Stricter controls needed for mining in sensitive areas

GOVERNMENT should prohibit all new mineral activities in existing and proposed protected areas until the regulations of the Environmental Management Act (EMA) regulations are in force, a new report on mining practices in Namibia’s protected areas recommends.

The report also proposes•that the Mining and Energy Minister’s discretion to grant any further extensions should be removed;•that Government should require immediate compliance of all existing prospecting and mining operations.The report is the result of a study by the Stanford University Law School in the US in co-operation with the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) of Namibia. It explores several ways in which Government could address the critical development tension that Namibia is now confronting: how to balance the economic benefits of mineral extraction with the threat that it poses to the long-term integrity of protected areas with the economic benefits of eco-tourism and the cost of implementing a viable environmental protection programme. The EMA of 2007 should get more teeth by adding a provision that finds circumvention of environmental assessment as a form of corruption punishable by criminal law. ‘As currently practised, mining operations threaten the integrity and stability of Namibia’s vulnerable protected areas and the environmental resources they provide. As many important and fragile ecosystems have not yet been included in the national protected areas system, they are at immediate risk of irreversible degradation,’ the report cautions. Adverse environmental mining impacts range from permanent landscape alteration to soil contamination and erosion, water contamination, the loss of critical habitats for sensitive plant and animal species, and ultimately, the loss of wildlife. Because Namibia’s protected areas include environmentally sensitive desert and dry land regions where the rate of ecological recovery is extremely slow, the potential for regeneration at any time in the near future is virtually non-existent. In addition, as recently proposed projects like the Valencia (uranium) mining exploration operation have shown, the amount of water needed for the investigation, construction, and operation of even a single proposed mining operation may lead to a severe water shortage in the area with the potential to threaten wildlife populations, farming, and eco-tourism operations. Although Namibia has several policies and laws in place to protect ecologically sensitive areas, The Ministry of Environment and Tourism could create a legal mechanism for identifying and classifying protected lands to ensure their preservation and declare some no-go areas for mining. Legal criteria should be drawn up for mining within protected lands. ‘At present, mining projects proposed for protected lands are treated the same as any other proposal. At present, the decision about whether to allow mining of protected lands is subject to ministerial discretion, which makes these lands vulnerable during times of high commodity prices.’ Another recommendation is for Government to use independent experts to help with assessments, inspections, and audits when there is a lack of technical expertise among ministry staff. But first and foremost, the Ministry of Environment should appoint an Environmental Commissioner to enforce the Environmental Management Act. The report is available at ww.lac.org.na