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Sustainable Development Group, Policy Division, Department for International Development, 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE, UK j-hobbs{at}dfid.gov.uk
This paper reviews recent developments aimed at improving the mining sector’s contribution to sustainable development. Mineral endowments are regarded by many development and environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as a ‘curse’ and counterproductive to long-term growth and poverty reduction goals, even antithetical to sustainable development in developing countries. This paper argues that, in spite of some empirical evidence in some countries, this is not an inevitable general rule and that the mining sector offers numerous possibilities for catalysing sustainable development and attainment of the millennium development goals. This is, however, conditional upon adequate governance and social and environmental safeguards being in place. The heterogeneity of the mining sector is considered and concern is expressed for the undermanagement of the growing, albeit not new, phenomenon of artisanal and small-scale mining in developing countries. Without better management of this sector any attempts to improve the contribution of mining to sustainable development will be severely limited.
