air swimming pool. Before the break-up of Yugoslavia, people who worked at the mine would bring their families here to swim, sunbathe on the wide terrace with its view across the valley, and picnic among the trees. Now the pool is slowly disappearing into the forest, the view obscured by birch saplings.</p>
<hr>
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<p>I am with Peter*, an Albanian mine worker who used to come up here with his friends before the <a href="https://borgenproject.org/the-kosovo-war/">war began</a> in 1998. Back then, Serbs and Albanians would use the pool and nearby tennis courts together, but there are no Serb mining families here now. Two decades on, the ruination in the landscape still seems unsettling – a reminder for Peter that something valuable has been lost. “I don’t know what the hell happened here,” he says.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485294/original/file-20220919-20-disl7s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485294/original/file-20220919-20-disl7s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485294/original/file-20220919-20-disl7s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485294/original/file-20220919-20-disl7s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485294/original/file-20220919-20-disl7s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485294/original/file-20220919-20-disl7s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485294/original/file-20220919-20-disl7s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485294/original/file-20220919-20-disl7s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The abandoned swimming pool and diving board at Stan Terg in Kosovo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bridget Storrie</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As we walk along a winding path he points to a cluster of blue flowers, little starbursts of colour nestled in the dead bracken. “That’s a sign there are metals underneath,” he tells me. They are a quiet reminder of the ore-rich rock that continues to disrupt life in this <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/62382069">uneasy corner of Kosovo</a>.</p>
<p>Mines like Stan Terg seem to lurk in the public imagination as remote places that are dangerous, dirty, damaging, violent and destructive. They pollute streams, corrupt politicians, degrade communities and explode indigenous artefacts. </p>
<p>Or they are places where bad people go – those who exploit and extract at the expense of others, human and nonhuman, and are not concerned about the cost. We seem to prefer not to think about them unless we have to.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>And yet, we can’t live our modern lives without mining. We may slowly be turning our backs on fossil fuels, but what about all the other geological resources with which our lives are entangled? The mined ore in our mobile phones – those palm-size assemblages of cobalt, lithium, copper, manganese and tungsten. The lead and zinc in our car batteries, the aluminium in our bicycles, the steel in our buildings, and the copper in the hidden networks of cabling that hold our worlds together.</p>
<p>The problem of mining is one for all of us. But what sort of problem is it?</p>
<h2>Mining and me</h2>
<p>My first encounter with mining came when I worked as a television news journalist for ITN in Moscow. It was 1993, and I was travelling with two colleagues across Russia doing some filming ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. We had spent the day in a dilapidated helicopter tracking the Trans-Siberian Express as it wound its way through the birch forests below us. The day ended with an emergency landing in a snow field and a lift back to the town of Irkutsk in a truck.</p>
<p>That evening, we met a group of British men in a gloomy hotel bar. None of them spoke Russian or seemed to have travelled far from their beer glasses. It turned out they were mining engineers on their way to some remote operation further north, pulled to the heart of Siberia by whatever strange thing that mine promised them. Money? Promotion? Easy sex? Theirs wasn’t a world I wanted to be part of.</p>
<p>Little did I know. Two years later, overwhelmed after the war in Chechnya, undone by a conflict with a colleague and reeling from a failed relationship, I fell out of my journalistic life and landed in a small seaside town in Namibia with a baby daughter and a man I’d married but barely knew. He was a mining engineer who drove 60 kilometres inland each morning to the uranium mine that had operated there since 1976.</p>
<p>Suddenly everything about my life – where I lived, who I met, what I did, how I felt – was mediated by a vast, contentious, spiralled hole in an ancient desert that most people preferred not to think about. I was a white mining wife sucked into a strange world of bake sales, coffee mornings and housing officers who matched the quality of homes offered with the importance of our husbands’ jobs. We were not at the top of the pile.</p>
<p>On our first weekend, my husband’s throat was cut by three young men trying to break into the small, terraced house we had been allotted. He saved his own life by drawing on his training with the Royal Marines, holding his slashed neck together, keeping his pulse low and only collapsing when he made it into the back of the ambulance.</p>
<p>The police told us the men were from Angola, drawn to this area because of the uranium and the wealth it had created. You can’t live near a mine without being aware of the inequalities it encourages.</p>
<p>Since those early days in Namibia, we have moved from mine to mine around the world, making and remaking our lives in the US, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Mongolia, Serbia, then back to Canada again. With each move, I have thought more about the complexities, controversies and conflicts that surround resource extraction. Were we making our own lives at the expense of others?</p>
<p>Whether it’s uranium in Namibia, lead and zinc in Kosovo or <a href="https://londonminingnetwork.org/2022/01/mongolian-herders-protest-at-rio-tintos-oyu-tolgoi-mine/">copper in the Gobi desert</a>, all geological entities become disruptive once they are mapped out and given value. Earlier in 2022, Rio Tinto – the world’s second-largest metals and mining corporation – had its <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/serbian-government-revokes-rio-tintos-licences-lithium-project-2022-01-20/">exploration licences revoked by the government of Serbia</a> after thousands of people took to the streets, demanding that the development of a lithium mine should stop on environmental grounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485569/original/file-20220920-21-47lx2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters release flares from a city bridge" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485569/original/file-20220920-21-47lx2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485569/original/file-20220920-21-47lx2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485569/original/file-20220920-21-47lx2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485569/original/file-20220920-21-47lx2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485569/original/file-20220920-21-47lx2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485569/original/file-20220920-21-47lx2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485569/original/file-20220920-21-47lx2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An anti-Rio Tinto protest in the Serbian capital Belgrade, December 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/belgrade-serbiadecember-2021-protestants-serbia-bloking-2086194934">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>We left Belgrade in 2018, before the project became controversial, but for seven years we had been deeply involved with the complexities of mining in the Balkans. My husband led the Rio Tinto team in Serbia, and I was <a href="https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10125631/">working on my PhD research</a> at Stan Terg exploring the relationship between mining, conflict and peace. We would be on the wrong side of public sentiment if we lived and worked there now. That’s an uncomfortable feeling – not because it makes me think my association with mining puts me on the moral low ground, but because it’s frustrating.</p>
<h2>No easy answers</h2>
<p>The mining industry is changing, driven not just by international standards and external pressures but by internal forces too. I’ve met botanists, ornithologists, ecologists, archaeologists, former teachers, people who used to work for NGOs, and a host of others in the industry who are all, in their own ways, wondering how to improve things. That’s not to argue that power rests in their hands, but there is more in common between some of the people who work within mining and those who oppose it than might be imagined.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485586/original/file-20220920-12-mb087y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Anti-mine protesters march along a street behind a large banner" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485586/original/file-20220920-12-mb087y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485586/original/file-20220920-12-mb087y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485586/original/file-20220920-12-mb087y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485586/original/file-20220920-12-mb087y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485586/original/file-20220920-12-mb087y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485586/original/file-20220920-12-mb087y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485586/original/file-20220920-12-mb087y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous communities of the Salinas Grandes in Argentina protest against lithium mining on their territory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/san-salvador-de-jujuy-jujuyargentina-05242019-1407210869">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>The frustration is that focusing entirely on the environmental and social harms caused by mining risks avoiding the true extent of the challenge mining presents us with, and the complex ways we are all tied up in it because of our consumer appetites. </p>
<p>If building a lithium mine is unacceptable in Serbia as a means to satisfy our demands, what does that mean for the lithium-rich salt flats in Chile and the Indigenous groups living there who are concerned about the <a href="https://www.mining.com/how-to-accurately-determine-the-impact-of-lithium-mining-on-water-sources/">impact of mining on their water sources</a>? Or for the lithium <a href="https://www.renewablematter.eu/articles/article/ukraine-all-lithium-reserves-and-mineral-resources-in-war-zones">under Mariupol in Ukraine</a> that was attracting international attention before the war?</p>
<p>When Serbia’s tennis hero Novak Djokovic tweeted photos of the protests along with a declaration that we need “clean air”, I wanted to rest my forehead on my desk. He’s right, of course we need clean air. But the lithium required to achieve it must urgently come from somewhere.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1467259910052274185"}"></div></p>
<p>The problem is in many sectors we need more mining, not less, for the transition to a zero carbon future. The <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/05/11/mineral-production-to-soar-as-demand-for-clean-energy-increases">World Bank has predicted</a> that the production of graphite, lithium and cobalt will have to increase five-fold by 2050 if climate targets are to be met, and the demand for lithium-ion batteries already has analysts describing lithium as “<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/china-lithium-mining-production/">white oil</a>”. </p>
<p>In April 2022, US president Joe Biden used a <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/quick-payoff-unlikely-in-biden-order-to-boost-lithium-mining-/6552021.html">cold war-era law</a> – the 1950 Defense Production Act – to boost the production of lithium in the US, along with nickel and other minerals needed to power our electric vehicles. </p>
<p>Similarly, copper is integral for key <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/gs-research/copper-is-the-new-oil/report.pdf">large-scale decarbonisation technologies</a> such as offshore wind projects. Working out how to source these materials has been made more urgent by the war in Ukraine, and the need to <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/articles/theimpactofsanctionsonuktradewithrussia/june2022">reduce dependency</a> not only on Russian oil and gas but on its minerals and metals too.</p>
<p>After 26 years, I have learned that all mining operations – actual and potential – require us to pay attention to what is most difficult about our lives: how what we consume relates to the future of the planet and the lives of those we share it with. The problem of mining is not just one of how we should extract, but how we should live. </p>
<h2>A story of optimism and attachment</h2>
<p>The people I met at Stan Terg in 2018 told me a story about mining that was not just about dirt, degradation and pollution, but also their enduring attachment to the mine and what it promises. </p>
<p>Stan Terg is the oldest mine within the huge, decaying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trep%C4%8Da_Mines">Trepča industrial complex</a> – an ecology of mines and related infrastructure concentrated in the northern part of Kosovo. This small mine tucked away up a wooded valley, ten kilometres north-east of the town of Kosovska Mitrovica, was first developed by a British mining company in the 1920s, shortly after Serbia’s reconquest of Kosovo.</p>
<p>When the British travel writer <a href="http://www.theheroinecollective.com/rebecca-west/">Rebecca West</a> visited here <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lamb_and_Grey_Falcon">in 1937</a>, she was enchanted by the English-style mining cottages with their unguarded front gardens and windows facing the road, reflecting the setting sun. To West, these houses expressed confidence that the mine would bring not only prosperity but also peace to this troubled region. Its Scottish general manager employed both Serbs and Albanians and was certain they would work well together. “This country,” he told West, “is getting over its past nicely.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485289/original/file-20220919-14-wboteo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485289/original/file-20220919-14-wboteo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485289/original/file-20220919-14-wboteo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485289/original/file-20220919-14-wboteo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485289/original/file-20220919-14-wboteo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485289/original/file-20220919-14-wboteo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485289/original/file-20220919-14-wboteo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485289/original/file-20220919-14-wboteo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stan Terg is the oldest mine in the huge Trepča industrial complex in northern Kosovo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bridget Storrie</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nearly 90 years later, the ruins of the houses that delighted West still exist above the Stan Terg mine, but they are pitted with bullet holes. While the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kosovo/etc/cron.html">war between Serbia and Kosovo</a> in the late 1990s was not (ostensibly) over natural resources, a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/1a2c245317a99107c18339028304a797">strike by the Albanian mineworkers</a> at Stan Terg in 1989 was part of the political upheaval that preceded the violent break-up of Yugoslavia and ultimately led to Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008. </p>
<p>Now this part of Kosovo is <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/1/kosovo-delays-planned-serbian-border-rules-after-tensions-rise">uneasily divided</a>. Four Serb-dominated municipalities close to the border are still <em>de facto</em> ruled by Belgrade. The town of Kosovska Mitrovica, once the bustling, multicultural, industrial heart of this region, has been bisected – Serbs largely to the north of the river Ibar with their language, dinar currency and orientation towards Belgrade; Kosovan Albanians to the south.</p>
<p>But it is not just people who are divided here. Trepča’s smelter, flotation plant and three northernmost mines are also under Belgrade’s control. Settling the future of the complex is an explosive issue: a mining complex that once promised to bring people together is now pushing them apart – lending its geological heft to a conflict that has become intractable.</p>
<p>Yet the Kosovan-Albanian workers at Stan Terg are still optimistic that their mine can change things for the better. “I feel hope when I go down the mine,” one tells me. Another says it is a pleasure to work in the place that will one day make the economy better. A third describes the feeling he had when he returned to the mine after the war once the Serbs had left: “There was no happiness like it. It wasn’t just that I was going to get paid, but Kosovo was going to get stronger too.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-soviet-miner-from-the-1930s-helped-create-todays-intense-corporate-workplace-culture-155814">How a Soviet miner from the 1930s helped create today’s intense corporate workplace culture</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This is not an easy optimism to hold on to, however. It is contradicted by the ruination around us – the destroyed cinema, collapsing hotel and crumbling diving board – and by the mineworkers’ acknowledgement that life is not how they expected it would be. A tearful man worries that he made a mistake when he brought his family back here after the war. Another struggles to breathe because of the damage to his lungs. “The mine produces cripples,” he tells me.</p>
<p>Yet despite the destruction, pollution and disappointment, the mineworkers still insist that the lead and zinc rich rock beneath them is a “gift from God”, and that it will bring them all prosperity in the end.</p>
<p>Talking with these mineworkers, I realise that what is important here is the painful and profound process of creating worlds and hoping they will last; coping with the disappointment when they don’t; and remaining optimistic that a mine will deliver some sort of good life amid the evidence it never has – at least not for long.</p>
<h2>A problem of world-making</h2>
<p>Mining is not just a problem of extraction and the environmental degradation associated with it. It is also a problem of world-making. What sort of worlds do we want our geological resources to create for us? Who are they for? How long will they last? And who, and what, might suffer because of them?</p>
<p>It is tempting to think this problem is a local one – something that happens “over there” on the shores of an Arctic fjord, in the Namibian desert, in a taiga forest in the heart of Siberia, or in semi-recognised geopolitical entities with travel advisories like northern Kosovo. </p>
<p>Yet metals and minerals promise to make the world different for all of us. The lithium in our antidepressants. The stainless steel in the needles of our syringes that deliver vaccines, anaesthetics, Botox. The aluminium in our heat pumps, the copper in our wind turbines, the titanium in the <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/">Mars Exploration Rovers</a> and the gold in the <a href="https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/index.html">James Webb telescope</a>. They all bring certain futures into view and allow us to feel confident about them: that we won’t be sad, that we won’t age, that we can achieve <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/net-zero-coalition#:%7E:text=Currently%2C%20the%20Earth%20is%20already,reach%20net%20zero%20by%202050.">net-zero carbon</a> and look after the planet – even that we can find an alternative world to escape to.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485587/original/file-20220920-3577-u3g0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial view across an open copper mine to the town beyond" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485587/original/file-20220920-3577-u3g0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485587/original/file-20220920-3577-u3g0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485587/original/file-20220920-3577-u3g0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485587/original/file-20220920-3577-u3g0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485587/original/file-20220920-3577-u3g0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485587/original/file-20220920-3577-u3g0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485587/original/file-20220920-3577-u3g0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A copper mine in Erdenet, Mongolia. Global demand for copper is predicted to double by 2035.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/stock-image-benches-of-an-open-pit-copper-mine-of-the-erdenet-mining-corporation-160704509.html?imageid=48CCF882-09B1-4F59-A741-3995D9B18DD7&p=53965&pn=1&searchId=e1f3410eb98871f6533a210e887755e9&searchtype=0">GFC Collection/Alamy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But they do so at a cost. The global hypodermic needles market is estimated to reach <a href="https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/hypodermic-needles-market-expected-to-reach-4-5-billion-by-2030">US$4.5bn by 2030</a>. Europe’s aluminium smelters are facing an energy crisis while <a href="https://www.mining.com/web/column-global-aluminum-production-pendulum-swings-back-to-china/">China is ramping up its production</a> based on an increase in coal production. The war in Ukraine is threatening to disrupt titanium supplies. Demand for copper is <a href="https://cleanenergynews.ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/energy-transition-to-drive-doubling-of-copper-demand-by-2035-s.html">predicted to double</a> to 50 million tonnes by 2035, but supply is unlikely to keep up and the net-zero transition might be delayed as a result.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/14/copper-is-key-to-electric-vehicles-wind-and-solar-power-were-short-supply.html">According to Dan Yergin</a>, global vice-chairman of the S&P business intelligence group, we can’t assume that copper and other metals and minerals “will just be there”. New geopolitical worlds are likely to emerge in the rush to acquire them. </p>
<p>Like the miners at Stan Terg, are we attached to an idea of the world that is not the same as the one we live in?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sulfuric-acid-the-next-resource-crisis-that-could-stifle-green-tech-and-threaten-food-security-186765">Sulfuric acid: the next resource crisis that could stifle green tech and threaten food security</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For now, the lithium and borates-rich rock under the Jadar valley in Serbia is being pulled in all directions. People interested in protecting the environment want it to stay in the ground. A local farmer understandably wants to preserve his land. Yet we need to unearth vast of amounts of lithium from somewhere if we are to swap our petrol cars for electric ones.</p>
<p>Meanwhile mining company shareholders expect their dividend cheques, politicians want to be re-elected, people need to feel they are listened to and have some control, and everyone, in their own way, wants to prosper. This geological body, like any other, is asking questions that are hard to answer. Whose future counts? And at what cost?</p>
<h2>At the bottom of their world</h2>
<p>Before leaving Stan Terg I travel down to the bottom of the mine, three-quarters of a kilometre underground. The mineworkers – all men – have told me I cannot properly understand their world unless I experience it.</p>
<p>I watch the wet walls of the mineshaft slip past as we descend, notice the drips of water on my helmet and a deep bass hum coming from somewhere I cannot place. I am travelling back in geological time, past rocks that are increasingly ancient as we descend. For we don’t just possess tiny pieces of Kosovo, Siberia or Alaska in the smartphones in our pockets, but elements of the deep past too – minute reminders that the world we create with them should be enduring.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485591/original/file-20220920-3427-nbxfx6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A mine corridor lit with electric lights" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485591/original/file-20220920-3427-nbxfx6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485591/original/file-20220920-3427-nbxfx6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485591/original/file-20220920-3427-nbxfx6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485591/original/file-20220920-3427-nbxfx6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485591/original/file-20220920-3427-nbxfx6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485591/original/file-20220920-3427-nbxfx6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485591/original/file-20220920-3427-nbxfx6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A different world … Inside the Stan Terg mine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bridget Storrie</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I feel disoriented at the bottom of the mine, but the workers are intimate with this place. They tell me they feel good down here. I watch as they stride off along the tunnel, their boots splashing in the water.</p>
<p>For them, the rock around us is like a human body with veins of minerals and the capacity to expand and contract as if it is breathing. They listen to the noises it makes and understand what it says to them. After so many years, they know the sound of danger.</p>
<p>But this mine also holds their memories of the days when Serbs and Albanians worked together here before the war, and of the trust that emerged between them deep underground. “There are no ethnicities in a mine,” one worker tells me, “just miners.” Another says he’d like to see his old colleagues again, although he knows not everyone would agree with him.</p>
<p>There is optimism here, of sorts: “The problem started in Trepča and the solution will be found here too,” I am told. “If we learn how to develop Kosovo together, peace will happen.” </p>
<p>Yet for all their familiarity with this place, it still has the power to surprise them. Every day they find something ancient and unexpected sparkling in the light of their headlamps. There are thousands of breathtakingly beautiful crystals down here, and none of them are the same.</p>
<p>They are powerful objects, these crystals. I have a collection on my windowsill at home: palm-sized silver and white spines of quartz, pyrite and a host of other materials – disrupting what we think we know about mining, what we might expect to find at the bottom of a lead and zinc mine in the context of conflict, and how people might think and feel when they are down there. There is more to this world, they seem to say, than we might imagine. </p>
<p><em>*Research participant’s name changed to protect their anonymity</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
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<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190510/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bridget Storrie worked as a consultant for Rio Tinto for eight months in 2010-11. Her husband was a Rio Tinto employee from 1996 to 2022 and has now left the mining industry. </span></em></p>Our prospects of a better, fairer future are inextricably linked with the minerals and metals beneath our feet. Is it time to make peace with the industry that extracts them?Bridget Storrie, Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow, Institute for Global Prosperity, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1899652022-09-08T20:05:45Z2022-09-08T20:05:45Z3 ways the fossil fuel industry failed women (and how clean energy can learn from its mistakes)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483153/original/file-20220907-18-t8vvsk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C2552%2C1697&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://internationalwim.org/photogallery/">Papa Aliou Sylla/IWiM</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A crucial outcome of Australia’s jobs summit last week was the commitment <a href="https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/education/husic-orders-review-of-women-in-stem-20220905-p5bffr">to review</a> programs aimed at boosting the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. </p>
<p>Energy is a particularly <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/stem-equity-monitor/stem-qualified-occupations">male-dominated</a> STEM industry, with clean energy on the brink of massive expansion. However, to ensure the clean energy industry is truly sustainable, it must learn from the mistakes of the mining and fossil fuel industry. </p>
<p>If mining workplaces are anything to go by, the clean energy sector will have their work cut out for them to retain women in the workforce.</p>
<p>It’s easy to understand why women are leaving careers in the fossil fuel sector. For example, a Western Australian <a href="https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/commit.nsf/(Report+Lookup+by+Com+ID)/EF1DF1A3F5DF74A848258869000E6B32/$file/20220621%20-Report%20No%202.pdf">parliamentary inquiry</a> earlier this year revealed appalling reports of widespread sexual harassment and assault in the state’s fly-in-fly-out mining industry.</p>
<p>As a woman who used to work in and with the mining sector, these findings were no surprise to me. Only by creating workplaces that are inclusive of women and other underrepresented groups will the clean energy sector unlock the economic and innovation benefits of a diverse workforce. </p>
<h2>By the numbers</h2>
<p>At a glance, it seems Australia’s clean energy industry is making great progress.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://assets.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/documents/resources/reports/Empowering-Everyone-Diversity-in-the-Australian-Clean-Energy-Sector.pdf">2021 Clean Energy Council survey</a> found 39% of Australia’s clean energy workforce identify as women. Compare this to 32% of the global renewables sector, 25.9% in <a href="https://data.wgea.gov.au/comparison/?id1=90&id2=240">Australia’s</a> oil and gas sector, and 17.5% in coal mining. </p>
<p>However, the Australian result was based on a voluntary survey of the renewables sector, which people who feel marginalised by their diversity are more likely to opt into. This means the percentage of women in the sector actually may be lower. </p>
<p>The male-dominated renewables construction sector also had low representation in survey responses, further skewing results.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trailblazing-women-who-broke-into-engineering-in-the-1970s-reflect-on-whats-changed-and-what-hasnt-167502">Trailblazing women who broke into engineering in the 1970s reflect on what's changed – and what hasn't</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If we look at the mining sector overall, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/census">census data</a> reveals that at junior levels there is a relatively even gender split, with women comprising roughly 40% of 20-27 year olds in the industry. </p>
<p>But this gender split doesn’t persist for long. The proportion of women in mining begins to decrease from age 28, so that in the 56-59 age bracket, women comprise less than 15% of the workforce. The census data also reveal there has been little improvement in these numbers in the last 15 years.</p>
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<p>So why are women leaving the mining industry? There are three main reasons.</p>
<h2>1. Sexual assault and harassment</h2>
<p>The mining industry, including the fossil fuel industry, can be a dangerous place for women. </p>
<p>In early 2022, an <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/-/media/Content/Documents/Sustainability/People/RT-Everyday-respect-report.pdf">external review</a> of Rio Tinto’s workplace culture found bullying, sexism and racism are systemic across the company. </p>
<p>In the last five years, 28% of women had experienced sexual harassment at Rio Tinto worksites, and 21 women were victims of actual or attempted rape or sexual assault.</p>
<p>This finding is consistent with the WA <a href="https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/commit.nsf/(Report+Lookup+by+Com+ID)/EF1DF1A3F5DF74A848258869000E6B32/$file/20220621%20-Report%20No%202.pdf">parliamentary inquiry</a>, which found sexual harassment is, and has long been, prevalent across the industry. It is fostered by gender inequality, power imbalances and exacerbated by high alcohol consumption.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antarctic-stations-are-plagued-by-sexual-harassment-its-time-for-things-to-change-189984">Antarctic stations are plagued by sexual harassment – it's time for things to change</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>The inquiry’s report highlighted that when women tried to report harassment and assault they were bullied, threatened or lost their jobs. </p>
<p>The parliamentary inquiry made a number of recommendations to improve the safety of women in the FIFO mining industry, such as an overhaul of reporting structures within companies.</p>
<p>So far Rio Tinto is the only major mining company that has announced <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/news/releases/2022/Rio-Tinto-releases-external-review-of-workplace-culture">their plan</a> to overhaul their systems to protect women. There has been no word from governments outside of WA on any action in the face of this damning parliamentary inquiry.</p>
<h2>2. Biases against women</h2>
<p>Women tend to face more obstacles to progression and job satisfaction than men do, because there are systematic biases against them. While a minority belief persists that biases against women simply do not exist, we have <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.159.3810.56">known</a> of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650211418339">bias</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1075547012472684">in science</a> <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1018839203698">for a long</a> <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1211286109">time</a>. </p>
<p>In Australia, as in many nations, <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/4_fathers_and_work_1909_0.pdf">women do more household and caring work</a>, and STEM fields are generally male dominated. Our expectations of the roles of each gender are influenced accordingly, creating <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650211418339">implicit bias against women in science</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-lack-of-confidence-thats-holding-back-women-in-stem-155216">It's not lack of confidence that's holding back women in STEM</a>
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<p>Research shows these biases negatively affect all decisions made about women in a professional context, including <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1211286109">hiring</a>, promotion, <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2003EO310005">awards</a>, the value of their work, and <a href="https://www.catalyst.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Mentoring_Necessary_But_Insufficient_for_Advancement_Final_120610.pdf">other professional opportunities</a>. </p>
<p>This means once women are in STEM careers, especially in male-dominated industries such as the mining industry, they encounter <a href="https://www.science.org.au/files/userfiles/support/reports-and-plans/2019/gender-diversity-stem/women-in-STEM-decadal-plan-final.pdf">more barriers</a> to success than their male colleagues.</p>
<h2>3. Parental leave</h2>
<p>It’s clear having children isn’t the sole cause of women leaving STEM careers, otherwise we’d see a flood of childfree women in leadership positions throughout the STEM sector, and this is certainly <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/stem-equity-monitor/workforce-and-gender-equity-policies-in-stem-and-other-industries">not the case</a>. </p>
<p>However, in Australian heterosexual couples, women generally <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/4_fathers_and_work_1909_0.pdf">shoulder the bulk</a> of childcare. This is perhaps in part because men are not ordinarily <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fatherhood-penalty-how-parental-leave-policies-perpetuate-the-gender-gap-even-in-our-progressive-universities-160102">given equal access to parental leave</a> and flexible working arrangements. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fatherhood-penalty-how-parental-leave-policies-perpetuate-the-gender-gap-even-in-our-progressive-universities-160102">The fatherhood penalty: how parental leave policies perpetuate the gender gap (even in our 'progressive' universities)</a>
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<p>When both parents have equal access to parental leave, families can structure home and outside work equitably. On the other hand, providing birth mums vastly more leave can incentivise inequality, since families may be better off financially or otherwise by not using childcare.</p>
<p>Some mining companies recognise that <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/fly-fly-out-workforce-practices-australia-effects-children-and">flexible working conditions</a> could increase retention, and have policies allowing any employee to work flexibly. Others have “family friendly” FIFO rosters, which tends to involve prescription of the roster they believe to be family friendly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483154/original/file-20220907-14-l6tjc2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman standing in front of mining machinery" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483154/original/file-20220907-14-l6tjc2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483154/original/file-20220907-14-l6tjc2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483154/original/file-20220907-14-l6tjc2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483154/original/file-20220907-14-l6tjc2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483154/original/file-20220907-14-l6tjc2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483154/original/file-20220907-14-l6tjc2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483154/original/file-20220907-14-l6tjc2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">39% of Australia’s clean energy workforce identify as women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://internationalwim.org/photogallery/">Marta del Pozo/IWiM</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>We need systemic change</h2>
<p>Like the fossil fuel industry, women in renewables face barriers to retention and promotion. </p>
<p>Representation of university-qualified women <a href="https://assets.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/documents/resources/reports/Empowering-Everyone-Diversity-in-the-Australian-Clean-Energy-Sector.pdf">decreases</a> in leadership roles and above age 40. Women in the renewables sector make up just 32% of senior leadership or executive roles, 19% of board positions, and 62% of administrative roles.</p>
<p>In Australia’s mining and energy sector, some people are pushing for change and equity, but the problems are widespread and can be difficult to detect.</p>
<p>We need sector-wide, systemic change. This must be brought about by thoughtful and insightful leadership at our most senior levels, guiding new policies and procedures to make workplaces more inclusive of women. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-more-men-into-nursing-means-a-rethink-of-gender-roles-pay-and-recognition-but-we-need-them-urgently-184829">Getting more men into nursing means a rethink of gender roles, pay and recognition. But we need them urgently</a>
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<p>Research shows achieving greater gender balance leads to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/smj.1955">better economic performance</a> and outcomes, and more innovation. In many STEM industries, we have a strong pipeline of women university graduates being lost to other sectors in their early to mid-careers. </p>
<p>In fact, shifting only 1% of Australia’s workforce into STEM jobs would <a href="https://www.pwc.com.au/pdf/a-smart-move-pwc-stem-report-april-2015.pdf">add $57.4 billion</a> to the nation’s gross domestic product over 20 years.</p>
<p>The clean energy sector has an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the mining and fossil fuel sector and harness the untapped potential of women in Australia’s STEM-trained workforce. Doing so will deliver even greater economic and environmental benefits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189965/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Finch has previously received funding from an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Society of Economic Geologists Graduate Student Fellowship.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Finch receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is the President of Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences Australasia (WOMEESA).</span></em></p>If mining workplaces are anything to go by, the clean energy sector will have their work cut out for them to retain women in the workforce.Emily Finch, Research Affiliate, Monash UniversityMelanie Finch, Lecturer in Structural Geology and Metamorphism, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1702122021-10-21T03:09:14Z2021-10-21T03:09:14ZFixing Australia’s shocking record of Indigenous heritage destruction: Juukan inquiry offers a way forward<p>On May 24 last year, mining giant Rio Tinto <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/30/juukan-gorge-rio-tinto-blasting-of-aboriginal-site-prompts-calls-to-change-antiquated-laws">legally destroyed</a> ancient and sacred Aboriginal rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia to expand an iron ore mine. </p>
<p>Public backlash prompted a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge">parliamentary inquiry</a>. After almost 18 months of submissions and hearings, the joint standing committee released its final report titled <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportjnt/024757/toc_pdf/AWayForward.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">A Way Forward</a> this week.</p>
<p>In tabling the report, committee chair and Liberal MP <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=7K6">Warren Entsch</a> said while the destruction was a disaster for traditional owners – the <a href="https://pkkp.org.au/">Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura</a> peoples – it was “<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/About_the_House_News/Media_Releases/A_Way_Forward">not unique</a>”.</p>
<p>Rio Tinto’s actions form part of a broader <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-juukan-gorge-the-relentless-threat-mining-poses-to-the-pilbara-cultural-landscape-155941">discriminatory pattern</a> of development in Australia. Traditional owners are denied the right to object and as a result, Aboriginal heritage is routinely destroyed.</p>
<p>The committee’s final report grapples with the complex issues of cultural heritage protection in Australia. It recommends major legislative reforms, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a new national Aboriginal cultural heritage act co-designed with Indigenous peoples</p></li>
<li><p>a new national council on heritage protection</p></li>
<li><p>a review of the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00178">Native Title Act 1993</a> to address power imbalances in negotiations on the basis of free prior and informed consent.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The report is strong on the need for change, although achieving this will be far from straightforward.</p>
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<h2>Hard-to-resolve issues</h2>
<p>The committee’s <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2020-12/apo-nid310049.pdf">interim report</a>, was released in December last year. From it, we learned how Rio Tinto <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-12/juukan-gorge-blast-inquiry-told-of-rio-tinto-gag-clauses-warning/12754100">silenced</a> traditional owners and <a href="https://theconversation.com/corporate-dysfunction-on-indigenous-affairs-why-heads-rolled-at-rio-tinto-146001">prevented</a> their cultural heritage specialists from raising concerns. Rio Tinto prioritised production over heritage protection.</p>
<p>A Way Forward places the tragedy of Juukan Gorge in a broader context. It shines a light on how the regulatory <a href="https://nit.com.au/time-for-law-reform-in-light-of-rio-tintos-choice-to-destroy-juukan-gorge/">system</a> empowered Rio Tinto to destroy the caves and prevented the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples from doing anything about it. </p>
<p>It also demonstrates how the system has run roughshod over Indigenous interests for decades. Governments have been able to make determinations about cultural heritage without proper consultation and consent. </p>
<p>The report focuses on getting the regulatory framework right. It succeeds in bringing a wide and complex set of controversial issues together in the one place. But many of these issues are highly contested, which has hindered previous attempts to solve them.</p>
<p>Already, two committee members, Senator <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=241710">Dean Smith</a> and MP <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=230485">George Christensen</a>, disagree with the rest of the committee on the need for the Commonwealth to set standards for states’ cultural heritage protection laws. They say this would constrain the mining industry and give anti-mining activists <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/19/failures-at-every-level-changes-needed-to-stop-destruction-of-aboriginal-heritage-after-juukan-gorge">too much power</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, Greens Senator and Gunnai Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman <a href="https://greens.org.au/vic/person/lidia-thorpe/">Lidia Thorpe</a> supports traditional owners having a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/19/failures-at-every-level-changes-needed-to-stop-destruction-of-aboriginal-heritage-after-juukan-gorge">right to veto</a>” the destruction of their cultural heritage.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/juukan-gorge-inquiry-a-critical-turning-point-in-first-nations-authority-over-land-management-167039">Juukan Gorge inquiry: a critical turning point in First Nations authority over land management</a>
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<p>Western Australian Premier <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/people/mark-mcgowan">Mark McGowan</a> and some industry organisations have dismissed the inquiry’s calls for a stronger federal government role in protecting cultural heritage across Australia. Western Australia is yet to pass its draft heritage law, which the premier says will address the issues raised in the final report. </p>
<p>Aboriginal groups disagree that ultimate control over the destruction of cultural heritage should rest with the minister. These groups have tabled their issues at the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/aboriginal-elder-takes-fight-against-wa-heritage-laws-to-united-nations-20210719-p58ayg.html">United Nations</a>. </p>
<p>One of the most contentious matters addressed in the final report is the need to obtain <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/publications/2016/10/free-prior-and-informed-consent-an-indigenous-peoples-right-and-a-good-practice-for-local-communities-fao/">free prior and informed consent</a> of traditional owners under Australia’s federal and state laws, affording them the right to manage their own heritage sites.</p>
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<h2>Change is needed despite Australia’s economic recovery pressures</h2>
<p>It is not an ideal time to be driving this type of major change. Australia is heading towards a federal election. The federal government is focused on COVID-19 vaccinations, opening borders and the nation’s economic recovery from the pandemic.</p>
<p>The mining sector sits at the centre of Australia’s economic recovery, with climate change driving demand for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18661-9">energy transition minerals</a>. <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/93220">Australian states</a> and territories are focused on mining these minerals for green and renewable technologies.</p>
<p>Green technologies will require more extraction of copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, and other critical minerals, often located on Indigenous peoples’ lands and territories. This will put added pressure on the consent processes that A Way Forward recommends so strongly.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rio-tinto-can-ensure-its-aboriginal-heritage-review-is-transparent-and-independent-141192">How Rio Tinto can ensure its Aboriginal heritage review is transparent and independent</a>
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<h2>Will anything actually change?</h2>
<p>So far, none of the big mining companies have come out in support of the committee’s recommendations for regulatory reform. But there are some positive prospects for change.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427654/original/file-20211020-16-qnbqm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An Aboriginal flag flown in protest against mining at the Adani Bravus Carmichael mine site in the Galilee Basin, Central Queensland." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427654/original/file-20211020-16-qnbqm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427654/original/file-20211020-16-qnbqm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427654/original/file-20211020-16-qnbqm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427654/original/file-20211020-16-qnbqm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427654/original/file-20211020-16-qnbqm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427654/original/file-20211020-16-qnbqm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427654/original/file-20211020-16-qnbqm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An Aboriginal flag flown in protest against mining at the Adani Bravus Carmichael mine site in the Galilee Basin, Central Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/clermont-queensland-australia-11112020-australian-aboriginal-1852379479">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The inquiry has helped generate public awareness and a greater appreciation of Australia’s Indigenous heritage and the need to protect it. Australia’s commitments to the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> have come under national and international scrutiny. This has added weight to the inquiry’s recommendations to elevate the importance of free prior and informed consent.</p>
<p>Institutional investors such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/the-business/2021-10-18/investor-reaction-to-juukan-gorge-final-report/13591734">HESTA</a> and <a href="https://acsi.org.au/media-releases/acsi-statement-on-parliamentary-inquiry-into-the-destruction-of-46000-year-old-caves-at-the-juukan-gorge/">Australian Council of Superannuation Investors</a> have publicly supported the inquiry’s recommendations. </p>
<p>In the absence of regulatory reform to address systemic issues, Indigenous groups such as the <a href="https://nntc.com.au/our-agenda/cultural-heritage/">National Native Title Council</a> <a href="https://nntc.com.au/media_releases/landmark-first-nations-business-and-investor-initiative-launches-to-improve-cultural-heritage-protection-in-australia/">continue working</a> with investor groups and peak industry bodies for change through developing voluntary guidelines and other formal commitments.</p>
<p>Indigenous Affairs Minister <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=M3A">Ken Wyatt</a>, along with the <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/">National Indigenous Australians Agency</a>, has demonstrated capacity for co-design through their work on the <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/closing-gap">Closing the Gap refresh</a>. </p>
<p>Returning responsibility for cultural heritage to the Indigenous affairs minister’s portfolio, as recommended in the final report, could be a positive step.</p>
<p>Nothing short of the recommended reforms in the report will address the lessons learned from Juukan Gorge. The public must be vigilant in holding business, investors, and politicians to account by insisting on meaningful change.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-lithium-for-clean-energy-but-rio-tintos-planned-serbian-mine-reminds-us-it-shouldnt-come-at-any-cost-167902">We need lithium for clean energy, but Rio Tinto's planned Serbian mine reminds us it shouldn't come at any cost</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deanna is chief investigator of an ARC Linkage grant on public-private inquiries in mining; member of the International Council of Mining and Metals independent expert review panel; and trustee and member of the international advisory council for the Institute for Human Rights and Business. She is Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at UQ. CSRM conducts applied research with communities, governments, and major mining companies.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>I was previously the BMA Chair in Indigenous Engagement at the CQUniversity, Australia (2013-2018). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kado Muir is the chairperson of the National Native Title Council, which operates with funding from the federal government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodger is a Research Manager at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at UQ, which conducts applied research with communities, governments, and mining companies, including Rio Tinto.</span></em></p>The A Way Forward report addresses the issues of cultural heritage protection in Australia after Rio Tinto destroyed Juukan Gorge. However, achieving change will be far from straightforward.Deanna Kemp, Professor and Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of QueenslandBronwyn Fredericks, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement), The University of QueenslandKado Muir, Chair of National Native Title Council and Ngalia Cultural Leader, Indigenous KnowledgeRodger Barnes, Research Manager, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1679022021-09-22T04:06:10Z2021-09-22T04:06:10ZWe need lithium for clean energy, but Rio Tinto’s planned Serbian mine reminds us it shouldn’t come at any cost<p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/serbia-thousands-rally-in-belgrade-for-environmental-causes/a-59155904">Thousands of demonstrators</a> rallied across the Serbian capital Belgrade this month, protesting the US$2.4 billion (A$3.3 billion) Jadar lithium mine proposed by global mining giant Rio Tinto. The project, Rio Tinto’s flagship renewable energy initiative, is set to become the largest lithium project in the European Union.</p>
<p>Lithium is a crucial component of energy storage, both for <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-19/surging-lithium-demand-outstrips-forecast-of-major-producer-sqm">renewable energy technologies</a> and electric vehicles. <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/05/11/mineral-production-to-soar-as-demand-for-clean-energy-increases">Forecast demand</a> has prompted efforts by companies and governments worldwide to tap into this market – a scramble dubbed the “white gold rush”.</p>
<p>As lithium projects have multiplied across Australia, Europe, Latin America and the US in recent years, so too have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/14/electric-cost-lithium-mining-decarbonasation-salt-flats-chile">concerns over their environmental and social impacts</a>. Communities near proposed and existing lithium mines are some of the loudest opponents. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/rio-tinto-led-plan-major-lithium-mine-stirs-protests-serbia-2021-08-26/">In a town</a> near the proposed mine in Serbia, a banner reads: “No mine, yes life”.</p>
<p>Lithium extraction serves legitimate global environmental needs. But the industry must not ignore local social and environmental risks, and community voices must be included in decision making. The harsh lessons of mining to date need not be learned again in new places. </p>
<h2>Weighing the risks</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021.pdf">latest estimates</a>, the world’s resources of lithium sit at 86 million tonnes, a number that continues to grow as new deposits are found every year. Australia is the main producer of lithium, where it’s mined from hard rock called “spodumene”. The largest deposits are <a href="https://hir.harvard.edu/lithium-triangle/">found in South America</a>, where lithium is extracted from brines underneath salt flats. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422314/original/file-20210921-21-acyuuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422314/original/file-20210921-21-acyuuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422314/original/file-20210921-21-acyuuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422314/original/file-20210921-21-acyuuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422314/original/file-20210921-21-acyuuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422314/original/file-20210921-21-acyuuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422314/original/file-20210921-21-acyuuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422314/original/file-20210921-21-acyuuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lithium mining operates beneath the salt flats in the Atacama, Chile.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In many cases, lithium mines are relatively new operations, yet complex and adverse social and environmental impacts have already been observed. More <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aae9b1/meta">research</a> and better targeted policy are needed to help understand and manage the socio-environmental impacts. </p>
<p>In Chile, lithium has been mined since the 1980s. It has been shown to interfere with cultural practices of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629821000421">local Indigenous communities</a>, alter traditional economic <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652620308854">livelihoods</a> and <a href="https://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/2139/">exacerbate the fragility</a> of surrounding ecosystems. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-has-vast-mineral-wealth-but-faces-steep-challenges-to-tap-it-166484">Afghanistan has vast mineral wealth but faces steep challenges to tap it</a>
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<p>The Jadar lithium project is operated by Rio Sava, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. It’s expected to become one of Serbia’s largest mines, occupying around 387 hectares, and contribute to at least <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/rio-tinto-led-plan-major-lithium-mine-stirs-protests-serbia-2021-08-26/">1% of Serbia’s GDP</a>. </p>
<p>An environmental impact study commissioned by Rio Tinto, and obtained by Reuters, found the project would cause “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/rio-tinto-led-plan-major-lithium-mine-stirs-protests-serbia-2021-08-26/">irredeemable damage</a>” to the environment, concluding the project should not go ahead. Environmental impacts are expected for any mine proposal. Yet some are manageable, so such a grave assessment in this case is not encouraging. </p>
<p>The extent to which a project shows best practice in mine management can depend on pressure from communities, investors and governments. Promises to adhere to all regulations are a common response from the industry. </p>
<p>But as we’re seeing <a href="https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/23169/0">in Chile</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/14/electric-cost-lithium-mining-decarbonasation-salt-flats-chile">significant</a> environmental damage and socio-environmental impacts can still occur within established regulations. Here, communities living on the salt flats are concerned about the effect of removing groundwater for lithium extraction on their livelihoods and surrounding ecosystems.</p>
<p>Communities near the Jadar Mine project hold <a href="https://you.wemove.eu/campaigns/stop-rio-tinto-mine">similar concerns</a>. They <a href="http://www.marssadrine.org/?lang=en">have gathered</a> in formal organisation to reject the project and stage demonstrations. A petition against the project has <a href="https://peticije.kreni-promeni.org/petitions/stop-rudniku-litijuma-rio-tinto-mars-sa-drine?source=homepage&utm_medium=promotion&utm_source=homepage">gained over 130,000 signatures</a>, and a <a href="https://www.sanu.ac.rs/en/jadar-project-what-is-known/">report by the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences</a> has protested the project’s approval. </p>
<p>The communities fear the potential risks of air and waterborne pollution from the lithium mine, destruction of biodiversity, and the loss of land to mine infrastructure. These risks could affect the livelihoods of local landholders, farmers and residents. </p>
<p>Of particular concern is that the proposed locations for mine waste (tailings) are in a valley prone to flash flooding and may lead to toxic waste spills. This <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/rio-tinto-led-plan-major-lithium-mine-stirs-protests-serbia-2021-08-26/">previously occurred</a> in the same region when the abandoned Stolice antimony mine <a href="https://serbia-energy.eu/tailing-spill-landslide-and-mine-waste-failures-in-serbia/">flooded in 2014</a>. Rio Tinto has said it will try to mitigate this risk by converting the liquid waste into so-called “<a href="https://www.riotinto.com/news/releases/2021/Rio-Tinto-commits-funding-for-Jadar-lithium-project">dry cakes</a>”. </p>
<p>In response to this article, a Rio Tinto spokesperson said it has been working through the project requirements for 20 years, with a team of over 100 domestic experts studying the possible cumulative impacts in accordance with Serbian law, adding:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The study will consider all potential environmental effects of proposed actions and define measures to eliminate or reduce them […] including water, noise, air quality, biodiversity and cultural heritage.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Can we decarbonise without sacrifice?</h2>
<p>The Jadar Mine project is touted for its potential to bring significant profits to both Rio Tinto and <a href="https://cordmagazine.com/mining/vesna-prodanovic-rio-sava-exploration-jadar-project-development-opportunity-for-serbia/">the Serbian state</a>, while helping usher in the era of decarbonisation. </p>
<p>Rio Tinto plans to <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/news/releases/2021/Rio-Tinto-commits-funding-for-Jadar-lithium-project%22%22">begin construction by 2022</a>, “subject to receiving all relevant approvals, permits and licences and ongoing engagement”, with first saleable production expected in 2026.</p>
<p>But relatively fast timelines like this can sometimes be a sign of regulatory governance instability, including weak regulatory frameworks or regulatory capture (when agencies are increasingly dominated by the interests they regulate). We have seen this in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214790X16300776">Guyana</a>, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/760941%22%22">Peru</a> and <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/02/02/brazils-worst-ever-dam-disaster-follows-years-of-regulatory-capture">Brazil</a>. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">Rio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed</a>
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<p>In Australia, Rio Tinto’s recent destruction of the culturally invaluable Juukan Gorge — which, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466%22%22">notably, occurred legally</a> — also demonstrates regulatory governance risks. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422313/original/file-20210921-13-fkx5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422313/original/file-20210921-13-fkx5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422313/original/file-20210921-13-fkx5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422313/original/file-20210921-13-fkx5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422313/original/file-20210921-13-fkx5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422313/original/file-20210921-13-fkx5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422313/original/file-20210921-13-fkx5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422313/original/file-20210921-13-fkx5t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Jadar River Valley in western Serbia, home to a huge deposit of lithium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Rio Tinto’s spokesperson said its Environmental Impact Assessment process includes a public consultation period including, for example, meetings with non-government organisations, adding:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have established information centres in Loznica and Brezjak and, since 2019, have hosted over 20 public open day events in these centres focusing on aspects of the project including environment studies, cultural heritage and land acquisition.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although the Serbian government indicated that it’s prepared to hold a referendum to <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/061021-opposition-to-rio-tintos-jadar-lithium-project-gains-momentum-in-serbia">find out the will of citizens</a> about the Jadar mine project, the community protests suggest the project hasn’t obtained any social license to operate. </p>
<p>A “social license to operate” is, despite its corporatised name, increasingly key to sustainable or responsible mining projects. It centres on ongoing acceptance by stakeholders, the public, and local communities of a company’s standard business practices. Building such trust takes time, and a social license is only a minimum requirement. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/renewable-energy-can-save-the-natural-world-but-if-were-not-careful-it-will-also-hurt-it-145166">Renewable energy can save the natural world – but if we're not careful, it will also hurt it</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>In Argentina, for example, <a href="https://globalpressjournal.com/americas/argentina/mining-firms-seek-argentinas-white-gold-local-approval-proves-elusive/">Indigenous communities</a> living near the lithium mines have developed their own protocol for giving their informed consent. </p>
<p>Similarly, processes of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-first-nation-shapes-a-new-approach-with-lngproject/article33625413/">community-based impact assessment</a> or <a href="https://www.cngov.ca/environment/mining/">self-government structures</a> led by First Nations in Canada offer insight into potential collaborative relationships. </p>
<p>These processes cannot be rushed to ensure voices are heard, rights are respected, and environmental protection is possible. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422315/original/file-20210921-21-1iazr7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422315/original/file-20210921-21-1iazr7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422315/original/file-20210921-21-1iazr7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422315/original/file-20210921-21-1iazr7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422315/original/file-20210921-21-1iazr7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422315/original/file-20210921-21-1iazr7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422315/original/file-20210921-21-1iazr7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422315/original/file-20210921-21-1iazr7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lithium is essential for the transition away from fossil fuels, but it shouldn’t come at any cost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new frontier</h2>
<p>Like many other communities negotiating proposed mine projects, local communities and residents in Serbia should not become another <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/env.2015.0015">zone of sacrifice</a>, shouldering the socio-environmental costs of supporting a renewable energy transition. </p>
<p>Lithium deposits are often seen as “new frontiers” in the places they’re discovered. Yet we must learn from historical lessons of frontier expansion, and remember that places imagined as “undiscovered” aren’t actually empty. </p>
<p>The people who live there must not bear the brunt of a so-called “green” future. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/although-we-didnt-produce-these-problems-we-suffer-them-3-ways-you-can-help-in-naidocs-call-to-heal-country-163362">'Although we didn’t produce these problems, we suffer them': 3 ways you can help in NAIDOC's call to Heal Country</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Carballo receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gillian Gregory has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Werner has received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Local communities near lithium deposits shouldn’t become zones of sacrifice, shouldering the socio-environmental costs of supporting a renewable energy transition.Ana Estefanía Carballo, Research Fellow in Mining and Society, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of MelbourneGillian Gregory, Research Fellow in Mining Governance, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of MelbourneTim Werner, ARC DECRA Fellow, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1633622021-07-04T20:10:25Z2021-07-04T20:10:25Z‘Although we didn’t produce these problems, we suffer them’: 3 ways you can help in NAIDOC’s call to Heal Country<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409406/original/file-20210702-18-1c20in1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C24%2C5531%2C3534&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>NAIDOC week has just begun and, after several tumultuous years of disasters in Australia, the theme this year is Heal Country. </p>
<p>In the last two years, Australia has suffered crippling drought that saw the Darling-Baaka <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2018/apr/05/murray-darling-when-the-river-runs-dry">run dry</a>, <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/summer-of-crisis/">catastrophic bushfires</a>, and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-20/nsw-floods-break-120-year-old-rain-records/100079400">major flooding</a> throughout coastal and inland areas of Australia’s east. </p>
<p>Just two weeks ago, UNESCO’s <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/world-heritage-centre/">World Heritage Centre</a> recommended one of our national treasures, the Great Barrier Reef, be listed as <a href="https://globalvoices.org/2021/06/27/unesco-proposes-listing-world-heritage-great-barrier-reef-as-in-danger/">in danger</a>.</p>
<p>If these events, and the thought of other inevitable climate change-driven disasters sadden or madden you, consider how it impacts Indigenous peoples. </p>
<p>So with this in mind, and the rest of NAIDOC week ahead of us, let’s take a moment (most likely from lockdown) to explore the theme of Heal Country in more detail.</p>
<h2>More than a landscape</h2>
<p>For Indigenous people, Country is more than a landscape. We tell, and retell, stories of how our Country was made, and we continue to rely upon its resources — food, water, plants and animals — to sustain our ways of life. Country also holds much of our heritage, including scarred trees, stone arrangements, petroglyphs, rock art, tools and much more.</p>
<p>Indigenous people talk of, and to, Country, as they would another person. As the late eminent ethnographer Deborah Bird Rose <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4539641/Nourishing_Terrains_Australian_Aboriginal_views_of_Landscape_and_Wilderness_Australian_Heritage_Commission_Canberra_1996_">famously wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Country is not a generalised or undifferentiated type of place, such as one might indicate with terms like ‘spending a day in the country’ or ‘going up the country’. </p>
<p>Rather, Country is a living entity with a yesterday, today and tomorrow, with a consciousness, and a will toward life. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As cultural and spiritual beings, and with deep and ongoing attachments to lands and waters, the impacts of climate change interrupt and make uncertain our unique ways of life. This increasing reality is shared with Indigenous peoples <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/climate/climate-Native-Americans.html">all over the world</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409410/original/file-20210702-27-l98qjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409410/original/file-20210702-27-l98qjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409410/original/file-20210702-27-l98qjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409410/original/file-20210702-27-l98qjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409410/original/file-20210702-27-l98qjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409410/original/file-20210702-27-l98qjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409410/original/file-20210702-27-l98qjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409410/original/file-20210702-27-l98qjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Torres Strait Islands are under dire threat from climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>These sentiments were captured by Tishiko King, a Kulkalaig woman from the island of Masi in the Torres Strait. In her reflections on returning home in December 2020, she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB1nzn5WlSI">explained</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had to pick up the bones of my Elders because erosion is damaging our burial sites. As First Nations people we know that these are our spirits of our old people, and it’s a sign of disrespect. </p>
<p>It’s desecrating who they are. It’s that heart-wrenching pain in your chest.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is why the National NAIDOC Committee has sought to draw attention to our struggle. </p>
<h2>Why Heal Country?</h2>
<p>Through this year’s theme, the <a href="https://www.naidoc.org.au/news/2021-naidoc-week-theme-announced-heal-country">National NAIDOC Committee</a> invites the whole nation to embrace “First Nations’ cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia’s national heritage”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1410543896522805249"}"></div></p>
<p>This requires understanding the depths of Indigenous peoples’ connections to Country and treasuring our heritage values.</p>
<p>But “understanding” and “treasuring” will only go so far in the face of increased drought, more severe storms or changing seasons and animal behaviours as a result of climate change.</p>
<p>As Bianca McNeair, a Malgana woman from Western Australia and co-chair of the First People’s Gathering on Climate Change, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/27/we-want-to-be-included-first-nations-demand-a-say-on-climate-change">shared with The Guardian</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[Traditional Owners] are talking about how the birds’ movements across country have changed, so that’s changing songlines that they’ve been singing for thousands and thousands of years, and how that’s impacting them as a community and culture.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>All Australians have much at stake if radical steps to cut emissions aren’t taken. For Indigenous peoples, the consequences of climate change are much more profound.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409418/original/file-20210702-19-1bdlkm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409418/original/file-20210702-19-1bdlkm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409418/original/file-20210702-19-1bdlkm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409418/original/file-20210702-19-1bdlkm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409418/original/file-20210702-19-1bdlkm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409418/original/file-20210702-19-1bdlkm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409418/original/file-20210702-19-1bdlkm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409418/original/file-20210702-19-1bdlkm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Country also holds heritage, including stone arrangements, rock art, tools and more.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not all disasters are natural</h2>
<p>But talking only of climate change doesn’t capture the full reality threatening Indigenous peoples ways of life.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">destruction of Juukan Gorge</a> by Rio Tinto in 2020 caused <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56261514">international outrage</a> for the clear disregard for not only Indigenous culture, but human history. </p>
<p>Likewise, the notorious McArthur River mine in the Northern Territory has been damaging the environment and nearby township of Borroloola, from <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-21/nt-mcarthur-river-mine-road-train-spills/100153646">the leaking of potentially harmful contaminants</a> to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-27/mcarthur-river-mine-gulf-of-carpentaria-anger-smoke-plume/5625484">waste rock</a> that smouldered for months. </p>
<p>These events, as well as others, continue to be examined through the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge">Juukan Gorge Senate inquiry</a>. </p>
<p>Heal Country forces us to see these events not in isolation, but in a chain of disasters that continue to impact and threaten Indigenous peoples. It invites people to see the land and water through our eyes and understand that although we didn’t produce these problems, we suffer from them.</p>
<p>Heal Country seeks reflection, for all Australians to ask themselves what they treasure about being from, and living on, this land. </p>
<p>If, like us, you find peace, pride and enjoyment from our natural values — our beaches, mountains, rivers, wetlands, forests, deserts and more — then perhaps it’s time to get off the bench and become an advocate for change.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">Rio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Three ways you can help</h2>
<p>Indigenous people continue to stand up for and protect their Country. But in a nation where their connections, culture and heritage are seen by governments as being of lesser value than minerals, it is often a lonely struggle. </p>
<p>I asked people to consider the impacts on Country, culture and heritage in my <a href="https://theconversation.com/strength-from-perpetual-grief-how-aboriginal-people-experience-the-bushfire-crisis-129448">article for The Conversation</a> during the 2019-2020 bushfires. Now, I ask that you consider it against the backdrop of an uncertain future. </p>
<p>Far from being powerless to protect Country, there is much an everyday Australian can do. Here are three examples: </p>
<p>1) Make a submission to the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge">Juukan Gorge inquiry</a>.</p>
<p>The Juukan Gorge inquiry is one of the most important in our recent history. The protection and management of Indigenous peoples’ culture and heritage is being thoroughly examined, with recommendations to better balance the protection of these things against future economic growth. </p>
<p>You can lend your voice — or that of your organisation — to express support and solidarity with Indigenous peoples through a submission.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409407/original/file-20210702-28-defpm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bleached coral" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409407/original/file-20210702-28-defpm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409407/original/file-20210702-28-defpm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409407/original/file-20210702-28-defpm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409407/original/file-20210702-28-defpm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409407/original/file-20210702-28-defpm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409407/original/file-20210702-28-defpm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409407/original/file-20210702-28-defpm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If events like coral bleaching sadden or madden you, consider how it impacts Indigenous peoples.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>2) Donate to charities that support Indigenous land and sea management programs.</p>
<p>These organisations are key to advocating on behalf of Indigenous people and offer guidance, advice and support to Indigenous communities seeking to establish their own programs. Two of note include <a href="https://www.firesticks.org.au/">Firesticks Alliance</a> and <a href="https://www.countryneedspeople.org.au/">Country Needs People</a>. </p>
<p>3) Write an email to your local member.</p>
<p>Ask your local member how they’re supporting local Indigenous land and sea management programs, including ranger groups or cultural burning initiatives. If you live in the city, ask how their party supports Indigenous groups in their caring for Country aspirations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/strength-from-perpetual-grief-how-aboriginal-people-experience-the-bushfire-crisis-129448">Strength from perpetual grief: how Aboriginal people experience the bushfire crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Heal Country invites all Australians to walk with us, to stand beside us, to support us. </p>
<p>But perhaps most importantly, it invites Australians to love, treasure and fight for this land, as we have done, and will do, forever.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This story is part of a series The Conversation is running on the nexus between disaster, disadvantage and resilience. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay foundation. You can read the rest of the stories <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/disaster-and-resilience-series-97537">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhiamie Williamson is a member of the ACT Bushfire Council, an Independent Expert on the NSW Forest Monitoring and Improvement Program Steering Committee, and a Director of Country Needs People. </span></em></p>For Indigenous people, Country is more than a landscape. But climate change, and the natural disasters it produces, present a clear and present threat to Country, culture and heritage.Bhiamie Williamson, Research Associate & PhD Candidate, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1611072021-05-31T15:24:11Z2021-05-31T15:24:11ZMozambique’s difficult decade: three lessons to inform next steps<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403090/original/file-20210527-21-a1fdlt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A child plays in a street in the port village of Paquitequete near Pemba, northern Mozambique. The region suffered decades of neglect, and major gas projects have failed to deliver local benefits.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Alfredo Zuniga/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the start of the last decade, Mozambique’s prospects looked stellar. Following from the early 1990s, when peace finally arrived after a devastating and protracted armed conflict, this vast country in Southern Africa could look back proudly on a sustained period of <a href="http://cdm15738.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/87288/filename/87289.pdf">rapid growth and poverty reduction</a>. </p>
<p>Mozambique was a <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Africa/0810brown_weimer.pdf">darling of the international development community</a>, enjoying significant direct support to the government budget, and investment possibilities in the natural resources sector seemed bright.</p>
<p>By 2016, much of this <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mozambique-can-contain-its-debt-crisis-and-avoid-long-term-damage-59180">lustre had been lost</a>. In part this was due to an economic crisis heralded by the discovery of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mozambique-can-avoid-stepping-into-the-abyss-57356">illegal debts</a> taken on by newly formed state companies. Ultimately, these appeared to have been designed to enrich a small political elite and their overseas collaborators. And this led international donors to freeze much of their support. </p>
<p>But mounting debts have not been the only challenge. By the early 2010s, prospects for the coal sector – which, under conservative assumptions, had been <a href="https://www.iese.ac.mz/%7Eieseacmz/lib/publication/III_Conf2012/IESE_IIIConf_Paper19.pdf">projected</a> to deliver $1 billion in annual government revenue by now – had been slashed. The exit of Rio Tinto in 2014, at a <a href="https://www.mining.com/rio-tintos-3-7bn-mozambique-coal-business-sold-for-50m-72265/">loss to the company</a> of over US$3 billion, was indicative.</p>
<p>Fast-forward to the present day. The macro-economy has stabilised somewhat. Yet little of the promise of 10 years ago has been fulfilled. Even though massive private investment inflows have continued, <a href="https://edi.opml.co.uk/research/mozambique-institutional-diagnostic/">real economic growth has fallen sharply</a>. <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/evolution-multidimensional-poverty-crisis-ridden-mozambique">Poverty and other indicators of deprivation</a> have also remained stubbornly high. </p>
<p>And serious conflicts have emerged, especially in the north of the country. An <a href="https://www.iom.int/news/communities-displaced-recent-violence-mozambique-offered-respite-assistance-new-transit-centre">estimated</a> 700,000 people – that’s 2% of the country’s population – have been internally displaced due to conflict. </p>
<p>Large investments in the natural gas sector have been delayed or cut back. And the largest potential investment, by the French giant Total, has now been placed on indefinite (if not permanent) <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/frances-total-declares-force-majeure-mozambique-lng-project-2021-04-26/">hold</a>, citing security concerns. </p>
<p>COVID-19 has only added to the list of complex, protracted challenges facing the country.</p>
<p>In sum, Mozambique has experienced a difficult decade. It’s time to recognise that the development strategy of this period has not delivered.</p>
<h2>Drawing lessons</h2>
<p>A few lessons are emerging as to why Mozambique’s recent development path has failed to live up to expectations. These are relevant to avoid further mistakes. They also serve as a warning to other low-income countries betting heavily on large-scale inward foreign direct investment. </p>
<p>Three lessons stand out:</p>
<p><strong>Don’t believe the hype:</strong> A consistent and defining feature of the engagement of foreign companies in Mozambique’s natural resource sector has been their tendency to make extremely bullish predictions of their own success. One example was Rio Tinto, which proclaimed in 2011 that its newly acquired Mozambique operations represented the “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/rio-tinto-plc-fraud-timeline-idUSL4N1MT21Y">greatest underdeveloped seaborne coking coal in the world</a>”.</p>
<p>Projected project timelines have been routinely highly optimistic, suggesting production and government revenues will quickly come on stream, to the benefit of all parties. Alas, as the US Securities and Exchange Commission <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-196">complaint</a> against managers at Rio Tinto notes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>On-the-ground realities in Mozambique quickly undermined {their optimistic} narrative.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both international partners and government officials have often sung the same tune. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund’s <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/dsa/pdf/2016/dsacr1609.pdf">2015 debt sustainability assessment</a> projected new liquefied natural gas (LNG) production would start as early as 2021. And that it would yield annual growth rates of 50% in the value of exports. </p>
<p>Similarly, Mozambique’s 2016 <a href="https://www.open.ac.uk/technology/mozambique/sites/www.open.ac.uk.technology.mozambique/files/files/Presentation_by_the_Ministry_of_Economy_and_Finance_-_25_October_2016.pdf">presentation</a> to commercial creditors suggested new LNG production should come online as early as 2022/23, generating double-digit growth in real GDP. In a stroke the country’s external debt problems would be resolved. </p>
<p>These projections were wildly over-optimistic.</p>
<p>Of course, hindsight has clear advantages. But excessively bullish predictions, which are then used as <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/extractive-industries-and-development">key assumptions to forecast future macroeconomic sustainability</a>, have been repeated on multiple occasions. </p>
<p><strong>Foreign investment is a means, not an end:</strong> The theme of natural resource investments has dominated policy discussions in Mozambique over the last decade. Assuring these projects move ahead has often seemed like the only objective, automatically guaranteeing Mozambique becomes a middle-income country, perhaps even the “<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150527006452/en/Research-and-Markets-Mozambiques-Potential-to-Become-the-Qatar-of-Africa">Qatar of Africa</a>”. </p>
<p>Sadly, emerging macroeconomic challenges have only entrenched the salience of finalising these investments. The <a href="https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/002/2016/009/article-A003-en.xml">IMF’s message</a> has been clear:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ensuring that LNG production materialises remains important to underpin Mozambique’s long-run debt sustainability.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But natural resource investments in low-income countries have <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/mining-for-change-9780198851172?q=mining%20for%20change&lang=en&cc=dk">rarely delivered widespread developmental gains</a>. As the experiences of Nigeria and Angola show, benefits are often extremely narrow and captured by a small elite. At worst, the distortionary effects can undermine competitiveness in the rest of the economy, leaving the poorest even poorer. </p>
<p><a href="https://edi.opml.co.uk/resource/mozambique-institutional-diagnostic-chapter-12/">Arguably</a>, some of these effects have already been apparent in Mozambique. Millions of dollars have been poured into the capital city, fuelling multiple high-end real estate investments. Any dividend for the poor has yet to emerge. And public investment has collapsed.</p>
<p>The more general lesson is that managing large-scale private investments so that they deliver broad-based (inclusive) developmental gains <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2018-140.pdf">is never easy</a>. </p>
<p>At the minimum, alongside genuine political will, it demands pro-active upgrading of the capabilities of the state. This includes strengthening institutions and the quality of economic governance. Without this, weaknesses are easily exploited to the private benefit of the companies and corrupt local factions.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t forget the poor:</strong> A flip side of the focus on natural resource investments has been a lack of attention to other sectors, as well as the increasingly unbalanced regional and rural-urban patterns of development. A pronounced north-south gradient has been <a href="https://edi.opml.co.uk/research/mozambique-institutional-diagnostic/">evident</a> in a range of socio-economic outcomes for decades. But the imbalance has worsened over recent years. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56773012">commentators</a> suggest that current conflicts, particularly in the north, directly reflect these growing inequalities. The lesson is that rising inequality, particularly in countries such as Mozambique where nation-building remains a work in progress, can represent a very serious threat to developmental success.</p>
<h2>What comes next?</h2>
<p>In addition to the immediate cessation of conflict, Mozambique requires a coherent set of policies, not projects, based on a clear vision for the development of the country as a whole.</p>
<p>These cannot be formulated from the luxury of air-conditioned offices in Maputo, Brussels or Washington. Without a genuine understanding of the complexities of “on-the-ground realities”, including weaknesses in state capacity and <a href="https://www.econ.ku.dk/derg/wps/08-2021.pdf">political dynamics</a>, earlier mistakes are likely to be repeated. Listening to poor communities, learning from local successes, and building a common – yet realistic – vision of the future is fundamental. </p>
<p>This takes time. Delegating it to external consultants or political apparatchiks will be a recipe for failure.</p>
<p>But the process of building an inclusive developmental vision also represents an opportunity – to build state capability as well as to renew today’s fragile social compact. </p>
<p>Nurturing engines of economic growth outside the natural resources sector will be critical for long-term development and sustainability. In their absence, it may not be so bad if some natural resources stay in the ground.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161107/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The development strategy based on foreign investment in natural resources projects has not delivered economic growth or security. What’s needed is an inclusive vision based on local realities.Sam Jones, Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations UniversityFinn Tarp, Professor of Economics, University of CopenhagenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1585322021-04-29T02:32:59Z2021-04-29T02:32:59ZRisky business: 54% of Australian companies plan to slow ‘green’ initiatives due to COVID<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397478/original/file-20210428-14-1qebyuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4827%2C3300&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than half of Australian companies plan to scale back environmental initiatives to weather the financial harm caused by the COVID pandemic, a <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/coronavirus-pandemic-forces-business-to-slow-green-reforms/news-story/1edbc653a1127f0cb81d804c5dbcde85">report released</a> this month suggests. But such a move would be bad for business, and the planet. </p>
<p>Over the past few decades, regulatory and societal pressures have prompted businesses to adopt <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257408737_Corporate_environmental_responsiveness_in_India_Lessons_from_a_developing_country">environmental initiatives</a> at a growing rate. The measures may involve divesting from fossil fuels, preventing pollution, developing eco-friendly products or even <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839218778018">collaborating with competitors</a> to help other organisations in their supply chains, such as distributors and retailers, become sustainable. </p>
<p>My research focuses on social and environmental sustainability issues confronting organisations. Environmental initiatives require a long-term focus, and in my view, businesses would be unwise to scale back these measures in response to the pandemic. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328821854_How_nation-level_background_governance_conditions_shape_the_economic_payoffs_of_corporate_environmental_performance">Research</a> by myself and colleagues suggests most firms with good environmental performance also do well financially. And firms that ignore environmental issues face enormous risk.</p>
<p>Renowned US economist Milton Friedman <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctrine-the-social-responsibility-of-business-is-to.html">famously argued</a>, “the only social responsibility of business is to make profits”. But even Friedman suggests firms are better off dealing with environmental issues when they become a risk. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Albert Perez/AAP" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397727/original/file-20210429-17-10sl4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397727/original/file-20210429-17-10sl4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397727/original/file-20210429-17-10sl4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397727/original/file-20210429-17-10sl4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397727/original/file-20210429-17-10sl4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397727/original/file-20210429-17-10sl4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397727/original/file-20210429-17-10sl4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Climate change and extreme weather, such as heavy rainfall, is a business risk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flooded supermarket carpark</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Business can be a force for good</h2>
<p>Sustainability measures by business are crucial in helping <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/04/resilience-in-a-hotter-world">mitigate and adapt</a> to climate change. Production processes creating fewer greenhouse gas emissions help slow global warming. And when firms make products that require fewer natural resources (such as by using recycled materials), this lowers stress on global ecosystems.</p>
<p>In fact, <a href="https://unisa.edu.au/Enterprise-Magazine-Home/issue-1-2020/a-coup-against-capitalism--how-fire-and-pestilence-have-changed-our-world-view/">our research</a> shows businesses can be one of society’s most powerful actors in bringing about fast and furious change on environmental and social sustainability.</p>
<p>However a recent <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/2021-climate-check-business-views-on-environmental-sustainability.html">international survey</a> by Deloitte found 54% of 75 surveyed Australian companies were downgrading sustainability initiatives during the pandemic. </p>
<p>This is a troubling figure, but below the global average of 65%. And, it should be noted, no surveyed organisation planned to stop their efforts completely and not resume, indicating the changes will not be permanent. </p>
<p>The results are not necessarily representative of the entire Australian business sector. But as a general rule, slowing the momentum on environmental initiatives increases business exposure to climate risk – and may affect future profitability. A firm’s environmental capabilities can take decades to hone. They can involve complex strategies and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839218778018">years of consultations</a> inside and outside the company. Stopping or slowing these actions can undo hard-earned gains. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Composite image of man in business suit and tree branches" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397479/original/file-20210428-19-15wpizh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397479/original/file-20210428-19-15wpizh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397479/original/file-20210428-19-15wpizh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397479/original/file-20210428-19-15wpizh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397479/original/file-20210428-19-15wpizh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397479/original/file-20210428-19-15wpizh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397479/original/file-20210428-19-15wpizh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Slowing the momentum on environmental initiatives increases business exposure to climate risk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In recent years, the business community has increasingly recognised how climate change and other environmental damage poses a risk to their returns. These <a href="https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/protecting-business/risk-management/environment-climate">risks include</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>extreme weather which disrupts operations, damages infrastructure and increases insurance costs </li>
<li>increased business costs due to scarcer resources</li>
<li>lower consumer demand for unsustainable products</li>
<li>stranded assets (those that can’t make a financial return due to changes in technology, regulation or the market)</li>
<li>reputation damage and shareholder backlash.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cyclone-seroja-just-demolished-parts-of-wa-and-our-warming-world-will-bring-more-of-the-same-158769">Cyclone Seroja just demolished parts of WA – and our warming world will bring more of the same</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Rio Tinto experienced the latter last year after its disastrous decision to blow up two ancient rock shelters at Juukan Gorge. The move prompted public outrage and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/28/rio-tinto-juukan-gorge-native-title-mining-company-executive-reshuffle-mainly-pr">enraged shareholders</a> forced the resignation of Rio’s chief executive, Jean-Sébastien Jacques.</p>
<p>And shareholders in Australian energy giant AGL have <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/blackrock-turns-up-the-heat-on-agl-s-coal-exit-plans-20201007-p562vz.html">urged its board</a> to hasten the closure of its coal-fired power stations. </p>
<p>Sustainable business activities need not damage a business’ financial returns. This month it was <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-powerful-new-financial-argument-for-fossil-fuel-divestment">reported</a> that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, had examined divestment by hundreds of funds and concluded the portfolios experienced “modest improvement in fund return”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters rally outside the Rio Tinto office in Perth earlier this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RICHARD WAINWRIGHT/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Flattening the climate curve</h2>
<p>Rather than abandoning environmental initiatives, governments, businesses and societies should use the pandemic to reset our collective response to climate change. </p>
<p>For businesses, the pandemic presents a unique opportunity to rethink how they engage with their workforce. Do businesses really need all their <a href="https://www.gbca.org.au/uploads/97/36449/Mid-Tier%20Commercial%20Office%20Buildings%20Pathway%20report.pdf?_ga=2.53787744.957501805.1572935090-604356587.1538523608">energy-guzzling</a> office buildings? Do their employees need to commute to work every day? Is international travel necessary? Can they pool scarce resources and <a href="https://www.nbs.net/articles/guide-collaborating-with-competitors-to-advance-sustainability">work with competitors</a> to gain traction on environmental issues?</p>
<p>For governments, this is a good time to seriously consider <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-pricing-works-the-largest-ever-study-puts-it-beyond-doubt-142034">pricing carbon</a>, which financially penalises high-emitting companies. Renewable energy is becoming <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/renewable-energy-reliable">more reliable</a> each year – strengthening the case to move to a low-carbon economy. </p>
<p>Governments should also consider earmarking a decent fraction of further stimulus payments to encourage business action on climate change. After the global financial crisis in 2007-09, many national governments issued financial stimulus to kickstart economies. Pioneering electric carmaker Tesla <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-07-24/tesla-elon-musk-stimulus">emerged</a> from one such stimulus loan in the United States. </p>
<p>And more broadly, as a capitalist society, must we continue on the path of incessant economic growth that is making our planet sick? Or can we use the pause caused by this pandemic to take a more sustainable route?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ive-seriously-tried-to-believe-capitalism-and-the-planet-can-coexist-but-ive-lost-faith-131288">I've seriously tried to believe capitalism and the planet can coexist, but I've lost faith</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Crowds in shopping precinct" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397480/original/file-20210428-13-c7xuxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397480/original/file-20210428-13-c7xuxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397480/original/file-20210428-13-c7xuxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397480/original/file-20210428-13-c7xuxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397480/original/file-20210428-13-c7xuxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397480/original/file-20210428-13-c7xuxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397480/original/file-20210428-13-c7xuxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pandemic is a time to question the mantra of endless economic growth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A dry run</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic can be viewed as a dry run for the impending climate crisis. But the size and scale of climate change demands much more sustained commitment and action than the pandemic. Successfully flattening the emissions curve will take decades, not months. </p>
<p>And the pain from climate change, while slower to arrive, will last much longer, and perhaps forever change civilisation as we know it.</p>
<p>Businesses have long been a big part of the climate problem. They, along with governments and society, cannot continue their uncoordinated, piecemeal response to climate change. This includes not dumping environmental initiatives when it all feels too hard. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/spot-the-difference-as-world-leaders-rose-to-the-occasion-at-the-biden-climate-summit-morrison-faltered-159295">Spot the difference: as world leaders rose to the occasion at the Biden climate summit, Morrison faltered</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sukhbir Sandhu has received funding from the Australian Research Council and the European Union. She is a member of the Academy of Management.</span></em></p>Businesses have long been a big part of the climate problem. They shouldn’t scale back environmental initiatives when it all feels too hard.Sukhbir Sandhu, Associate Professor in Sustainability and Ethics, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1559412021-02-24T19:07:18Z2021-02-24T19:07:18ZBeyond Juukan Gorge, the relentless threat mining poses to the Pilbara cultural landscape<p>Just as the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge">parliamentary inquiry</a> into Rio Tinto’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters was reconvening in Canberra, another culturally significant site was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/feb/23/aboriginal-rock-shelter-in-pilbara-damaged-after-bhp-promised-not-to-disturb-heritage-sites">damaged</a> at one of BHP’s iron ore mines in the Pilbara.</p>
<p>This latest rock shelter, a registered site for the Banjima peoples, was reportedly damaged by a rockfall in late January. BHP said the site was not part of its current mining operations and the cause of the rockfall was not known. </p>
<p>Both incidents make clear the invidious and relentless threat to Aboriginal cultural heritage in the Pilbara (and elsewhere in Australian mining regions). </p>
<p>The destruction of one ancient and sacred rock shelter is, of course, devastating. But there’s a greater and as yet unrecognised loss to cultural heritage that is occurring from the “cumulative impacts” of mining activities in the Pilbara. It’s destruction by a thousand cuts. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1364351865933103104"}"></div></p>
<h2>A heavily industrialised landscape</h2>
<p>It is difficult for most people to imagine the scale of the iron ore and gas operations in the region. Large swathes of this remote and ecologically delicate environment (a global <a href="http://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/WAM_Supp78(B)_HALSEetal%20pp443-483.pdf">biodiversity hotspot</a> for <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=wa+museum+subterranean+fauna+stygofauna&FORM=SSRE">subterranean fauna</a>) have been transformed over the last several decades into a heavily industrialised landscape.</p>
<p>There are more than 25 industrial-scale iron ore mines in the Pilbara. Of these, Rio Tinto owns 16. They are part of an <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/operations/australia/pilbara">integrated network</a> to transport iron ore out of the region, which includes four independent port terminals, a 1,700-kilometre rail network and other related infrastructure.</p>
<p><a href="https://cmewa.com.au/about/wa-resources/iron-ore/">Western Australia’s iron ore sales</a> have more than doubled over the past decade from 317 million tonnes in 2008-09 to 794 million tonnes in 2018-19. This was worth more than A$4.4 billion in royalties to the WA government in 2018. </p>
<h2>Ancestral paths are being ‘boxed up’</h2>
<p>As a submission to the parliamentary inquiry from the <a href="http://wintawariguruma.com.au/">Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation</a> stated, more than 93% of their Country is covered by mining tenements. There are seven mines in total, most owned by Rio Tinto. </p>
<p>This group is not unusual. The neighbouring Yinhawangka have four Rio Tinto mines on their Country, plus others owned by different companies, including FMG.</p>
<p>Under the current <a href="https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/main_mrtitle_3_homepage.html">WA Aboriginal Heritage Act</a>, the focus of heritage protection efforts is on tangible (often archaeological) sites defined as discrete “way-points” on a map and separated from the cultural landscape that supports them. </p>
<p>But this is a core misunderstanding of cultural heritage management. <a href="https://australia.icomos.org/resources/australia-icomos-heritage-toolkit/intangible-cultural-heritage/">Intangible</a> or ethnographic sites, which are rarely visible to non-Indigenous people or those who are not customary knowledge holders, struggle to find recognition. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-masters-of-the-future-or-heirs-of-the-past-mining-history-and-indigenous-ownership-153879">Friday essay: masters of the future or heirs of the past? Mining, history and Indigenous ownership</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These intangible sites are part of the interconnected spiritual journey known as “dreaming tracks” and “<a href="https://www.commonground.org.au/learn/songlines">song-lines</a>”. For the knowledge holders, these ancestral paths represent a fundamental truth of connection to Country.</p>
<p>However, as mining activity intensifies in the Pilbara, even if certain “sites” are protected, these ancestral paths are being “boxed up” and cut off from one another. </p>
<p>This is because the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act assesses applications and projects on an individual basis, without reference to the cumulative impacts of mining activities or the bigger picture of regional and national heritage. </p>
<h2>What are cumulative impacts?</h2>
<p>These cumulative impacts <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge/Submissions">include such things as</a> </p>
<p>1) loss of access to sacred sites, cultural places (including customary harvest grounds) and cultural materials </p>
<p>2) loss of cultural integrity of cultural places through destruction of Country in close proximity </p>
<p>3) loss through indirect effects, such as increased dust, vibration and noise</p>
<p>4) diminished amenities and visual integrity.</p>
<p>In 2015, BHP prepared <a href="https://www.bhp.com/-/media/bhp/regulatory-information-media/iron-ore/western-australia-iron-ore/0000/impact-assessment-report/160316_ironore_waio_pilbarastrategicassessment_commonwealth_appendix4_part1.pdf">a “cumulative impact assessment”</a> of its direct and indirect mining footprint in the Pilbara. The authors indicated it was the first of its kind for the region. </p>
<p>Though the focus was purely on the environmental effects of mining activities — not cultural effects — the results are nonetheless revealing. </p>
<p>The authors listed five species from the region, including the olive python and the northern quoll, that are now considered “vulnerable” or “endangered”. These species also have great significance for traditional owners. Yet, they were not engaged in the cumulative impact assessment process.</p>
<p>To the best of our knowledge, none of the major mining companies in the Pilbara have undertaken cumulative impact assessments for Indigenous cultural heritage that encompass the entirety of their operational footprint. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-a-mining-state-be-pro-heritage-vital-steps-to-avoid-another-juukan-gorge-146211">Can a mining state be pro-heritage? Vital steps to avoid another Juukan Gorge</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Land access protocols, locked gates and PPE</h2>
<p>The ability of traditional owners to access Country to care for it, maintain their obligations to it, monitor the effects of mining operations and ensure inter-generational knowledge transfer is another sensitive issue. </p>
<p>Many groups in the Pilbara have “land access protocols” with the companies operating on their land. A <a href="http://www.yinhawangka.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Land-Access-Protocol-Greater-Paraburdoo-2020.pdf">publicly available protocol</a> between the Yinhawangka and Rio Tinto gives insight into the strict visitation parameters for the company’s mining leases and tenements.</p>
<p>For instance, the “general conditions” require visitors to have vehicles fitted with a suitable UHF radio set to the sign-posted channels. </p>
<p>The requirements also include </p>
<blockquote>
<p>providing information of all the areas that you plan to visit within the … mining lease area, the number of people/vehicles in your group, the date and time that access is required and the duration of your trip. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Each person entering a mining lease must also “meet the minimum PPE requirements”. </p>
<p>Though we recognise the need to manage for occupational health and safety, such intensive requirements would make access extremely difficult and unrealistic for many people, especially the elderly and children.</p>
<p>Land access protocols do not just apply to mining leases, but also to pastoral leases, which are owned by the companies to facilitate the development of mining operations and ensure land access. Rio Tinto owns six such leases in the Pilbara. </p>
<p>The visitation rights for these pastoral leases are similarly strict. The protocols for <a href="http://www.yinhawangka.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Land-Access-Protocol-Rocklea-Station-2020.pdf">Rocklea station</a>, for instance, allow native title holders to camp for no more than three nights.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/juukan-gorge-inquiry-puts-rio-tinto-on-notice-but-without-drastic-reforms-it-could-happen-again-151377">Juukan Gorge inquiry puts Rio Tinto on notice, but without drastic reforms, it could happen again</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The importance of conservation agreements</h2>
<p><a href="https://consultation.dplh.wa.gov.au/aboriginal-heritage/aboriginal-heritage-bill-2020/">WA’s draft new heritage laws</a> contain the phrase “cultural landscapes”, which is a step in the right direction. </p>
<p>However, to truly protect cultural heritage and accommodate Aboriginal rights and interests requires conservation agreements, similar to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-a-mining-state-be-pro-heritage-vital-steps-to-avoid-another-juukan-gorge-146211">Murujuga</a> agreements made between the Commonwealth and both Rio Tinto and Woodside in the Pilbara. </p>
<p>The state government would have to forgo some mining royalties and, in line with recommendations by the parliamentary inquiry, native title holders would have the right to protect sites and declare areas “no-go zones”. </p>
<p>This has been the successful model under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00117">Aboriginal Land Rights Act</a> in the NT for more than 40 years. Such a model <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4539641/Nourishing_Terrains_Australian_Aboriginal_views_of_Landscape_and_Wilderness_Australian_Heritage_Commission_Canberra_1996_">recognises</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the interdependence of all life within Country constitutes a hard but essential lesson – those who destroy their Country ultimately destroy themselves.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The risk is that if decisive and strong measures aren’t taken, large swathes of the Pilbara will become desecration zones, or “sterilisation” zones, as some Aboriginal groups have termed the industrial mining landscape. </p>
<p>This will be the legacy, not only for the mining companies, but for Australia and most painfully, for the traditional owners who remain long after the miners have gone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Holcombe is a Senior Research Fellow at CSRM which conducts applied research with communities and Indigenous representative bodies, governments, mining companies and, currently, the Cooperative Research Centre for Transitions in Mining Economies (CRC TiME). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Fredericks was the BHP Chair in Indigenous Engagement at CQUniversity from 2013-2018. </span></em></p>The destruction of one ancient rock shelter is devastating. But there’s a greater loss to cultural heritage that is occurring from the ‘cumulative impacts’ of mining operations in WA.Sarah Holcombe, Senior Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandBronwyn Fredericks, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement), The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1515802020-12-13T19:04:53Z2020-12-13T19:04:53ZJuukan Gorge: how could they not have known? (And how can we be sure they will in future?)<p>How could they not have known? </p>
<p>That was the question on everyone’s lips after leaders of the Australian defence force claimed <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australian-commanders-need-to-be-held-responsible-for-alleged-war-crimes-in-afghanistan-151030">not to have known</a> about the atrocities committed by special forces in Afghanistan. </p>
<p>It is now being asked about the leadership of Rio Tinto after that company ignored the wishes of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) peoples and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1IOotU9mN0">destroyed</a> caves containing priceless Aboriginal heritage dating back 46,000 years. </p>
<p>Three of Rio’s most senior executives, including the chief executive, apparently knew nothing about what was happening until it was too late. This was:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>despite a detailed archaeological report about the heritage value of the caves which the company had commissioned </p></li>
<li><p>despite representations of traditional landowners about the significance of the caves, and that they be preserved </p></li>
<li><p>despite the concerns of Rio’s own cultural heritage staff in Western Australia</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374557/original/file-20201212-13-rkhmhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374557/original/file-20201212-13-rkhmhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374557/original/file-20201212-13-rkhmhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374557/original/file-20201212-13-rkhmhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374557/original/file-20201212-13-rkhmhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374557/original/file-20201212-13-rkhmhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374557/original/file-20201212-13-rkhmhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374557/original/file-20201212-13-rkhmhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge/Interim_Report">Extract from Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia's interim report</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How could they not have known? The parliament’s joint standing committee inquiry into the destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves is a golden opportunity to get an answer.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this month’s <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge/Interim_Report">interim report</a> only touches on this question, and none of the eight recommendations it addresses to Rio Tinto deal with it. </p>
<p>The closest it comes is an observation that Rio had</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a structure which sidelined heritage protection within the organisation, lack of senior management oversight, and no clear channel of communication to enable the escalation of heritage concerns to executives based in London</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Coalition committee member Dean Smith, Senator for Western Australia, went further in additional comments appended to the report</p>
<blockquote>
<p>it is my view that … board members … enabled a culture to develop at Rio Tinto where non-executive level management did not feel empowered to inform the executive of the significance of the rock shelters</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The problem is that bad news about what is happening at lower levels of large organisations travels up slowly, if at all. Matters get “stuck”, and are not addressed. </p>
<h2>Bad news doesn’t travel up</h2>
<p>Paedophile priests, money laundering by banks, fraudulent misrepresentation by auto companies, corruption in police departments, unacceptable safety risks taken by mining companies – in each case when these sort of issues come to light, those at the top say they knew nothing about it. </p>
<p>There are reasons for this failure to know: the people at the top would rather not hear about it, and so those below avoid telling them; whistleblowers get ostracised; people ‘"in the know" remain silent out of self-interest or misplaced loyalty; bonuses encourage a focus on profit at the expense of all else.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/juukan-gorge-inquiry-puts-rio-tinto-on-notice-but-without-drastic-reforms-it-could-happen-again-151377">Juukan Gorge inquiry puts Rio Tinto on notice, but without drastic reforms, it could happen again</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So what should leaders do to change things? The first thing is to acknowledge that there is likely to be bad news – problems, challenges and things that are not right.</p>
<p>Indeed, if they are not hearing bad news, something is wrong.</p>
<p>Chief executives and board members need to develop a sense of “chronic unease” about whether they are really getting the full story from their subordinates or whether there are hidden time bombs ticking away that will eventually explode. They need to personally seek out and reward the bearers of bad news.</p>
<h2>Bad news needs to be sought out</h2>
<p>Second, they need to structure their organisation to maximise the chance of bad news reaching the top. What is required in large commercial organisations like Rio Tinto is someone on the executive committee whose job is ensuring non-commercial environmental, social and governance risks are managed. </p>
<p>That executive should neither be responsible for, nor rewarded for, any aspect of commercial performance and should be given a direct line to board members. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/corporate-dysfunction-on-indigenous-affairs-why-heads-rolled-at-rio-tinto-146001">Corporate dysfunction on Indigenous affairs: Why heads rolled at Rio Tinto</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Specialist staff reporting to that executive need to be embedded at lower levels of the organisation and in each of the company’s divisions.</p>
<p>The interim report concludes that Rio Tinto’s <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/releases/2020/Rio-Tinto-publishes-board-review-of-cultural-heritage-management">board review</a> has not fully grappled with these issues. </p>
<p>Yet Rio Tinto has made some positive changes following the catastrophe.</p>
<p>First, it has acknowledged that its cultural heritage staff in Western Australia have had no reporting line to higher-level social performance staff. Indeed, there have been no higher-level staff exclusively responsible for impacts to communities. </p>
<h2>Rio is making an (uneven) start</h2>
<p>The company is creating a “social performance” function, reporting to a group executive on the corporate executive committee. </p>
<p>Second (and of concern) Rio Tinto has specified that this executive will also be the culmination point for reports on new mining “projects”.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/operations/projects">Projects</a> are commercially and engineering oriented and might come to be seen as more important to the company and requiring greater focus from the group executive than health, safety, environment and social concerns.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">Rio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Third, social performance staff will be “embedded” within local mine management and product groups. </p>
<p>The critical question is whether reports from these social performance specialists will get diluted by the time they reach the top. The best chance is a direct line to a specialist in corporate headquarters who reports to a “group executive social performance” on the executive committee. </p>
<p>Rio Tinto has appointed a chief adviser Indigenous affairs who will report to the chief executive, although it is unclear what authority the position will hold. </p>
<p>The announced changes leave much uncertain. The inquiry will hold further hearings <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/About_the_House_News/Media_Releases/Never_Again">next year</a>. It will get the chance to insist on proper structures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deanna is chief investigator of an ARC Linkage grant on public-private inquiries in mining; member of the International Council of Mining and Metals independent expert review panel; and trustee and member of the international advisory council for the Institute for Human Rights and Business. She is Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at UQ. CSRM conducts applied research with communities, governments, and mining companies, including Rio Tinto.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Hopkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rio Tinto’s own staff wanted the blast stopped.Andrew Hopkins, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Australian National UniversityDeanna Kemp, Professor and Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1513772020-12-09T10:41:19Z2020-12-09T10:41:19ZJuukan Gorge inquiry puts Rio Tinto on notice, but without drastic reforms, it could happen again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373778/original/file-20201209-21-1ehal1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=229%2C15%2C4455%2C3100&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">RICHARD WAINWRIGHT/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the eve of <a href="https://www.reconciliation.org.au/national-reconciliation-week/">Reconciliation Week</a> this year, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/26/rio-tinto-blasts-46000-year-old-aboriginal-site-to-expand-iron-ore-mine">news broke</a> that <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en">Rio Tinto</a> had destroyed ancient rock shelters at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1IOotU9mN0">Juukan Gorge</a> in Western Australia to expand one of its 16 iron ore mines in the Pilbara.</p>
<p>The public was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-11/juukan-gorge-aboriginal-heritage-site-just-one-of-many-destroyed/12337562">appalled</a> to learn that a mining company could legally destroy such sacred Aboriginal heritage. Rio Tinto <a href="https://www.afr.com/rear-window/secret-recording-rio-tinto-not-sorry-for-cave-blast-20200614-p552eh">mishandled</a> its response, and a national and international outcry prompted a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge">parliamentary inquiry</a>. </p>
<p>Today, the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/joint/northern_australia">joint standing committee</a> released its interim report into the incident, entitled “Never Again”. </p>
<p>The inquiry lifts the lid on a deeply flawed regulatory system. While the report is scathing of Rio Tinto, it concludes that the issues “are not unique” to the company. </p>
<h2>Flaws in WA law and the native title system</h2>
<p>The interim report recommends major legislative reform to prevent this happening again. </p>
<p>The report details significant deficiencies in WA’s outdated <a href="https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/main_mrtitle_3_homepage.html">Aboriginal Heritage Act</a>, passed in 1972. By excluding Aboriginal peoples from decisions about land development, the law undermines their right to manage their cultural heritage. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rio-tinto-can-ensure-its-aboriginal-heritage-review-is-transparent-and-independent-141192">How Rio Tinto can ensure its Aboriginal heritage review is transparent and independent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The report recognises progress made on public consultation of a <a href="https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/aha-review">draft bill</a> that would remove Section 18 of the act, which <a href="https://www.winyama.com.au/news-room/what-is-section-18">allows developers to apply for consent</a> to legally damage or destroy Aboriginal sites.</p>
<p>The committee recommends any new legislation ensure Aboriginal people have meaningful involvement in and control over heritage decision-making, in line with the internationally recognised principles of <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ipeoples/freepriorandinformedconsent.pdf">free, prior and informed consent</a>. </p>
<p>The interim report recommends placing a moratorium on any new Section 18 applications until new legislation is passed. It also encourages companies with existing permissions not to proceed with the destruction of heritage sites, but to have them assessed under the new legislation.</p>
<p>The findings highlight shortcomings in federal law and recommends major improvements in the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A00485">statutory protection</a> for Indigenous groups seeking to protect their significant sites. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373794/original/file-20201209-23-dfd3h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373794/original/file-20201209-23-dfd3h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373794/original/file-20201209-23-dfd3h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373794/original/file-20201209-23-dfd3h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373794/original/file-20201209-23-dfd3h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373794/original/file-20201209-23-dfd3h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373794/original/file-20201209-23-dfd3h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in Western Australia, before they were destroyed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PKKP AND PKKP ABORIGINAL CORPORATION</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The report calls for the removal of the so-called “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-12/juukan-gorge-blast-inquiry-told-of-rio-tinto-gag-clauses-warning/12754100">gag clauses</a>” in <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2006C00140">land use agreements</a>, which prevent Aboriginal peoples from speaking out against developers. </p>
<p>In a public hearing, the traditional owners of Juukan Gorge, the <a href="https://pkkp.org.au/">Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples</a>, explained how their agreement with Rio Tinto prevented them from objecting to the company’s Section 18 application, or seeking an emergency injunction under federal heritage legislation. </p>
<p>The report recommends all companies operating in WA undertake an independent review of their land use agreements, in line with calls from investors in mining companies. </p>
<p>The deep flaws in Australia’s native title system are described in the report as “another means to destroy Indigenous heritage”. These flaws are so alarming that <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2020/11/21/the-failures-behind-the-destruction-the-juukan-gorge-caves/160587720010730">Labor Senator Patrick Dodson</a>, a committee member and senior Aboriginal leader, had earlier called for a <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/royal-commissions-and-official-inquiries/">royal commission</a>. </p>
<p>Australia’s current regulatory system approves mining developments on a project-by-project basis. The approvals process does not consider the cumulative impacts to cultural landscapes, such as Juukan Gorge, from multiple and expanding mines. The committee will likely hear more about these issues next year.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373808/original/file-20201209-15-1vzb3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters rally outside the Rio Tinto office in Perth earlier this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RICHARD WAINWRIGHT/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Corporate responsibility beyond legal compliance</h2>
<p>After the Juukan Gorge tragedy, Rio Tinto conducted an <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/releases/2020/Rio-Tinto-publishes-board-review-of-cultural-heritage-management">internal, board-led review</a> of its heritage policies, but did not deliver meaningful recommendations on accountability and fell well short of <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/09/09/calls-rio-tinto-board-resign-border-restrictions-delay-jukkan-gorge-inquiry">stakeholder expectations</a>. </p>
<p>The inquiry report concluded that Rio Tinto’s review did not fully grapple with the root causes of the Juukan Gorge debacle and its effects.</p>
<p>Rather than letting this slide, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=7K6">inquiry chair Warren Entsch</a> and the rest of the committee doubled down on their interrogation of the company’s senior management.</p>
<p>Through persistent questions in public hearings, the committee probed Rio Tinto’s generic <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/releases/2020/Rio-Tinto-publishes-submission-to-Parliamentary-Inquiry-on-Juukan-Gorge">explanations</a> of “missed opportunities”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373811/original/file-20201209-13-ev0phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373811/original/file-20201209-13-ev0phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373811/original/file-20201209-13-ev0phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373811/original/file-20201209-13-ev0phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373811/original/file-20201209-13-ev0phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373811/original/file-20201209-13-ev0phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373811/original/file-20201209-13-ev0phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Committee chair Warren Entsch and the rest of the inquiry travelled to the Pilbara to meet with Traditional Owners and to see the damage to the site several weeks ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MICK TSIKAS/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seeing that other mining companies had “taken advantage” of the weak regulatory system, the committee also pressed <a href="https://www.bhp.com/">BHP</a> and <a href="https://www.fmgl.com.au/">Fortescue Metals Group</a> on their cultural heritage policies and practices. This unearthed information that was not included in the companies’ public submissions. Some of this information aligns with our research.</p>
<p>For example, many mining companies have not kept pace with their social policy commitments. Across the industry, community relations departments have seen sizeable <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/sd.1894">reductions</a>. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420714000300">Our research</a> has flagged the risks associated with these issues, but most companies have failed to adequately respond. </p>
<p>In many mining companies, the work of community relations and Indigenous affairs units remains <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142071300069X">peripheral</a> to mine planning and production processes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/destruction-of-juukan-gorge-we-need-to-know-the-history-of-artefacts-but-it-is-more-important-to-keep-them-in-place-139650">Destruction of Juukan Gorge: we need to know the history of artefacts, but it is more important to keep them in place</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Mining engineers, lawyers and media managers routinely overrule the advice of social specialists — including local experts and Indigenous advisers who work directly with communities on the ground. </p>
<p>It is entirely normal for company personnel with a limited understanding of customary land tenure to dominate decisions about land access and cultural heritage. This knowledge gap is a known <a href="https://www.resolve.ngo/docs/yiffm-final-report-english.pdf">point of failure</a> in mine-community relations. </p>
<p>The inquiry process has revealed a deep <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/28/we-need-a-thorough-investigation-into-the-destruction-of-the-juukan-gorge-caves-a-mere-apology-will-not-cut-it">reluctance</a> within mining companies to thoroughly investigate major social incidents and the impacts of their operations. </p>
<p>We have learned that companies don’t share these findings with the public – unless forced to do so. The report rejects the idea that companies can “feign ignorance” in order to avoid accountability.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373865/original/file-20201209-13-l4e0d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373865/original/file-20201209-13-l4e0d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373865/original/file-20201209-13-l4e0d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373865/original/file-20201209-13-l4e0d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373865/original/file-20201209-13-l4e0d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373865/original/file-20201209-13-l4e0d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373865/original/file-20201209-13-l4e0d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rio Tinto’s internal investigation of the Juukan Gorge incident was criticised in the inquiry report.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What are the prospects for change?</h2>
<p>The inquiry has laid bare the overwhelming challenges faced by First Nations peoples when mining occurs on their land. It highlights the urgent need for a rebalancing of power to avoid mining production priorities dominating at the expense of all else.</p>
<p>The report confirms that legislative reform is crucial. But this can be painfully slow and notoriously piecemeal. For example, the industry has already <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/12/mining-industry-opposes-new-laws-for-aboriginal-heritage-sites-despite-juukan-gorge-failures">pushed back</a> on aspects of WA’s heritage law review. For Aboriginal groups, these and other proposed reforms <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-08/juukan-gorge-repeat-possible-under-proposed-wa-law-leaders/12639846">do not go far enough</a>.</p>
<p>Pressure may have to come from other places. The report strengthens <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/australia-mining-indigenous/australian-institutional-investor-sees-heritage-risk-across-mining-industry-idINL1N2I30BW">investor demands</a> for better corporate management of <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/australian-institutional-investor-sees-heritage-risk-across-mining-industry-2020-11-17">the impacts of mining on communities and cultural heritage</a>. Shareholder and investor advocacy at annual general meetings is only likely to intensify.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-a-mining-state-be-pro-heritage-vital-steps-to-avoid-another-juukan-gorge-146211">Can a mining state be pro-heritage? Vital steps to avoid another Juukan Gorge</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/08/28/marcia-langton-calls-reparations-traditional-owners-following-juukan-gorge">Aboriginal leaders</a> and new Aboriginal <a href="https://nntc.com.au/news_latest/aboriginal-leaders-call-for-action-to-protect-first-nations-cultural-heritage/">alliances</a> are also primed to take collective action and push for national best practice standards.</p>
<p>The inquiry’s findings will likely be leveraged internationally, as well. The <a href="http://apache-stronghold.com/">Apache people</a> in the US have already <a href="https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/despite-australia-atrocity-oak-flat-mine-presses-on-11498715">linked</a> Juukan to their campaign to protect the sacred <a href="https://sacredland.org/oak-flat-united-states/">Oak Flat</a> site in Arizona. This is where <a href="https://www.resolutioncopper.com/">Resolution Copper</a>, jointly owned by Rio Tinto and BHP, is proposing a new mine.</p>
<p>Having been <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/14-trillion-investor-coalition-puts-australia-s-miners-on-notice-over-indigenous-rights-20201028-p569fe.html">put on notice</a>, global mining companies are bolstering their communities and cultural heritage teams. But it is not enough to just increase head count. Social specialists and Indigenous people must hold positions of authority and have influence internally to contain corporate self-interest.</p>
<p>Mining companies like Rio Tinto must do better. To avoid future catastrophes, industry leaders must internalise the lessons from Juukan and radically overhaul the way they do business.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deanna is chief investigator of an ARC Linkage grant on public-private inquiries in mining; member of the International Council of Mining and Metals independent expert review panel; trustee and member of the international advisory council for the Institute for Human Rights and Business.
The Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at UQ conducts applied research with communities, governments, and mining companies, including Rio Tinto and BHP.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Owen is a co-investigator of an ARC Linkage grant on public-private inquiries in mining. The Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at UQ conducts applied research with communities, governments, and mining companies, including Rio Tinto and BHP.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodger Barnes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For far too long, mining companies have let their social and cultural heritage commitments slide. The inquiry report should be a wake-up call for the industry.Deanna Kemp, Professor and Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of QueenslandJohn Owen, Professorial Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandRodger Barnes, Research Manager, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1462112020-10-14T19:11:12Z2020-10-14T19:11:12ZCan a mining state be pro-heritage? Vital steps to avoid another Juukan Gorge<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361538/original/file-20201005-24-1p42tfq.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=240%2C4%2C1102%2C810&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Participants in the Wintawari Guruma Rock Art Research Project record rock art near Tom Price in the Pilbara region.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jo McDonald, CRAR+M Database, Photo reproduced with permission WGAC</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The destruction of 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge sites in the Pilbara has created great distress for their traditional owners, seismic shockwaves for heritage professionals and appalled the general public. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/corporate-dysfunction-on-indigenous-affairs-why-heads-rolled-at-rio-tinto-146001">fallout for Rio Tinto</a> has been profound as has the groundswell of criticism of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/02/western-australia-revamps-indigenous-heritage-laws-after-juukan-gorge-destruction">Western Australia’s outdated heritage laws</a>. A path forward must ensure a pivotal role for Indigenous communities and secure Keeping Places for heritage items. More broadly, we need more Indigenous places added to the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national-heritage-list">National Heritage List</a>, ensuring them the highest form of heritage protection. </p>
<p>In a state heavily dependent on mining, the model for this could follow the successful seven-year heritage collaboration I have been part of on-country with Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) and Rio Tinto in the Dampier Archipelago (Murujuga).</p>
<p>As Director of the <a href="https://www.crarm.uwa.edu.au/">Centre for Rock Art Research and Management</a> at the University of Western Australia, I am funded to undertake research supported by <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/4b63db66-1d8e-4427-91d1-951aff442414/files/ca-hamersley.pdf">Rio Tinto’s conservation agreement</a> with the Commonwealth.</p>
<p>This Rio Tinto funding enables research documenting the significant scientific and community values of the archipelago, feeding into the management of this estate by MAC, who represent the local coastal Pilbara groups. It also resources Indigenous rangers and trains undergraduate students. </p>
<p>The Murujuga conservation agreements, made between the Commonwealth and both Rio Tinto <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/4b63db66-1d8e-4427-91d1-951aff442414/files/ca-woodside.pdf">and Woodside</a>, were negotiated when the archipelago’s one million-plus engravings and stone features were added to Australia’s <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/dampier-archipelago">National Heritage List</a> in 2007. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-the-rock-art-of-murujuga-deserves-world-heritage-status-102100">Explainer: why the rock art of Murujuga deserves World Heritage status</a>
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<p>Murujuga is one of only seven Indigenous rock art places on the National Heritage List. There are 118 listings in total in Australia (only 20 of them Indigenous). Murujuga is the only listed Indigenous site here with a conservation agreement requiring industry to fund heritage protection.</p>
<p>Rio Tinto does not have a similar agreement with the traditional owners of Juukan Gorge, the Puutu Kunti Kurruma Pinikuru (PKKP) peoples — nor do any of the other Pilbara resource extraction companies with their host native title communities. These mining tenements are managed by a range of royalty agreements, which recognise native title rights but are flexible and require transparency.</p>
<p>Despite working closely with Rio Tinto, I have been dismayed by the Juukan incident and the fault lines it has revealed in Rio Tinto’s historically significant investment in heritage management and agreement-making with Aboriginal people.</p>
<p>PKKP this week <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/12/devastated-indigenous-owners-say-rio-tinto-misled-them-ahead-of-juukan-gorge-blast">expressed their distress</a> at the company’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-12/juukan-gorge-blast-inquiry-told-of-rio-tinto-gag-clauses-warning/12754100">behavior</a>. Clearly, there is much for Rio Tinto to improve. But similarly, the regulation process is seriously flawed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363071/original/file-20201013-15-153vt6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363071/original/file-20201013-15-153vt6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363071/original/file-20201013-15-153vt6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363071/original/file-20201013-15-153vt6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363071/original/file-20201013-15-153vt6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363071/original/file-20201013-15-153vt6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363071/original/file-20201013-15-153vt6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363071/original/file-20201013-15-153vt6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A screenshot of a supplied video taken in 2015 showing one of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in Western Australia before they were destroyed by Rio Tinto in May 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PKKP AND PKKP Aboriginal Corporation.</span></span>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">Rio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed</a>
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<h2>Conserving Aboriginal heritage</h2>
<p>Many of the changes in the WA Government’s new <a href="https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/aha-review">Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2020</a> are welcome: in particular, the recognition of native title, allowing “stop work orders” if an Indigenous community says mining work was begun without their permission, and increased penalties for damaging heritage.</p>
<p>But Aboriginal groups, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-08/juukan-gorge-repeat-possible-under-proposed-wa-law-leaders/12639846?fbclid=IwAR3YWPfDUc-uIRM0MfjN384ey5RiMEOfDA1T8CSoBFfmNPJpoteCeo-biSg">including many in the Kimberley and south-west WA</a>, fear the onus for this regulatory process will be passed onto them and — despite being the appropriate people to manage their own heritage — they will not be adequately resourced to do so.</p>
<p>The number of heritage sites <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/21/rio-tinto-expected-to-destroy-124-more-aboriginal-sites-inquiry-told">likely to be at risk</a> in the future will number in the thousands, given the current footprint of mining is a mere 1% of the planned expansion over the next century. A new paradigm is needed in managing heritage. There needs to be a process of identifying regionally significant landscapes <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/8582db94-6daa-4097-b77e-079a797ef67d/files/dhawura-ngilan-vision-atsi-heritage.pdf">and earmarking them for conservation</a> before future development footprints are determined. </p>
<p>And there need to be more conservation agreements like the Murujuga one, with industry-funding heritage and conservation rather than just mining clearance work.</p>
<p>In the Pilbara, for instance, there are three national parks, Karajini, Millstream-Chichester and Murujuga, where mining cannot occur. But more are needed in other native title areas. They need to be resourced so Aboriginal heritage rangers can manage them, with appropriate <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-26/murujuga-national-park-reopens-rock-art-new-boardwalk/12598186?fbclid=IwAR0ZNXw657rmewpB_8QNhyM-xb8dcnhLon9L6gIqVTGM6CG27H5NvIHQBFA">facilities for tourists</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362792/original/file-20201011-15-1y9bz86.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362792/original/file-20201011-15-1y9bz86.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362792/original/file-20201011-15-1y9bz86.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362792/original/file-20201011-15-1y9bz86.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362792/original/file-20201011-15-1y9bz86.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362792/original/file-20201011-15-1y9bz86.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362792/original/file-20201011-15-1y9bz86.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362792/original/file-20201011-15-1y9bz86.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Members of the Wintawari Guruma Rock Art Project recording contemporary values with traditional custodians, university researchers and Rio Tinto heritage personnel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jo McDonald CRAR+M Database reproduced with permission of Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation</span></span>
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<p>Mining compliance surveys, which “manage harm” to heritage are a significant economy for many Aboriginal communities. </p>
<p>But a number of Pilbara Aboriginal Corporations, including Wintawari Gurama, with whom I have developed a rock art research project, don’t want to just participate in the mining economy, which is tantamount to destroying their heritage. </p>
<p>They want to train local rangers, and document, record and manage their own heritage estates, enabling elders and young people to earn a living on country.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361462/original/file-20201004-15-8wh3bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361462/original/file-20201004-15-8wh3bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361462/original/file-20201004-15-8wh3bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361462/original/file-20201004-15-8wh3bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361462/original/file-20201004-15-8wh3bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361462/original/file-20201004-15-8wh3bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361462/original/file-20201004-15-8wh3bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Murujuga Ranger recording rock art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jo McDonald CRAR+M Database reproduced with permission of Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation</span></span>
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<p>This approach is equally required in places like the Kimberley, where <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-07-16/bennett-resources-submits-fracking-plan-for-canning-basin/12458082">fracking could be the next resources</a> “boom”. </p>
<h2>Aboriginal communities need Keeping Places.</h2>
<p>Across the Pilbara, items <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/28/calls-for-high-level-personnel-changes-at-rio-tinto-after-juukan-gorge-destruction">such as the 7,000 heritage items salvaged</a> from Juukan Gorge, are being housed in locked shipping <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/former-top-rio-adviser-calls-for-root-and-branch-renewal/12372454">containers</a>. Secure air-conditioned Keeping Places are an urgent requirement. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/destruction-of-juukan-gorge-we-need-to-know-the-history-of-artefacts-but-it-is-more-important-to-keep-them-in-place-139650">Destruction of Juukan Gorge: we need to know the history of artefacts, but it is more important to keep them in place</a>
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<p>These, too, could be funded by industry, becoming the focus of heritage tourism and ranger training, and hosting collaborative research on heritage, biodiversity and conservation.</p>
<p>Murujuga, which has been added to the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6445/">World Heritage Tentative List</a>, has a tourism management plan. <a href="https://www.murujuga.org.au/our-work/conzinc-bay-tourism-precinct/">A Living Knowledge Centre</a> is planned, and <a href="https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/ngajarli-deep-gorge">additional interpretation</a> facilities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360146/original/file-20200927-18-ypjidh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360146/original/file-20200927-18-ypjidh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360146/original/file-20200927-18-ypjidh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360146/original/file-20200927-18-ypjidh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360146/original/file-20200927-18-ypjidh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360146/original/file-20200927-18-ypjidh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360146/original/file-20200927-18-ypjidh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360146/original/file-20200927-18-ypjidh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ngajarli (Deep Gorge) bird track panel on Murujuga with evidence of industry visible in the background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jo McDonald CRAR+M Database reproduced with permission of Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation</span></span>
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<p>The state government and industry stakeholders are funding the <a href="https://www.der.wa.gov.au/images/documents/our-work/programs/burrup/Murujuga_Rock_Art_Strategy.pdf">Murujuga Rock Art Strategy</a>, which will monitor and assess emissions from nearby industry. There are, however, concerning plans to introduce new industry in the adjacent Burrup Industrial Estate. This is an issue, too, for the federal government, which has ultimate oversight of heritage on the national list.</p>
<p>In WA, the state government asserts that heritage can co-exist with industry. But this will only be possible if the state recognises heritage is non-renewable — just like the mineral wealth of this country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo McDonald receives funding from The Australian Research Council, and holds the endowed Rio Tinto Chair in Rock Art Studies, funded by their Conservation Agreement with the Commonwealth. She sits on the State-based Murujuga Stakeholder Reference Group and the Murujuga Heritage Committee. </span></em></p>Heritage is non-renewable — just like the mineral wealth of this country.Jo McDonald, Director, Centre for Rock Art Research + Management, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1470922020-09-30T20:04:39Z2020-09-30T20:04:39ZA brutal war and rivers poisoned with every rainfall: how one mine destroyed an island<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360703/original/file-20200930-16-ajkxy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C24%2C5472%2C3612&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Locals living downstream of the abandoned mine pan for gold in mine waste. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Allen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, 156 people from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, <a href="https://humanrightslawcentre.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/i/6FA13EBE61C248122540EF23F30FEDED/6000FD940AB538C262AF25ACF5E3F0AC">petitioned the Australian government</a> to investigate Rio Tinto over a copper mine that devastated their homeland. </p>
<p>In 1988, disputes around the notorious Panguna mine sparked a lengthy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2019/nov/24/the-brutal-history-of-bougainville-in-pictures">civil war</a> in Bougainville, leading to the deaths of up to 20,000 people. The war is long over and the mine has been closed for 30 years, but its brutal legacy continues. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bougainville-has-voted-to-become-a-new-country-but-the-journey-to-independence-is-not-yet-over-128236">Bougainville has voted to become a new country, but the journey to independence is not yet over</a>
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<p>When I <a href="https://www.usp.ac.fj/news/story.php?id=2793">conducted research</a> in Bougainville in 2015, I estimated the deposit of the mine’s waste rock (tailings) downstream from the mine to be at least a kilometre wide at its greatest point. Local residents informed me it was tens of metres deep in places. </p>
<p>I spent several nights in a large two-story house built entirely from a single tree dragged out of the tailings — dragged upright, with a tractor. Every new rainfall brought more tailings downstream and changed the course of the waterways, making life especially challenging for the hundreds of people who eke out a precarious existence panning the tailings for <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/91596">remnants of gold</a>.</p>
<p>The petition has brought the plight of these communities back into the media, but calls for Rio Tinto to clean up its mess have been made for decades. Let’s examine what led to the ongoing crisis. </p>
<h2>Triggering a civil war</h2>
<p>The Panguna mine was developed in the 1960s, when PNG was still <a href="https://theconversation.com/png-marks-40-years-of-independence-still-feeling-the-effects-of-australian-colonialism-47258">an Australian colony</a>, and operated between 1972 and 1989. It was, at the time, one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines.</p>
<p>It was operated by <a href="http://www.bcl.com.pg/">Bougainville Copper Limited</a>, a subsidiary of what is now Rio Tinto, until 2016 when Rio handed its shares to the governments of Bougainville and PNG. </p>
<p>When a large-scale mining project reaches the end of its commercial life, a comprehensive mine closure and rehabilitation plan is usually put in place. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/png-marks-40-years-of-independence-still-feeling-the-effects-of-australian-colonialism-47258">PNG marks 40 years of independence, still feeling the effects of Australian colonialism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But Bougainville Copper simply abandoned the site in the face of a landowner rebellion. This was largely triggered by the mine’s environmental and social impacts, including disputes over the sharing of its economic benefits and the impacts of those benefits on predominantly cashless societies.</p>
<p>Following PNG security forces’ heavy-handed intervention — <a href="https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745335049/state-crime-on-the-margins-of-empire/">allegedly under strong political pressure</a> from Bougainville Copper — the rebellion quickly escalated into a full-blown separatist conflict that eventually engulfed all parts of the province. </p>
<p>By the time the hostilities ended in 1997, thousands of Bougainvilleans had lost their lives, including from <a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/about-us/mfat75/bougainville-a-risky-assignment/">an air and sea blockade</a> the PNG military had imposed, which prevented essential medical supplies reaching the island. </p>
<h2>The mine’s gigantic footprint</h2>
<p>The Panguna mine’s footprint was gigantic, stretching across the full breadth of the central part of the island. </p>
<p>The disposal of hundreds of millions of tonnes of tailings into the Kawerong-Jaba river system created enormous problems. </p>
<p>Rivers and streams became filled with silt and significantly widened. Water flows were blocked in many places, creating large areas of swampland and disrupting the livelihoods of hundreds of people in communities downstream of the mine. These communities used the rivers for drinking water and the adjacent lands for subsistence food gardening.</p>
<p>Several villages had to be relocated to make way for the mining operations, with around 200 households resettled between 1969 and 1989.</p>
<p>In the absence of any sort of mine closure or “mothballing” arrangements, the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Panguna mine have only been compounded. </p>
<p>Since the end of mining activities 30 years ago, tailings have continued to move down the rivers and the waterways have never been treated for suspected chemical contamination.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/environment-minister-sussan-ley-faces-a-critical-test-will-she-let-a-mine-destroy-koala-breeding-grounds-145839">Environment Minister Sussan Ley faces a critical test: will she let a mine destroy koala breeding grounds?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Long-suffering communities</h2>
<p>The 156 complainants live in communities around and downstream of the mine. Many are from the long-suffering village of Dapera. </p>
<p>In 1975, the people of Dapera were relocated to make way for mining activities. Today, it’s in the immediate vicinity of the abandoned mine pit. As one woman from Dapera told me in 2015: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have travelled all over Bougainville, and I can say that they [in Dapera] are the poorest of the poor. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>They, and others, sent the complaint to the <a href="https://ausncp.gov.au/">Australian OECD National Contact Point</a> after lodging it with Melbourne’s Human Rights Law Centre. </p>
<p>The complainants say by not ensuring its operations didn’t infringe on the local people’s human rights, Rio Tinto breached <a href="https://www.oecd.org/corporate/mne/">OECD guidelines</a> for multinational enterprises. </p>
<p>The Conversation contacted Rio Tinto for comment. A spokesperson said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We believe the 2016 arrangement provided a platform for the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and PNG to work together on future options for the resource with all stakeholders.</p>
<p>While it is our belief that from 1990 to 2016 no Rio Tinto personnel had access to the mine site due to on-going security concerns, we are aware of the deterioration of mining infrastructure at the site and surrounding areas, and claims of resulting adverse environmental and social, including human rights, impacts.</p>
<p>We are ready to enter into discussions with the communities that have filed the complaint, along with other relevant parties such as BCL and the governments of ABG and PNG.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A long time coming</h2>
<p>This week’s petition comes after a long succession of calls for Rio Tinto to be held to account for the Panguna mine’s legacies and the resulting conflict. </p>
<p>A recent example is when, after Rio Tinto divested from Bougainville Copper in 2016, former Bougainville President John Momis <a href="https://bougainvillenews.com/2016/04/11/bougainville-news-president-momis-statement-abg-engagement-with-rio-tinto-about-rios-plans-for-its-shares-in-bougainville-copper-bcl/">said</a> Rio must take full responsibility for an environmental clean-up.</p>
<p>And in an <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/rio-tinto-lawsuit-re-papua-new-guinea/#:%7E:text=Residents%20of%20the%20island%20of,The%20plaintiffs%20allege%20that%3A&text=environmental%20impacts%20from%20Rio%20Tinto's,violation%20of%20international%20law%3B%20and">unsuccessful class action</a>, launched by Bougainvilleans in the United States in 2000, Rio was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/sep/08/davidpallister.riotinto">accused</a> of collaborating with the PNG state to commit human rights abuses during the conflict and was also sued for environmental damages. The case ultimately foundered on jurisdictional grounds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360712/original/file-20200930-24-uwooqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two people, one waist-deep in tailings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360712/original/file-20200930-24-uwooqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360712/original/file-20200930-24-uwooqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360712/original/file-20200930-24-uwooqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360712/original/file-20200930-24-uwooqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360712/original/file-20200930-24-uwooqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360712/original/file-20200930-24-uwooqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360712/original/file-20200930-24-uwooqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hundreds of millions of tonnes of tailings were deposited in the rivers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Allen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Taking social responsibility</h2>
<p>This highlights the enormous challenges in seeking redress from mining companies for their operations in foreign jurisdictions, and, in this case, for “historical” impacts.</p>
<p>The colonial-era approach to mining when Panguna was developed in the 1960s stands in stark contrast to the corporate social responsibility paradigm supposedly governing the global mining industry today. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/be-worried-when-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-support-current-environmental-laws-138526">Be worried when fossil fuel lobbyists support current environmental laws</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Indeed, Panguna — along with the socially and environmentally disastrous <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/png-s-ok-tedi-mine-disaster-money-locked-in-new-legal-fight-20191102-p536s7.html">Ok Tedi </a> mine in the western highlands of PNG — are <a href="https://www.csrm.uq.edu.au/media/docs/263/community_issues_evans_kemp.pdf">widely credited</a> with forcing the industry to reassess its “social license to operate”. </p>
<p>It’s clear the time has come for Rio to finally take responsibility for cleaning up the mess on Bougainville.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147092/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew G. Allen has received funding from an Australian Research Council fellowship DE140101206.</span></em></p>This mine has destroyed thousands of lives and livelihoods in Bougainville, an island in Papua New Guinea. It’s time Rio Tinto cleaned up its mess.Matthew G. Allen, Professor of Development Studies, The University of the South PacificLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1460012020-09-11T04:06:25Z2020-09-11T04:06:25ZCorporate dysfunction on Indigenous affairs: Why heads rolled at Rio Tinto<p>Outraged investors have forced the board of Rio Tinto to sack its chief executive <a href="https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200911/pdf/44mjv7l09pwgng.pdf">Jean-Sebastien Jacques</a> along with two of the senior executives partially responsible for the destruction of the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Northern_Australia/CavesatJuukanGorge">Juukan Gorge caves</a> in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which contained evidence of human habitation more than 46,000 years ago. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357573/original/file-20200911-18-sqc8ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357573/original/file-20200911-18-sqc8ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357573/original/file-20200911-18-sqc8ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357573/original/file-20200911-18-sqc8ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357573/original/file-20200911-18-sqc8ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357573/original/file-20200911-18-sqc8ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357573/original/file-20200911-18-sqc8ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357573/original/file-20200911-18-sqc8ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200911/pdf/44mjv7l09pwgng.pdf">Rio Tinto announcement to ASX</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why did the company commit this egregious act of <a href="https://www.afr.com/rear-window/marcia-langton-eviscerates-rio-tinto-20200722-p55ehg,">cultural vandalism</a>?</p>
<p>There are several layers to the answer. </p>
<p>First, Rio Tinto’s iron ore division was under extreme production pressure. </p>
<p>The iron ore in the vicinity of the caves was very high grade and the company needed as much of it as possible to mix with other grades so as to supply the market with its trademark <a href="https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/high-hope-for-pilbara-blend/">Pilbara blend</a>. </p>
<p>Its reputation as a reliable supplier depended on it. </p>
<h2>Rio Tinto was siloed</h2>
<p>It was authorised under West Australian law to mine the area, even though this would destroy the caves, and it intended to exercise this legal right, regardless of any opposition.</p>
<p>Second, Rio has a segmented organisational structure. </p>
<p>It’s product divisions – iron ore, aluminium, copper and diamonds, minerals and energy – operate as autonomous business units with relatively little control from the corporate centre. </p>
<p>When things go well, such an organisational structure is highly profitable for the corporation as a whole, because it leaves each product division free to take advantage of whatever opportunities there are in its particular market. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">Rio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But there is a downside. It leaves the corporation vulnerable to poor decision making by any one of its product divisions, decisions that may have disastrous human and environmental consequences that threaten the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420712000529">social license</a> of the whole corporation. </p>
<p>That is what has happened in the Juukan Gorge case.</p>
<h2>Organisational weakness</h2>
<p>Of course, Rio was aware of this downside of its organisational structure and had taken steps to deal with it. </p>
<p>It had various functional lines – chains of command – external to the product divisions, providing services into the divisions and exercising some degree of control over their decision making. </p>
<p>At the lower end of these chains were people working within the product divisions and at the top, an executive sitting on the executive committee of the corporation, that is, at the same level as the heads of the product divisions. </p>
<p>These functional executives were thus in a position to challenge the product division heads about the decisions they were making.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/destruction-of-juukan-gorge-we-need-to-know-the-history-of-artefacts-but-it-is-more-important-to-keep-them-in-place-139650">Destruction of Juukan Gorge: we need to know the history of artefacts, but it is more important to keep them in place</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One of these external functions was called communities, or Indigenous relations. It had staff located within Rio Tinto Iron Ore whose job was to assess and manage the company’s impact on indigenous people and where necessary, to negotiate with them for access to land. </p>
<p>The chain of command for this function led upwards to an executive for corporate relations, on the executive committee of corporation. Corporate relations had not always had a seat at this table. For decades it had reported to the head of either <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1226/Sub_025.1_Rio_Tinto_-_supplementary_-_Responses_to_Questions_on_Notice_3_Sept_2020.pdf?1599795005">human resources or legal</a>, both of whom sit on the executive committee.</p>
<h2>Indigenous relations were ‘corporate relations’</h2>
<p>When Jacques became chief executive in 2016, he elevated the head of corporate relations to sit on the executive committee, “<a href="https://www.afr.com/rear-window/more-cringeworthy-answers-from-rio-tinto-20200908-p55tlr">to ensure that ‘social license’ areas were reflected as an area of specialisation around the executive committee</a>.” </p>
<p>Theoretically this function should have been able to pass the word up the line about the impending destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves, so that either the executive for corporate relations or the chief executive himself might have intervened. </p>
<p>This didn’t happen. The function that should have acted as a watchdog in this situation failed to do so. </p>
<p>The explanation lies in part in how the executive committee is structured. It consists of all those who report directly to the chief executive.</p>
<p>It would make the job of the chief executive too unwieldy if every area of activity was directly represented on this committee, so only the most important are. </p>
<p>Less important areas are grouped together and collectively represented. </p>
<h2>Structure matters</h2>
<p>This means the makeup of the executive committee sends a signal about relative importance. </p>
<p>It consists of the heads of the four product divisions, plus the head of human resources, the chief legal counsel, a chief commercial officer, a chief financial officer, a single head for a grouping consisting of growth, innovation, and health safety and environment, and the aforementioned London-based head of corporate relations, Simone Niven, who is now departing. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357583/original/file-20200911-24-1ema4ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357583/original/file-20200911-24-1ema4ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357583/original/file-20200911-24-1ema4ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357583/original/file-20200911-24-1ema4ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357583/original/file-20200911-24-1ema4ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357583/original/file-20200911-24-1ema4ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357583/original/file-20200911-24-1ema4ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357583/original/file-20200911-24-1ema4ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Departing CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is the team of direct reports to the chief executive.</p>
<p>It means that Indigenous relations is not represented directly at this level. It is grouped with several other specialisations in the portfolio managed by corporate relations. </p>
<p>That portfolio consists of external affairs, sustainability, communities (Indigenous relations), brand, media, government affairs and employee communications. </p>
<p>This is a massive span of concerns, each of which is potentially very demanding.</p>
<p>Indigenous relations must compete with all these other concerns for the attention of the head of corporate relations, and not surprisingly, it did not always get the attention it deserved.</p>
<p>Indeed, Niven had not heard about the Juukan Gorge caves until <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1226/Sub_025.1_Rio_Tinto_-_supplementary_-_Responses_to_Questions_on_Notice_3_Sept_2020.pdf?1599795005">just days before the destruction</a>, and even then, she was apparently unaware of extraordinary significance or age of the caves. </p>
<p>The situation was worse. </p>
<p>Her direct reports did not include anyone with dedicated accountability for Indigenous relations. The way it worked was that people with a particular responsibility for Indigenous relations at Rio’s iron ore operations in Australia reported to an Australian head of corporate relations, who in turn reported to the global head. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/world-first-mining-standard-must-protect-people-and-hold-powerful-companies-to-account-144285">World-first mining standard must protect people and hold powerful companies to account</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This Australian head had the same diverse portfolio of concerns as did his global boss, which again meant it was difficult for Indigenous relations to get the attention it deserved. Moreover, a look at his resume suggests that Indigenous relations was not a significant part of his professional experience.</p>
<p>As well as a primary reporting line to global head of corporate affairs, the Australian head had a secondary or dotted reporting line to the <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1226/Sub_025.1_Rio_Tinto_-_supplementary_-_Responses_to_Questions_on_Notice_3_Sept_2020.pdf?1599795005">head of Rio Tinto iron ore</a>. </p>
<p>As head of the Indigenous relations function it would have been his role to elevate the Juukan Gorge matter to the senior leadership team of Iron Ore, well before preparations to blast the area began.</p>
<p>However, it seems he had very little awareness of the issue and was himself briefed about it at a meeting just <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1226/Sub_025.1_Rio_Tinto_-_supplementary_-_Responses_to_Questions_on_Notice_3_Sept_2020.pdf?1599795005">three days before the blast occurred</a>. Even then, the briefing paper “<a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1226/Sub_025.1_Rio_Tinto_-_supplementary_-_Responses_to_Questions_on_Notice_3_Sept_2020.pdf?1599795005">did not identify the exceptional significance of the sites or their age</a>”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rio-tinto-can-ensure-its-aboriginal-heritage-review-is-transparent-and-independent-141192">How Rio Tinto can ensure its Aboriginal heritage review is transparent and independent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In short, the indigenous relations function failed dismally to alert top management because it had lost its influence and been <a href="https://www.csrm.uq.edu.au/publications/corporate-affairs-and-the-conquest-of-social-performance-in-mining">swallowed</a> by a corporate relations function with a much wider remit. This is the fourth and critical level of level of explanation.</p>
<h2>Has Rio learnt its lesson?</h2>
<p>The changes which the Rio board has announced suggest it has learnt this lesson. </p>
<p>First, it announced that a “<a href="https://www.riotinto.com/news/inquiry-into-juukan-gorge">social performance</a>” function will be established that reports to an executive on the corporate executive committee. </p>
<p>Social performance is broader than Indigenous relations, but it is far more focussed on the rights of project-affected people than is the broad concept of corporate relations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357613/original/file-20200911-14-dw6c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357613/original/file-20200911-14-dw6c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357613/original/file-20200911-14-dw6c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357613/original/file-20200911-14-dw6c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357613/original/file-20200911-14-dw6c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357613/original/file-20200911-14-dw6c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357613/original/file-20200911-14-dw6c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357613/original/file-20200911-14-dw6c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Juukan Gorge caves before destruction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pkkp.org.au/">Puutu Kunti Kurrama And Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, the board specifies that the executive concerned is also be the culmination point for heath, safety and environment, as well as technical and projects.</p>
<p>The inclusion of “projects” might be a serious drawback, since that role is likely to be production-oriented. It conflicts with the thrust of the health, safety and environment and social performance roles, which aim to ensure these issues are not sacrificed in the interests of production.</p>
<p>Third, as well as being part of a specialised function that reports up to the executive committee, social performance staff will be “embedded” within local mine management. </p>
<p>They will have secondary reporting lines within Rio Tinto Iron Ore which will enable them to exercise more influence than previously.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tintos-climate-resolution-marks-a-significant-shift-in-investor-culture-95927">Rio Tinto's climate resolution marks a significant shift in investor culture</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The critical question is whether the social performance function will retain its identity to the top of the hierarchy. </p>
<p>Specifically, will it be headed by a corporate social performance specialist who answers directly to the relevant executive on Rio’s executive committee. </p>
<p>If not, the social performance will be swallowed, just as was Indigenous relations before it.</p>
<p>Companies tend to implement major organisational changes after a disaster that affects the whole corporation. </p>
<p>The Juukan Gorge matter was, <a href="https://nit.com.au/traditional-owners-distraught-after-destruction-of-46000-year-old-rock-shelters/">among other things</a>, a corporate public relations disaster for the whole company. </p>
<p>Now is the time to fix the organisational failings that contributed to it. </p>
<p>If Rio Tinto fails to implement the lessons effectively, the sacrifice of three of its corporate chiefs to appease investors will have been in vain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146001/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deanna Kemp is a trustee of the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB); and a member of the International Council on Mining and Metals' (ICMM) independent expert review panel. She is chief investigator of an ARC Linkage grant on public-private inquiries in mining. The Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at UQ conducts applied research with mining companies, governments and mine-affected communities globally.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Hopkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The way Rio was set up explains a lot about how it came destroy 46,000 years of Indigenous heritage.Andrew Hopkins, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Australian National UniversityDeanna Kemp, Professor and Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1423722020-07-14T19:58:59Z2020-07-14T19:58:59ZPower play: despite the tough talk, the closure of Tiwai Point is far from a done deal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347003/original/file-20200713-189212-tc97wm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4013%2C2263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marc Daalder</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Another year, another round of hostage-taking by the owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.</p>
<p>As always, Rio Tinto has made the first move, <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300052786/tiwai-point-aluminium-smelter-to-close-1000-jobs-to-go">threatening to close</a> New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) in Southland unless some ransom is paid. A thousand jobs would be lost, with a further 1,600 indirectly affected.</p>
<p>In the usual script the New Zealand government caves in and smelting rolls on while Rio Tinto and its local allies pocket their gains.</p>
<p>Will this time be different? As with any ransom demand, the questions are whether the threat is credible and how bad the consequences of refusing would be.</p>
<h2>Will the smelter really close?</h2>
<p>Cutting the smelter’s power price by a third is <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/weekend-herald/20200711/282269552691758">apparently the demand</a> this time. Given the history (and the National Party’s unclear position) there is a real possibility the eventual outcome (after the election) could be another ransom payment and another few years of aluminium production.</p>
<p>A win for Rio Tinto could take several forms. The government could pay a cash ransom (<a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9016725/Govt-pays-30-million-to-Tiwai-Pt">as in 2013</a>). Or Meridian Energy (supplier to Tiwai Point) could give up a chunk of its revenue. Or the big five electricity generators could share the ransom among themselves as a means of staving off a fall in residential power prices.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-market-is-not-our-master-only-state-led-business-cooperation-will-drive-real-economic-recovery-141532">The market is not our master — only state-led business cooperation will drive real economic recovery</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Alternatively, the Electricity Authority, always a compliant lapdog of the “gentailer” (generator-retailer) cartel, could provide the industry with cover by mandating <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120042792/vector-says-if-smelter-gets-transpower-discount-then-it-may-ask-for-one-too">price discounts</a> for other power companies too.</p>
<p>If nobody blinks, we will find out whether the closure threat was really credible. </p>
<p>We can immediately set aside the smelter’s “<a href="https://www.odt.co.nz/business/future-still-uncertain-tiwai-point">NZ$46 million loss</a>” declared for the past year. The accounts of both <a href="https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/service/services/documents/D20C19F33E53B75FAC6213169B305973">NZAS</a> (the smelter operator) and <a href="https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/service/services/documents/B36EEA70A36E3EABDAC9FFA50B0A413A">Pacific Aluminium NZ Ltd</a> are (quite legally) arranged to produce whatever profit/loss (and associated <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/sustainability/sustainability-reporting/taxes-paid-report">tax liability</a>) the overseas owners want.</p>
<p>The final decision would be a strategic one for Rio Tinto: reputational benefits of being seen to punish a recalcitrant host economy, versus the loss of a renewables-powered smelter in an increasingly carbon-conscious world.</p>
<p>It really could go either way and I’m laying no bets.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347005/original/file-20200713-46-erkb9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347005/original/file-20200713-46-erkb9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347005/original/file-20200713-46-erkb9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347005/original/file-20200713-46-erkb9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347005/original/file-20200713-46-erkb9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347005/original/file-20200713-46-erkb9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347005/original/file-20200713-46-erkb9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Renewable-energy-powered aluminium: could a carbon-conscious world influence Rio Tinto’s calculations?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marc Daalder</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How could we use the extra electricity?</h2>
<p>We can, however, get a handle on possible policy responses to actual closure. The biggest impact, from which potentially big gains could come, is the freed-up electricity from the Manapouri power station.</p>
<p>Getting that amount of electricity (<a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/420885/tiwai-point-smelter-closure-what-happens-to-the-electricity-sector#">13% of the country’s entire consumption</a>) to anywhere other than Bluff is not a simple matter, because it will need a new transmission line from Manapouri to Benmore or Christchurch. That line has never been built, and to build it now will take time and money. </p>
<p>Transpower is <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/117888748/surplus-power-from-smelter-could-be-freedup-for-south-island-in-2022">reported</a> to be finally getting to work, but don’t expect an immediate result.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unless-we-improve-the-law-history-shows-rushing-shovel-ready-projects-comes-with-real-risk-141530">Unless we improve the law, history shows rushing shovel-ready projects comes with real risk</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>You might well think that building that line decades ago would have provided the New Zealand government with an essential bargaining chip (the “outside option” of reallocating the electricity if the smelter closed).</p>
<p>Certainly by failing to take that step, the state has declared a lack of will to resist ransom demands, which probably gave the smelter owners confidence in repeating those demands.</p>
<p>Suppose the line is built, what gain could residential consumers see? Well, it depends.</p>
<p>If the smelter’s contract is simply ended and Meridian is left looking for a new buyer, this might break the big-generator cartel and bring prices down. Or it might just lead to collective market manipulation to protect their share prices. (Contact is <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2007/S00160/contact-says-smelter-closure-is-disappointing.htm">already talking</a> of pausing a new geothermal project.)</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347006/original/file-20200713-189216-vn1tqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347006/original/file-20200713-189216-vn1tqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347006/original/file-20200713-189216-vn1tqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347006/original/file-20200713-189216-vn1tqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347006/original/file-20200713-189216-vn1tqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347006/original/file-20200713-189216-vn1tqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347006/original/file-20200713-189216-vn1tqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Tiwai Point control room: 13% of New Zealand’s electricity flows through the smelter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marc Daalder</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What if the government became a player?</h2>
<p>Alternatively, suppose the government summons up the courage to compulsorily acquire Rio Tinto’s contract rights (which run to 2030) and thus becomes the “single buyer” of 5,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity a year.</p>
<p>The government would then be able to dispose of this electricity as it sees fit. If it were to put the material well-being of households (in particular the poor ones) at the top of its priorities, it could supply those consumers with a fair chunk of their annual electricity consumption at a price far below the regular market wholesale price.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/owners-of-electric-vehicles-to-be-paid-to-plug-into-the-grid-to-help-avoid-blackouts-132519">Owners of electric vehicles to be paid to plug into the grid to help avoid blackouts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It could do this even within the current (deeply flawed) electricity market structure, leaving supply and demand to play out for the rest of the 40,000 GWh of annual generation.</p>
<p>Readers with long memories may recall the 1992 Hydro New Zealand proposal, which sought to protect vulnerable consumers from rising prices under corporatisation and privatisation by locking in just such a long-term, low-price “vesting contract”.</p>
<p>There is, however, a softer option open to the government, which would mollify Southland while leaving the crucial transmission line unbuilt. </p>
<p>That is the time-honoured Think Big tradition of installing some new, heavily subsidised giant electricity-using industry at Bluff – perhaps a “green hydrogen” plant, perhaps a data centre or even a Tesla “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/122100737/tesla-gigafactory-or-another-smelter-among-ideas-floated-for-tiwai-point">gigafactory</a>”.</p>
<p>Remember, the government has a big stake in the profitability of three of the big generators. Watch this space – and don’t expect your power bills to come down any time soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142372/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Bertram does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are many possible outcomes from the closure of the smelter – just don’t expect lower electricity prices to be one of them.Geoff Bertram, Senior Associate, Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1411922020-06-22T07:00:42Z2020-06-22T07:00:42ZHow Rio Tinto can ensure its Aboriginal heritage review is transparent and independent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343100/original/file-20200622-75505-conof2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Wainwright/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rio Tinto has committed to an internal review of its heritage management processes in the wake of its <a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">destruction of a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site</a> in Western Australia last month. </p>
<p>After intense pressure from stakeholders and the announcement of a <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/federal-probe-dilutes-wa-heritage-reform/89272320-d295-4889-b8b7-652c52119f69">Senate inquiry</a>, Rio Tinto has pledged to <a href="https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200619/pdf/44js36103sntzy.pdf">complete the review by October and make the findings public</a>.</p>
<p>The board has appointed <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/about/board-of-directors/michael-lestrange">Michael L’Estrange</a>, an independent non-executive director of Rio Tinto and former Australian high commissioner to the UK, to conduct the review. </p>
<p>The process will focus on Rio Tinto’s internal heritage standards, procedures, reporting and governance, and its relationship with the Puutu Kunti Kurama and Pinikura peoples in Western Australia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">Rio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But there are many questions about the inquiry that remain unanswered. For one, there is no indication L’Estrange will step aside from normal board duties to focus on the review, or that an independent investigating body will be created to support the process. </p>
<p>The credibility of the process hinges on a number of other factors, as well. These include the scope of the review, how it will be conducted, what will be disclosed publicly and who will be protected, and how will the company will respond to the review recommendations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343146/original/file-20200622-160694-u048vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343146/original/file-20200622-160694-u048vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343146/original/file-20200622-160694-u048vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343146/original/file-20200622-160694-u048vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343146/original/file-20200622-160694-u048vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343146/original/file-20200622-160694-u048vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343146/original/file-20200622-160694-u048vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protester Herbert Bropho talks with Brad Haynes, Rio Tinto’s vice president of corporate relations, after handing over a list of demands outside the Rio Tinto office in Perth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Wainwright/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How other mining companies have conducted public inquiries</h2>
<p>This is not the first time a mining giant has been thrust into the public spotlight and effectively forced to commission an independent inquiry on the impact of its operations on local communities. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.csrm.uq.edu.au/publications/company-commissioned-independent-inquiries-in-the-mining-sector-a-preliminary-paper-and-a-case-for-applied-research">preliminary research</a> indicates public-private inquiries in mining can bring much-needed transparency to the industry’s typically closed approach to investigating contentious issues. They can also bring to light information that would have otherwise been invisible to the public. </p>
<p>The impact and effectiveness of such inquiries, however, relies on transparency over the scope, process and output itself.</p>
<p>For example, the global mining industry has another, very public inquiry currently underway: the <a href="https://globaltailingsreview.org/">Global Tailings Review</a> (GTR). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/investors-push-for-positive-global-change-in-tailings-management-120904">Investors push for positive global change in tailings management</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The review was commissioned after a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vale-sa-disaster-ahome/brazilian-mine-tragedy-will-not-be-the-last-tailings-dam-disaster-andy-home-idUSKCN1Q405J">series of catastrophes involving “tailings”</a> – a byproduct of mining that comes from crushing ore before mineral extraction. In early 2019, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/21/brazil-dam-collapse-mining-disaster-charges">a tailings dam in Brazil collapsed</a>, resulting in the release of 12 million cubic metres of tailings and the deaths of some 270 people. </p>
<p>After that disaster, the International Council on Mining and Metals, representing 27 of the world’s largest mining and metal companies, the United Nations Environment Program and the Principles for Responsible Investment <a href="https://www.icmm.com/en-gb/news/2019/global-tailings-review-launches-public-consultation">agreed to co-convene the review</a>. </p>
<p>They appointed an independent chair from outside the industry to oversee the process of identifying lessons learned from past failures and developing a new industry standard. </p>
<p>The chair was given a dedicated secretariat to support his mandate and the power to appoint a multi-stakeholder advisory group and panel of disciplinary experts who were familiar with the industry, but did not work for a mining company. The inquiry also allowed for public submissions and consultations. </p>
<p>The process certainly suggests a separation of power between those conducting the review and the mining industry itself. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343141/original/file-20200622-75483-r5thp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343141/original/file-20200622-75483-r5thp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343141/original/file-20200622-75483-r5thp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343141/original/file-20200622-75483-r5thp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343141/original/file-20200622-75483-r5thp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343141/original/file-20200622-75483-r5thp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343141/original/file-20200622-75483-r5thp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mud and waste from the disaster caused by dam spill in Brazil in January 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yuri Edmundo/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2015, another mining company, Newmont, launched <a href="https://www.resolve.ngo/site-yiffm/default.htm">an independent fact-finding mission</a> in Peru following persistent allegations by local and international stakeholders of human rights violations as part of a land dispute with a local family. </p>
<p>Newmont and a US-based non-government organisation, <a href="https://www.resolve.ngo/about.htm">RESOLVE</a>, jointly appointed an independent mission director to head the inquiry, who in turn selected a team to collect evidence. An advisory group was also appointed to observe and provide outside perspectives on the process as it was being conducted. </p>
<p>The review was completed over a 12-month period and details were available for public scrutiny on a dedicated website during the process, <a href="https://www.resolve.ngo/site-yiffm/default.htm">including the final report</a>.</p>
<p>In a statement after the report was released, the company <a href="https://www.newmont.com/investors/news-release/news-details/2016/Newmont-Responds-to-Independent-Report-on-Land-Dispute-in-Peru/default.aspx">explained</a> why transparency and independence were so important.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While some of the findings in the report do not correspond with our view of the dispute, we recognise that in order to move beyond the current stalemate we must be open to understanding all perspectives, not just our own. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These and other inquiries have all emerged rapidly in response to pent-up public pressure for action from mining companies. But there is limited evidence they lead to lasting change. </p>
<p>This is one reason Newmont is now partnering with the University of Queensland, Australian National University and the US-based non-government organisation RESOLVE in a three-year ARC Linkage project to study the impact and effectiveness of public-private inquiries in the mining sector. </p>
<h2>What should Rio Tinto do?</h2>
<p>Calls for the public release of Rio Tinto’s review findings are important. Equally as important are calls for a sound process that guarantees independence and protects against corporate capture. </p>
<p>Here are our recommendations for what Rio Tinto needs to do to ensure its inquiry is fair and transparent:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Ensure the review is conducted independently and avoids conflicts of interest. </p></li>
<li><p>Appoint a review secretariat to guarantee a confidential avenue for informants to contribute evidence and testimony, at arms length from the company.</p></li>
<li><p>The scope should be co-designed with impacted parties – in this case, the Puutu Kunti Kurama and Pinikura peoples – and include a process for stakeholders to track the review and the company’s response.</p></li>
<li><p>The scope should include the systems and structures of Rio Tinto PLC, and not be limited to Rio Tinto Iron Ore.</p></li>
<li><p>The review should focus on identifying systemic and structural issues within the organisation, and making recommendations for improvement, rather than seeking to assign blame to individuals.</p></li>
<li><p>Interview transcripts, field reports and other evidence should be made accessible to the public (for example, via a dedicated website), where they are not deemed confidential or commercial in confidence.</p></li>
<li><p>The chair should have unfettered access to advisers and experts of their choosing in matters relating to the review.</p></li>
<li><p>The chair should issue a public report at the conclusion of the process.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If company-commissioned inquiries are to become the norm for investigating contentious issues and incidents in mining, it is essential we ask how they are conducted and to what end.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/destruction-of-juukan-gorge-we-need-to-know-the-history-of-artefacts-but-it-is-more-important-to-keep-them-in-place-139650">Destruction of Juukan Gorge: we need to know the history of artefacts, but it is more important to keep them in place</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at UQ conducts applied research with mining companies, including Rio Tinto and Newmont. Deanna Kemp is Chief Investigator of an ARC Linkage grant on public-private inquiries in mining;
Member of the Expert Panel for the Global Tailings Review (GTR);
Advisory Group member and contributing author for the Yanacocha Independent Fact Finding Mission;
Member of the ICMM's Independent Expert Review Panel;
Trustee and member of the International Advisory Council for the Institute for Human Rights and Business.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Hopkins is Chief Investigator of an ARC Linkage grant on public-private inquiries in mining and a member of the Expert Panel for the Global Tailings Review (GTR).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Owen is Chief Investigator of an ARC Linkage grant on public-private inquiries in mining.</span></em></p>There are many questions about the inquiry into the destruction of an Aboriginal heritage site, including how it will be conducted, what will be publicly disclosed and who will be protected.Deanna Kemp, Professor and Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of QueenslandAndrew Hopkins, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Australian National UniversityJohn Owen, Professorial Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1396502020-06-02T04:10:19Z2020-06-02T04:10:19ZDestruction of Juukan Gorge: we need to know the history of artefacts, but it is more important to keep them in place<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338732/original/file-20200601-78845-2tam7x.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5463%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Juukan Gorge photographed May 15.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pkkp.org.au">Puutu Kunti Kurrama And Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A day before Reconciliation Week and the day Australia was meant to be acknowledging and remembering the Stolen Generations, news came of something that seemed to put Australia back a few decades in their journey towards “Reconciliation”. Rio Tinto had <a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">detonated</a> a 46,000 year old site known as Juukan Gorge. </p>
<p>This news was simply gut-wrenching.</p>
<p>Artefacts found at the site were among some of the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/rio-tinto-blast-destroys-area-with-ancient-aboriginal-heritage/12286652">oldest in Western Australia</a>, making it incredibly significant not only for the Traditional Owners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people, but also for the history of this continent.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">Rio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed</a>
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<p>Also startling for many was this detonation had been in process for several years. The dating of the site to 46,000 years old had been uncovered through salvage excavation in preparation for this destruction.</p>
<p>I cannot speak for the Traditional Owners, nor can I speak on the complexities surrounding the approval of the blast, but the removal of artefacts from their place has impacted every single Aboriginal person on this continent. That is what I can speak on.</p>
<h2>Salvage excavations</h2>
<p>Salvage excavation is archaeological work conducted to record and collect all evidence of human occupation at a site that has been or will be impacted by development. </p>
<p>Excavation itself is destructive. The moment a trowel is inserted into the ground, the site has been destroyed. Salvage excavations, like all excavations, require this destruction to be worth it. Comprehensive recording of every aspect of an excavation is necessary, from changes in soil to recording each artefact found.</p>
<p>Archaeology also considers how artefacts will be cared for in the long term: where they will be kept and who will be caring for them. It is <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/technical-advice/archaeological-science/preservation-in-situ/">preferable</a> for artefacts to remain at their location. In cases where this proves impossible, salvaging is required.</p>
<p>At a surface level, it seems unproblematic if everything was collected from the ground, analysed and placed in a box: those artefacts would be preserved for all of eternity. Now, they are no longer subject to erosion, animal activity or (the more perplexing argument) the threat of humans. But cultural institutions are not immune to disaster.</p>
<p>In 2019, Brazil’s national museum was <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/around-2000-artifacts-have-been-saved-ruins-brazils-national-museum-fire-180971510/">devastated by a fire</a>. This summer, Australian galleries <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/galleries-grapple-with-climate-change-and-unprecedented-closures-20200106-p53p7r.html">closed</a> due to the potential impact of smoke on collections. The South Australian Museum has repeatedly discussed the <a href="https://indaily.com.au/arts-and-culture/2019/08/19/the-suburban-adelaide-address-that-could-be-the-nations-most-important-cultural-site/">threat of water leaks</a> to their collections.</p>
<p>These institutions are built to preserve heritage but they should not be viewed as the only preservation option, especially for heritage heavily intertwined with place.</p>
<h2>Why is place important?</h2>
<p>There is a common narrative Aboriginal people wandered this continent <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30500591">aimlessly</a>. Rarely is there discussion our ancestors moved with intention, demonstrated clearly in the ways they passed down <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-taken-thousands-of-years-but-western-science-is-finally-catching-up-to-traditional-knowledge-90291">generational knowledge</a> to us. Why else would they have mapped this land?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-taken-thousands-of-years-but-western-science-is-finally-catching-up-to-traditional-knowledge-90291">It's taken thousands of years, but Western science is finally catching up to Traditional Knowledge</a>
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<p>Where they chose to leave their presence should be viewed as intentional and as representation of that significance.</p>
<p>This significance has flowed through time, strengthening the connection of this place to us. In cases where there is a physical presence of our ancestors, it is integral we maintain the connection of this physical history to place.</p>
<p>For many, Juukan Gorge was mainly significant because of its early date. But not all Aboriginal heritage is afforded this same interest. Not all of our heritage can be dated that early, and a lot of our heritage simply is not tangible. A vast majority of our heritage is found in our knowledge of the land that traverses this continent. Mostly, this heritage goes unseen by our colonisers, making it easily overlooked in favour of development.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the tangible heritage found in these places is the only thing standing in the way of destroying a place. It is the only thing demonstrating we are a people who have deep connections to this land. Not only from a spiritual side, but also from a linear western view of time. </p>
<p>Aboriginal knowledges of these places, and how this knowledge links to the archaeological record, is what can fully contextualise the meaning of these places for our ancestors – and for us today.</p>
<h2>The importance of empathy</h2>
<p>Maintaining the connection of place with our ancestors’ possessions found at these places may be solidified through the implementation of stricter laws. But if a company wants something and our heritage is standing in the way, those laws can always be bent. The value of destroying these places is much higher than the value of keeping them – at least in the eyes of our colonisers. A loophole will be found, and our communities will suffer and grieve another loss. </p>
<p>If we want something long lasting, something transcending laws, empathy needs to be much stronger, something embedded into the mind and heart. Not the type of empathy that emerges when one has to say “sorry”, but the type existing before “sorry” is even considered. </p>
<p>With empathy, how could you justify the hurt Aboriginal people on this continent experience when we find out another culturally significant place has been destroyed?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacinta Koolmatrie is affiliated with the Australian Archaeological Association.</span></em></p>The destruction of the 46,000 year old site Juukan Gorge forces us to confront archaeology and history in Australia.Jacinta Koolmatrie, Lecturer in Archaeology, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1394662020-05-27T08:58:52Z2020-05-27T08:58:52ZRio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337897/original/file-20200527-20223-1p8n620.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C20%2C1017%2C495&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Juukan 1 and 2 in June, 2013</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pkkp.org.au/">Puutu Kunti Kurrama And Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the expansion of its iron ore mine in Western Pilbara, Rio Tinto <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/rio-tinto-blast-destroys-area-with-ancient-aboriginal-heritage/12286652">blasted</a> the Juukan Gorge 1 and 2 – Aboriginal rock shelters dating back 46,000 years. These sites had deep historical and cultural significance. </p>
<p>The shelters are the only inland site in Australia showing human occupation continuing through the last Ice Age. </p>
<p>The mining blast caused significant distress to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama traditional land owners. It’s an <a href="https://skugal.org/blast-destroys-one-of-countrys-oldest-known-aboriginal-heritage-sites/">irretrievable loss</a> for future generations. </p>
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<p>Aboriginal cultural heritage is a fundamental part of Aboriginal community life and cultural identity. It has global significance, and forms an important component of the heritage of all Australians. </p>
<p>But the destruction of a culturally significant Aboriginal site is not an isolated incident. Rio Tinto was acting within the law. </p>
<p>In 2013, Rio Tinto was given ministerial consent to damage the Juukan Gorge caves. One year later, an archaeological dig unearthed incredible artefacts, such as a 4,000-year-old plait of human hair, and evidence that the site was much older than originally thought. </p>
<p>But state laws let Rio Tinto charge ahead nevertheless. This failure to put timely and adequate regulatory safeguards in place reveals a disregard and a disrespect for sacred Aboriginal sites. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337899/original/file-20200527-20245-hbjl86.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337899/original/file-20200527-20245-hbjl86.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337899/original/file-20200527-20245-hbjl86.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337899/original/file-20200527-20245-hbjl86.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337899/original/file-20200527-20245-hbjl86.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337899/original/file-20200527-20245-hbjl86.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337899/original/file-20200527-20245-hbjl86.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337899/original/file-20200527-20245-hbjl86.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The destruction of a significant Aboriginal site is not an isolated incident.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pkkp.org.au/">Puutu Kunti Kurrama And Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Not an isolated incident</h2>
<p>The history of large developments destroying Indigenous heritage sites is, tragically, long.</p>
<p>A $2.1 billion light rail line in Sydney, completed last year, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/this-is-a-tragic-loss-sydney-light-rail-construction-destroyed-heritage-site-20190322-p516qk.html">destroyed a site</a> of considerable significance. </p>
<p>More than 2,400 stone artefacts were unearthed in a small excavated area. It indicated Aboriginal people had used the area between 1788 and 1830 to manufacture tools and implements from flint brought over to Australia on British ships.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-ways-western-australia-can-improve-aboriginal-heritage-management-54819">Four ways Western Australia can improve Aboriginal heritage management</a>
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<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/27/the-rocks-remember-the-fight-to-protect-burrup-peninsulas-rock-art">ancient rock art</a> on the Burrup Peninsula in north-western Australia is under increasing threat from a gas project. The site contains more than one million rock carvings (petroglyphs) across 36,857 hectares. </p>
<p>This area is under the custodianship of Ngarluma people and four other traditional owners groups: the Mardudhunera, the Yaburara, the Yindjibarndi and the Wong-Goo-Tt-Oo. </p>
<p>But a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/BurrupPeninusla/Report">Senate inquiry</a> revealed emissions from adjacent industrial activity may significantly damage it. </p>
<p>The West Australian government is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jan/29/australia-lodges-world-heritage-submission-for-50000-year-old-burrup-peninsula-rock-art">seeking world heritage listing</a> to try to increase protection, as the regulatory frameworks at the national and state level aren’t strong enough. Let’s explore why.</p>
<h2>What do the laws say?</h2>
<p>The recently renamed federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is responsible for listing new national heritage places, and regulating development actions in these areas. </p>
<p>At the federal level, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/consol_act/epabca1999588/">EPBC Act</a>) provides a legal framework for their management and protection. It is an offence to impact an area that has national heritage listing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-problem-with-aboriginal-world-heritage-82912">Australia's problem with Aboriginal World Heritage</a>
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</em>
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<p>But many ancient Aboriginal sites have no national heritage listing. For the recently destroyed Juurkan gorge, the true archaeological significance was uncovered <em>after</em> consent had been issued and there were no provisions to reverse or amend the decision once this new information was discovered.</p>
<p>Where a site has no national heritage listing, and federal legislation has no application, state laws apply. </p>
<p>For the rock shelters in the Western Pilbara, Rio Tinto was abiding by Western Australia’s <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/wa/consol_act/aha1972164/">Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972</a> – which is now nearly 50 years old. </p>
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<p>Section 17 of that act makes it an offence to excavate, destroy, damage, conceal or in any way alter any Aboriginal site without the ministerial consent. </p>
<p>But, Section 18 allows an owner of the land – and this includes the holder of a mining licence – to apply to the <a href="https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/acmc">Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee</a> for consent to proceed with a development action likely to breach section 17. </p>
<p>The committee then evaluates the importance and significance of the site, and makes a recommendation to the minister. In this case, the minister allowed Rio Tinto to proceed with the destruction of the site.</p>
<h2>No consultation with traditional owners</h2>
<p>The biggest concern with this act is there’s no statutory requirement ensuring traditional owners be consulted. </p>
<p>This means traditional owners are left out of vital decisions regarding the management and protection of their cultural heritage. And it confers authority upon a committee that, in the words of a <a href="https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/getmedia/11dd5b41-fcf9-4216-a1ac-06ece672c087/AH-Review-Position-Comparison-for-Aboriginal-People">discussion paper</a>, “lacks cultural authority”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/separate-but-unequal-the-sad-fate-of-aboriginal-heritage-in-western-australia-51561">Separate but unequal: the sad fate of Aboriginal heritage in Western Australia</a>
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<p>There is no statutory requirement for an Indigenous person to be on the committee, nor is there a requirement that at least one anthropologist be on the committee. Worse still, there’s no right of appeal for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/20/traditional-owners-rally-against-changes-to-wa-aboriginal-heritage-act">traditional owners</a> from a committee decision. </p>
<p>So, while the committee must adhere to procedural fairness and ensure traditional owners are given sufficient information about decisions, this doesn’t guarantee they have a right to consultation nor any right to provide feedback. </p>
<h2>Weak in other jurisdictions</h2>
<p>The WA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 is <a href="https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/aha-review">under review</a>. The proposed reforms seek to abolish the committee, ensuring future decisions on Aboriginal cultural heritage give appropriate regard to the views of the traditional Aboriginal owners. </p>
<p>NSW is the only state with no stand-alone Aboriginal heritage legislation. However, a <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/researchpapers/Documents/aborigines-land-and-national-parks-in-nsw/02-97.pdf">similar regulatory framework</a> to WA applies in NSW under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.</p>
<p>There, if a developer is likely to impact cultural heritage, they must apply for an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit. The law requires “regard” to be given to the interests of Aboriginal owners of the land, but this vague provision does not mandate consultation. </p>
<p>What’s more, the burden of proving the significance of an Aboriginal object depends upon external statements of significance. But Aboriginal people, not others, should be responsible for determining the cultural significance of an object or area. </p>
<p>As in WA, the NSW regulatory framework is weak, opening up the risk for economic interests to be prioritised over damage to cultural heritage. </p>
<h2>Outdated laws</h2>
<p>The federal minister has discretion to assess whether state or territory laws are already effective. </p>
<p>If they decide state and territory laws are ineffective and a cultural place or object is under threat, then the federal <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/consol_act/aatsihpa1984549/">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984</a> can be used. </p>
<p>But this act is also weak. It was first implemented as an interim measure, intended to operate for two years. It has now been in operation for 36 years. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-rock-art-is-threatened-by-a-lack-of-conservation-32900">Australian rock art is threatened by a lack of conservation</a>
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<p>In fact, <a href="http://ymac.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Extracts-from-Evatt-Review-of-the-Aboriginal-and-Torres-Strait-Islander-Heritage-Protection-Act-1984.pdf">a 1995 report</a> assessed the shortcomings of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. </p>
<p>It recommended minimum standards be put in place. This included ensuring any assessment of Aboriginal cultural significance be made by a properly qualified body, with relevant experience.</p>
<p>It said the role of Aboriginal people should be appropriately recognised and statutorily endorsed. Whether an area or site had particular significance according to Aboriginal tradition should be regarded as a subjective issue, determined by an assessment of the degree of intensity of belief and feeling of Aboriginal people. </p>
<p>Twenty-five years later, this is yet to happen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Hepburn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s a devastating loss, but the destruction of a culturally significant Aboriginal site is not an isolated incident. Rio Tinto was acting within the law.Samantha Hepburn, Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Law, Deakin Law School, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1217912019-09-23T21:55:56Z2019-09-23T21:55:56ZMongolian mining boom threatens traditional herding<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292439/original/file-20190913-8701-hu9lt7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=358%2C158%2C4221%2C2683&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Camels in the Gobi Desert.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jerome Mayaud</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Exploring the vastness of Gobi Desert in the 13th century, Marco Polo proclaimed it to be filled with “<a href="https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/geoj.12071">extraordinary illusions</a>.” Today, Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world’s largest copper-gold mines, rises among Mongolia’s traditional herding lands, shimmering like an illusion across the steppe’s treeless, grassless plains.</p>
<p>Mineral-rich Mongolia, labelled “<a href="https://www.economist.com/briefing/2012/01/21/mine-all-mine">the next Qatar</a>” by <em>The Economist</em>, is experiencing an unparalleled mining boom. But as mega-mines like Oyu Tolgoi ramp up production, they are creating distrust and conflict with herder communities. </p>
<p>The rapid rise in mineral extraction now raises the question, “Can herding survive mining?”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288212/original/file-20190815-136176-1pllrm7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288212/original/file-20190815-136176-1pllrm7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288212/original/file-20190815-136176-1pllrm7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288212/original/file-20190815-136176-1pllrm7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288212/original/file-20190815-136176-1pllrm7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288212/original/file-20190815-136176-1pllrm7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288212/original/file-20190815-136176-1pllrm7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A line of trucks transporting coal and ore through the Gobi Desert to the Chinese border.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo credit: Jerome Mayaud</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Gobi, Mongolia’s high-latitude desert, is a harsh environment traditionally inhabited by mobile pastoralists. The dramatic steppe and its extreme aridity form an important backdrop to herding activities, with low rainfall, droughts and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2018/04/extreme-winter-mongolia-dzud-environment-science/">extreme <em>dzud</em> winters</a>. </p>
<p>The unpredictable climate make seasonal animal migrations (known as <em>otor</em>) exceptionally challenging here. For six millennia, Mongolian herders adapted to water and pasture scarcity with Traditional Ecological Knowledge. But <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7050/5cc82f8feb3098274d181630c05cc0d4cf24.pdf">Soviet collectivization</a> centralized and controlled their herding practices, making them less mobile and less resilient to environmental shocks. </p>
<p>Today, these adaptive strategies are being further threatened by resource extraction. Mines can have negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts on herder livelihoods, from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969713010176">landscape degradation</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718515002638">dust emissions</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27016688">water pollution</a>, to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00905992.2014.969692?journalCode=cnap20">a loss of traditional practices, community displacement and corruption</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288213/original/file-20190815-136222-u1oxl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288213/original/file-20190815-136222-u1oxl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288213/original/file-20190815-136222-u1oxl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288213/original/file-20190815-136222-u1oxl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288213/original/file-20190815-136222-u1oxl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288213/original/file-20190815-136222-u1oxl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288213/original/file-20190815-136222-u1oxl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Highly variable rainfall and temperatures present a challenge for the herders of Khanbogd <em>Soum</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jerome Mayaud & Troy Sternberg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Oyu Tolgoi’s footprint</h2>
<p>The US$12-billion Oyu Tolgoi mine, which means “turquoise hill,” is perhaps the most prominent example of herder-mine conflict in Mongolia. The mine, located in the traditional camel-breeding region of Khanbogd <em>Soum</em> (district), was acquired by Ivanhoe Mines in 2000 and expanded. The Mongolian public’s doubts about the mine first surfaced when Ivanhoe’s president announced to investors the company had found a “<a href="https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/mining-the-gobi-desert-rio-tinto-and-mongolia-fight-over-profits-a-915021-2.html">cash machine in the Gobi</a>.”</p>
<p>Now majority-owned and operated by Rio Tinto Corporation, the mine is the biggest employer in the district. Even though mining costs recently <a href="http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/news/copper-oyu-tolgoi-underground-costs-jump-35-says-rio-tinto/">jumped by almost US$2 billion</a>, Oyu Tolgoi remains Mongolia’s <a href="https://montsame.mn/en/read/124917">largest corporate taxpayer</a>.</p>
<p>Oyu Tolgoi has impacted the district in many ways. The mine funds a variety of <a href="http://ot.mn/communities/?eoi">corporate social responsibility initiatives</a>, including a community health program, business training for local entrepreneurs and a project preserving dinosaur tracks in the desert. It has also built significant infrastructure, including graded roads and an airport.</p>
<p>However, much of this infrastructure remains unavailable to herders, or actively inconveniences them. The exclusion zones around the mine site, airport and pipelines have displaced traditional migration routes. Roads have divided and fragmented pastureland, and traffic poses a collision risk to herds. Boreholes built by Oyu Tolgoi may have accidentally <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2013/world/mongolia-copper-mine-oyu-tolgoi-tests-water-supply-young-democracy/">connected shallow and deep water aquifers</a> in the region, and may dramatically reduce the availability of shallow groundwater used for animals. </p>
<p>These issues prompted local herders to bring a case against Oyu Tolgoi to the World Bank, <a href="https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/projectDetail/ESRS/29007">leading to a landmark agreement between them in 2017</a>.</p>
<h2>Changing priorities among herders</h2>
<p>While Oyu Tolgoi’s shadow looms large on the steppe, a variety of social and economic factors unconnected to the mine have also led herders to change their behaviours and decision-making. </p>
<p>Livestock numbers have boomed since Mongolia’s transition to democracy <a href="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ess/documents/apcas26/presentations/APCAS-16-6.3.5_-_Mongolia_-_Livestock_Statistics_in_Mongolia.pdf">from 20 million in the 1990s to more than 60 million in the 2010s</a>. This upward trend, which reflects herding’s transformation from a subsistence livelihood to a form of development and wealth, has also been observed in Khanbogd district. </p>
<p>A two-fold increase in animals herded in the district between 2003 and 2015 has placed much greater pressure on water and pasture resources. The poor maintenance of the water wells and limited access to some water points have exacerbated these pressures, and the growing use of motorized water pumps has slowed well refilling.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288214/original/file-20190815-136186-1fdj9kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288214/original/file-20190815-136186-1fdj9kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288214/original/file-20190815-136186-1fdj9kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288214/original/file-20190815-136186-1fdj9kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288214/original/file-20190815-136186-1fdj9kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288214/original/file-20190815-136186-1fdj9kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288214/original/file-20190815-136186-1fdj9kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A two-fold increase in the number of animals herded in Khanbogd <em>Soum</em> has led to increased pressure on water and pasture resources.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jerome Mayaud & Troy Sternberg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pastoralism thus seems to be shifting towards maximizing resource usage for personal advantage, rather than following the customary shared approach to land use. The district government has struggled to respond to this shift as it lacks the capacity or power to address local challenges related to land ownership. In the absence of clear governance, herders have increasingly come to expect Oyu Tolgoi to perform the role of the state and provide infrastructure and services.</p>
<h2>Coexistence, survival?</h2>
<p>Contrary to common narratives, mining and herding do appear to coexist in Khanbogd district — for now, at least. Herders have strategies to cope with the harshness of the desert, and the rise in animal numbers suggests this remains a viable, if not entirely sustainable, livelihood in the region.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the continuing evolution of herding away from subsistence livelihoods, combined with the presence of Oyu Tolgoi and other mega-mines, is leading pastoralism into an uncharted future. As <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative">China’s US$1-trillion Belt and Road Initiative</a> gains pace, Mongolian herders will have to navigate a complex cocktail of climate change, water risk and pressure from extractive industries and market forces. A point may soon come where traditional mobile pastoralism gives way to more settled animal husbandry, making Gobi life unrecognizable to Marco Polo’s expedition centuries ago.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121791/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jerome Mayaud receives funding from the University of British Columbia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Troy Sternberg receives funding from the ESRC.</span></em></p>Mineral-rich Mongolia is experiencing a mining boom, but its growth is creating distrust and conflict with herder communities.Jerome Mayaud, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British ColumbiaTroy Sternberg, Researcher in Geography, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1155662019-05-07T02:04:50Z2019-05-07T02:04:50ZThe uranium mine in the heart of Kakadu needs a better clean up plan<p>Can a uranium mine be rehabilitated to the environmental standards of a national park and World Heritage site? </p>
<p>That’s the challenge faced by the controversial Ranger uranium mine inside Kakadu National Park. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/environment-institute/publications/ranger-uranium-mine-report/">our new research report</a> found the <a href="http://www.energyres.com.au/sustainability/closureplan/">document</a> guiding its rehabilitation is deficient, and urgent changes are needed for the heavily impacted mine site to be cleaned up well. </p>
<p>Kakadu has been a national park since the 1970s, but the Ranger mine, while surrounded by Kakadu, has never formally been part of the park. This classification is in the interests of resource extraction, and has failed to recognise or protect the area’s cultural and environmental values. </p>
<p>Kakadu National Park encompasses a precious natural heritage. It protects valuable ecosystems of outstanding value, diversity and beauty, and contains the world’s richest breeding grounds for migratory tropical <a href="https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/discover/nature/birds/">water birds</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-problem-with-aboriginal-world-heritage-82912">Australia's problem with Aboriginal World Heritage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Recent diggings and studies have documented at least 65,000 years of continuous human habitation at a site on the land of the Mirarr people – this is currently the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-07-20/aboriginal-shelter-pushes-human-history-back-to-65,000-years/8719314">oldest occupation site</a> in Australia.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nfxc5OSJ1m0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>How was the mine developed?</h2>
<p>The boundaries of Kakadu National Park were conveniently drawn around the Ranger mine site through a series of political and administrative negotiations following the <a href="http://guides.naa.gov.au/records-about-northern-territory/part2/chapter14/14.2.aspx">Fox Inquiry</a>, which gave a cautious green light for the Ranger operation. </p>
<p>Likewise, Ranger was excluded from the requirements of the <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/aboriginal-land-rights-act">Aboriginal Land Rights Act</a> that would have otherwise given the <a href="http://www.mirarr.net/uranium-mining">Mirarr people</a> the right to say no to the mine. </p>
<p>Now, as the mining stops and the repair begins, mining companies and government regulators are being tested on their environmental commitment, and capacity to make meaningful change. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/treasure-from-trash-how-mining-waste-can-be-mined-a-second-time-59667">Treasure from trash: how mining waste can be mined a second time</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But rehabilitating what is essentially a toxic waste dump is no easy task.</p>
<p>And the inadequacy of the Energy Resources of Australia’s <a href="http://www.energyres.com.au/sustainability/closureplan/">Mine Closure Plan</a> – the key document guiding the rehabilitation – shows they are failing this test so far.</p>
<h2>Problems with the Mine Closure Plan</h2>
<p>Our new research report – jointly conducted by Sydney Environment Institute and the Australian Conservation Foundation – examines the Mine Closure Plan and finds it is seriously wanting in key areas. </p>
<p>These include significant data deficiencies regarding management of mine tailings (mine residue), land stability, and modelling of toxic contaminants likely to flow off site into Kakadu National Park. </p>
<p>The Mine Closure Plan is almost completely silent on crucial governance questions, such as the Ranger mine’s opaque regulatory processes and rehabilitation, and current and future financing – especially in relation to future site monitoring and mitigation works.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rangers-toxic-spill-highlights-the-perils-of-self-regulation-21409">Ranger's toxic spill highlights the perils of self-regulation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>After the price collapse following the Fukushima nuclear crisis, times in the uranium trade have been tough. Coupled with a mandated end to commercial operations by early 2021, Rio Tinto has accepted the era of mining has now been replaced by the <a href="http://www.riotinto.com/media/media-releases-237_15301.aspx">need for rehabilitation</a>. </p>
<p>But the challenge for Energy Resources of Australia and Rio Tinto, who own and operate the mine, is not simply to scrape rocks into holes and plant trees. It is to ensure radioactive and contaminated <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/science/supervising-scientist/publications/environmental-requirements-ranger-uranium-mine">mine tailings are</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>physically isolated from the environment for at least 10,000 years [and that] any contaminants arising from the tailings will not result in any detrimental environmental impacts for at least 10,000 years.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These are time-scales of epic proportions, yet the Mine Closure Plan says little to assure the public this can be achieved. </p>
<p>In fact, Energy Resources of Australia concedes it won’t actually be possible to monitor and measure this over the next 10,000 years, so a model will be required instead. But this model has not been publicly released.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269710/original/file-20190417-139097-135bv5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269710/original/file-20190417-139097-135bv5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269710/original/file-20190417-139097-135bv5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269710/original/file-20190417-139097-135bv5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269710/original/file-20190417-139097-135bv5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269710/original/file-20190417-139097-135bv5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269710/original/file-20190417-139097-135bv5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kakadu is home to more than 280 different types of birds, such as the white bellied sea eagle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rehabilitation success is determined by the mining company</h2>
<p>And this speaks to a broader problem with the whole process: the success of the rehabilitation will be judged by criteria created by the mining company. </p>
<p>It is naive to assume a mining company is best placed to propose their own rehabilitation criteria, given their corporate imperative to reduce rehabilitation costs and future liabilities. </p>
<p>And the stakes here are very high. The rehabilitation of Ranger will be a closely-watched and long-judged test of the credibility, competence and commitment of the regulators and the mining companies.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/traditional-owners-still-stand-in-adanis-way-115454">Traditional owners still stand in Adani's way</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Supervising Scientist Branch – a federal agency charged with tracking and advising, but not regulating, the Ranger operation – also made <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/109f9411-a217-44f3-9807-6a8ca3790708/files/assessment-report-ranger-closure-plan-2018.pdf">an assessment</a> that should be ringing alarm bells:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[The company’s current plan] does not yet provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the current plan for rehabilitation of the Ranger mine site will achieve the required ERs [Environmental Requirements]. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Supervising Scientist Branch’s disturbing initial analysis is a red flag demanding an effective response. </p>
<p>The Conversation reached out to Energy Resources of Australia for a response to this story. A spokesperson told The Conversation the company is committed to the “full rehabilitation” of the Ranger Project Area:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has committed to update the Closure Plan and submit for approval on an annual basis. Updates to the Closure Plan will be made publicly available.</p>
<p>As noted by ERA at the time of release of the Ranger Mine Closure Plan, there are some aspects of closure planning that will be further developed and refined as a result of ongoing studies and consultation. These will be reflected in future updates to the Closure Plan.</p>
<p>ERA is committed to rehabilitate the Ranger Project Area in accordance with the Environmental Requirements as set out in relevant regulations. The final close out of rehabilitation can only occur when the Commonwealth Minister, on advice of the Supervising Scientist and Traditional Owner representatives, is satisfied that the Environmental Requirements have been met. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Australia has a <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/auscon/pages/847/attachments/original/1466127496/MPI_mine_rehab_report.pdf?1466127496">long history</a> of substandard mine closure and rehabilitation in both the uranium and wider mining sector. </p>
<p>There is a real need to see a better approach at Ranger, and the first step in that journey is by increasing the scrutiny, accountability and transparency surrounding this essential clean up work.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was updated at 12.25pm, May 7, to include a response from Energy Resources of Australia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Lawrence has provided pro-bono advice to the Saami Council, an NGO promoting the rights and interests of the Saami people, as a human rights advisor and to Environmental Defenders Office (NSW) as a social impact expert.
Rebecca Lawrence receives funding from the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS).
The report discussed in this article was partly conducted by the Australian Conservation Foundation.</span></em></p>The success of the rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium mine will be judged by criteria created by the mining company.Rebecca Lawrence, Affiliate, Sydney Environment Institute; Honorary Associate, Macquarie University, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/959272018-05-02T20:22:36Z2018-05-02T20:22:36ZRio Tinto’s climate resolution marks a significant shift in investor culture<p>What does the advocacy group the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (<a href="http://www.accr.org.au/">ACCR</a>) have in common with the <a href="https://www.lgsuper.com.au/">Local Government Super fund</a>, the <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/about/leadership-and-governance/church-england-pensions-board">Church of England Pensions Board</a>, and the <a href="http://www.government.se/government-agencies/seventh-ap-fund/">Seventh Swedish National Pension Fund</a>?</p>
<p>Quite a lot, it seems. These three institutional investors joined with the ACCR to co-file a shareholder resolution on climate change at mining giant Rio Tinto’s Australian annual general meeting in Melbourne yesterday. While Rio’s board <a href="https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20180314/pdf/43sf7h344xgrbd.pdf">advised shareholders to vote against the resolution</a>, there was a very healthy showing of <a href="https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20180502/pdf/43tqsy22jfb8xx.pdf">18.3% shareholders voting in support</a> (over 20% including abstentions).</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.accr.org.au/rio_tinto">resolution</a> called on Rio to review and comprehensively report on its membership of industry associations such as the Minerals Council of Australia (<a href="http://www.minerals.org.au/">MCA</a>). The MCA’s pro-coal political lobbying has been distinctly at odds with the position of companies such as Rio, which publicly support measures to reduce carbon emissions in line with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-paris-climate-agreement-at-a-glance-50465">Paris climate agreement</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-bhp-really-about-to-split-from-the-minerals-councils-hive-mind-84407">Is BHP really about to split from the Minerals Council's hive mind?</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>This alliance between civil society and institutional investors is significant for several reasons.</p>
<p>Institutional investors (large investors such as superannuation funds which pool money to buy shares and other assets) are increasingly concerned about the long-term resilience of their investments to the business risks posed by climate change.</p>
<p>For an energy-hungry miner such as Rio, these risks include changing energy prices and markets, as well as operational disruptions caused by climate impacts such as storms, floods, and droughts.</p>
<p>Investors want companies to disclose these risks fully and to outline how they will manage them to maintain company value over the long term. As the Rio resolution suggests, they also want companies to be transparent and consistent in their approach to climate change. Paying multimillion-dollar memberships for industry associations that lobby against climate action is inconsistent with the long-term investment goals of such shareholders.</p>
<h2>New phenomenon</h2>
<p>Shareholder resolutions on climate change are a relatively new phenomenon in Australia. In the United States, however, there is a long history of using resolutions to pressure companies to address human rights abuses and change their approach to <a href="https://www.ceres.org/resources/tools/climate-and-sustainability-shareholder-resolutions-database">issues like climate change</a>. </p>
<p>In Australia, advocacy groups such as ACCR (and its counterpart <a href="https://www.marketforces.org.au/">Market Forces</a>) have taken up this tool more recently and lodged <a href="http://www.accr.org.au/australia">resolutions to Australian banks, utilities, oil and gas companies, insurers</a>, and now the big miners, asking for improved disclosure and better management of climate risks. </p>
<p>What’s more, institutional investors are increasingly <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/investments/big-investors-take-a-public-stand-on-climate-change-risk-20180215-p4z0gr.html">backing these requests</a>. This latest resolution to Rio Tinto is also reportedly <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/super-funds-put-heat-on-rio-tinto-over-lobby-groups-20180424-p4zbfc.html">supported by key voting advisors ACSI and Regnan, as well as other major Australian super funds</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, it marks a significant shift in investor culture in Australia, signalling an increased willingness to engage proactively and publicly on environmental, social and governance issues.</p>
<p>Compared with the US and UK, shareholders in Australia have more limited rights to bring resolutions to an AGM expressing their views or requesting that certain actions be undertaken by company management. <a href="http://www.afr.com/news/cba-wins-shareholder-activism-test-case-against-accr-20160610-gpgb4y">Australian court decisions</a> have upheld a strict division of powers between company management and shareholders. Nonbinding advisory resolutions on matters that interfere with company management are not permitted. This means shareholders must lodge a special resolution to change the company constitution to allow them to put forward an advisory resolution on a substantive matter such as climate change. </p>
<p>This is not only clunky and inefficient, but also acts as a significant deterrent for investors to support a substantive resolution with which they would otherwise concur. There are <a href="https://www.acsi.org.au/images/stories/ACSIDocuments/generalresearchpublic/Shareholder-resolutions-in-Australia.Oct17.pdf">renewed calls for law reform</a>, widely supported by institutional investors and also, increasingly, by some of the <a href="https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20180314/pdf/43sf7h344xgrbd.pdf">companies facing these resolutions</a>, to change the law to allow for a more consistent and orderly approach in Australia.</p>
<h2>Do these resolutions actually change behaviour?</h2>
<p>From their brief history in Australia so far, it appears that shareholder resolutions on climate change, together with a range of other influences, do have the potential to drive change. Many Australian companies that have faced these resolutions so far have responded with significant improvements in climate risk disclosure and management. </p>
<p>Santos recently released its first <a href="https://www.santos.com/media/4323/santos-climate-change-report.pdf">Climate Change Report</a>; AGL has developed a long term <a href="https://www.agl.com.au/about-agl/what-we-stand-for/sustainability/climate-change">energy transition strategy</a>; and BHP Billiton (which <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-bhp-really-about-to-split-from-the-minerals-councils-hive-mind-84407">faced a similar resolution</a> to Rio Tinto on its membership of industry associations in 2017) has announced its <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-19/bhp-threatens-minerals-council-withdrawal/9271472">withdrawal from the World Coal Association</a> and <a href="https://www.bhp.com/-/media/documents/ourapproach/operatingwithintegrity/industryassociations/171219_bhpindustryassociationreview.pdf?la=en">reviewed its other industry association memberships</a>, including the MCA. </p>
<p>While these developments are undoubtedly the result of many factors – including technology and market developments, behind-the-scenes engagement with investors on climate risks, and increased pressure from financial institutions and regulators – it seems that shareholder resolutions can help to focus a company’s attention on ensuring its climate stance is defensible to shareholders. The impact of these resolutions in Australia may also be a function of their relative novelty compared with other jurisdictions such as the United States.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-has-bhp-distanced-itself-from-legal-threat-to-environment-groups-87093">Why has BHP distanced itself from legal threat to environment groups?</a>
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<p>This week’s resolution at Rio Tinto signals a coming of age for investor engagement on climate change in Australia. Shareholder resolutions have clearly become an important part of the toolbox for civil society in Australia seeking to influence corporate decision making on climate change. </p>
<p>As mainstream investors come on board with these resolutions, their potential impact is heightened considerably. For their part, Australian institutional investors seem to be increasingly willing to stand behind calls for better disclosure and management of climate risks by the companies in which they invest, including by forming new alliances and supporting the use of these more activist tools. </p>
<p>In a country with a relatively conservative approach to investor engagement, these are important cultural shifts. They offer promising signs that Australian businesses and investors are taking a more considered and proactive approach on climate risks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anita Foerster receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Peel receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>The shareholder resolution on climate change at Rio Tinto’s AGM is another indication of how much investor culture is tilting towards demanding that companies take a responsible climate stance.Anita Foerster, Senior Lecturer, Monash UniversityJacqueline Peel, Professor of Environmental and Climate Law, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/950552018-04-18T00:44:31Z2018-04-18T00:44:31ZWill Rio Tinto’s bid to escape from its contracts with Rusal succeed?<p>Mining giant Rio Tinto <a href="https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20180416/pdf/43t6w984rmhl7z.pdf">is attempting</a> to use <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm0338">new American sanctions on Russia</a> to <a href="http://www.riotinto.com/media/media-releases-237_25206.aspx">walk away from an agreement</a> with a Russian aluminium company, Rusal. But if the contract is not worded precisely, the law may actually work to Rio’s detriment.</p>
<p>Many companies have successfully ended contracts when <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1111481">war has broken out</a> or the government has <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2000/1095.html?context=1;query=%5b2000%5d%20NSWSC%201095;mask_path=">changed the law</a> in ways that significantly impacted the contract. However, the fact a government’s actions have made a contract <a href="https://www.trans-lex.org/311500/_/tsakiroglou-co-ltd-v-noblee-thorl-gmbh-the-law-report-1962-at-page-7-et-seq/">harder</a> or <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSCA/2011/116.html?context=1;query=%5b2011%5d%20VSCA%20116;mask_path=">more expensive</a> to complete does not automatically mean it will be terminated. </p>
<p>Rio Tinto’s case depends on whether it can invoke a “<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUMPLawAYbk/1992/26.pdf">force majeure</a>” clause in its contracts with Rusal. This kind of clause allows parties to suspend or end a contract when unique and unforeseen events beyond their control occur.</p>
<p>Under the new sanctions, companies and individuals within the United States have until May 7 <a href="https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/ukraine_gl13.pdf">to divest or transfer any debt, equity or other holdings</a> in Rusal. Rusal is controlled by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/11/investing/aluminum-prices-sanctions-rusal/index.html">has previously been investigated</a> for money laundering, extortion, bribery and alleged links to organised crime groups.</p>
<p>Rio Tinto <a href="http://www.riotinto.com/media/media-releases-237_25206.aspx">has a joint venture with Rusal</a> that could be affected by the US sanctions. </p>
<h2>The effect of force majeure</h2>
<p>Typically, when unique or unforeseen events occur, the contract may be legally “<a href="https://legalvision.com.au/know-contract-becomes-frustrated/">frustrated</a>” and end automatically. Frustration is the legal term for a contract being so <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA/1982/24.html">radically affected</a> by unforeseeable events outside the control of the parties that it is terminated.</p>
<p>A force majeure clause <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSCA/2011/335.html?context=1;query=%5b2011%5d%20VSCA%20335%20;mask_path=">generally prevents this happening</a> because the inclusion of the clause is regarded as “foresight” of the event. However, force majeure clauses typically allow parties to end the contract if the event lasts for a given time, and don’t always require “radical change” like the frustration doctrine does.</p>
<p>It all turns upon the wording of the particular clause in the Rio Tinto contracts.</p>
<h2>Force majeure through history</h2>
<p>A successful claim of force majeure was made in the American case of <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/532/957/98936/#fn6-1_ref">Eastern Airlines v McDonnell Douglas Corp</a>. In this case aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas argued that US government policy during the Vietnam War (occurring at the time) caused the government to prioritise military contracts over civilian ones. </p>
<p>As a result, McDonnell Douglas’s contract with Eastern Airlines was delayed. It invoked a force majeure clause covering “acts of government” to avoid liability for the airline’s lost profits.</p>
<p>The court ruled that McDonnell Douglas was entitled to rely upon the force majeure clause and walk away from the agreement due to the government’s policy.</p>
<p>Importantly, just because a contract has a force majeure clause, this does not mean it can be used freely. <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUMPLawAYbk/2004/17.pdf">Some English cases</a> suggest that parties must still make reasonable efforts to keep the contract alive before resorting to force majeure. Evidence of attempts to preserve its contracts with Rusal would likely work in Rio Tinto’s favour.</p>
<p>The courts have also stressed that force majeure cannot be relied upon where there were reasonable alternative ways to complete the contract. </p>
<p>In the Australian case of <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCA/2004/76.html?context=1;query=%5B2004%5D%20NSWCA%2076;mask_path=">European Bank Ltd v Citibank Ltd</a>, Citibank was unsuccessful in claiming force majeure when it transferred European Bank’s deposit to a New York account and the funds were seized by the United States Marshal. The force majeure clause allowed Citibank to escape liability if it could not perform due to “reasons beyond its reasonable control”.</p>
<p>The court held that Citibank could have refunded European Bank’s deposit from other accounts or made other arrangements, so the situation could have been avoided.</p>
<p>In Rio Tinto’s case, its efforts to make alternative arrangements will be of critical importance. If there are no feasible options other than to cancel the Rusal contracts, force majeure will likely apply.</p>
<h2>When force majeure doesn’t work</h2>
<p>But there are plenty of examples where force majeure events such as government intervention have not been regarded as sufficient grounds to end a contract. </p>
<p>In 1962, a court in the United Kingdom <a href="https://www.trans-lex.org/311500/_/tsakiroglou-co-ltd-v-noblee-thorl-gmbh-the-law-report-1962-at-page-7-et-seq/">found</a> that the closure of the Suez Canal was not sufficient to end a contract requiring 300 tonnes of Sudanese nuts to be shipped between Port Sudan and Hamburg. </p>
<p>The Suez Canal would have been the cheapest and fastest shipping route. However, it was still possible to deliver the nuts by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, even if this increased the cost for the seller and took more time. </p>
<p>Inadequate wording in a force majeure clause can also backfire, as in <a href="https://www.trans-lex.org/308600/_/fyffes-group-ltd-v-reefer-express-lines-pty-ltd%C2%A0%5B1996%5D-2-lloyds-rep-171/">the Kriti Rex</a> case. Here a force majeure clause covering ‘“events beyond the control of the parties” was deemed inapplicable because the courier hired by the purchaser (which damaged the goods) was regarded as being within the purchaser’s control.</p>
<h2>So what for Rio Tinto?</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the success of Rio Tinto’s attempt to invoke force majeure depends entirely upon the wording of the clauses and whether these account for events such as sanctions being imposed. </p>
<p>But it is highly unlikely the clauses would be this specific as the circumstances are unique. Traditional inclusions in force majeure clauses are things like <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUMPLawAYbk/1992/26.pdf">natural disasters, labour strikes or war</a>, not a foreign government’s political sanction of a company’s controller. </p>
<p>Force majeure clauses are also <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUMPLawAYbk/2004/17.pdf">interpreted quite narrowly</a> by courts, so cannot just be stretched to cover every situation.</p>
<p>If the clauses in Rio’s contracts are deemed not to account for the US sanctions, Rio must rely on the doctrine of frustration. It would need to demonstrate that contracting with a company controlled by a Russian oligarch who has been subsequently sanctioned by the US was a reasonably unforeseeable event when the contract was made, and this event radically altered the contract. </p>
<p>It would not be enough for Rio Tinto to argue it might lose money or be inconvenienced. Though the US government’s actions might have been unexpected, the broader effects of Rusal’s suspension upon Rio Tinto’s operations remain to be seen. </p>
<p>If the consequences are purely financial or inconvenient, Rio Tinto’s legal mettle might be tested.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95055/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Giancaspro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many contracts have been ended in cases of war or changes in the law. But government action making a contract more expensive does not mean it will be terminated.Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.