Our Environment - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 332

many apparently local environmental issues have global implications, and that protection
of the global environment is critical to human welfare. There is also the recognition that
ignoring environmental problems is no longer workable.
Since environmental problems cause impacts beyond national borders the willingness of
nations to enter into protective covenants and treaties is constantly growing. The different
designations of such agreements - treaty (an agreement in which all the details have pre-
sumably been worked out), convention (an agreement in which parties agree on a general
framework that is expected to be supplemented in the future by one or more protocols that
work out the details), or protocol - all mean essentially the same thing and have no special
significance for the purpose of the following discussion, which is based largely on relevant
text from Pring (1999) and Zillman et al . (2002).
By signing multilateral agreements, a State surrenders portions of its sovereign powers,
and becomes bound to new standards of conduct along with other States; this is what is
termed international law. International law - the growing body of laws and policies, not
at the single nation level but at the multi-nation level - now forms a significant part of the
continuously changing environmental regulatory framework that applies to mining. Since
laws are rules set by authority, society, or custom, a variety of other codes of behaviour can
be considered laws if they are backed by some enforcement power. Mining industry codes
and guidelines established by influential NGOs fall under this category.
There are now over 1,000 international treaties and other legal authorities focussed on
the environment, most developed since 1970 (Pring and Joeris 1993). There is not, as yet,
a comprehensive international law of mining. In part, this is because States are naturally
reluctant to surrender their sovereign control over such an important part of their econ-
omies. In part, it is because of the still primitive state of international law, which lacks
conventional law-making bodies (there is an international court but it has no enforcement
power). It is partly because most international law lacks conventional command-control
enforcement, leaving compliance largely to the political will of the individual sovereign
States. It is also partly because international laws are not created equal; some international
agreements are classed as legally binding or 'hard law' (chiefly treaties and litigation),
while others are viewed as non-binding, aspirational, or 'soft law' (such as United Nations
and other international bodies' declarations, resolutions, statements of principles, guide-
lines, etc.) (Guruswamy et al . 1994, Wälde 1993, Armstrong 1996).
While there is no comprehensive international mining law, a number of treaties or
conventions have provisions regulating the industry. Typically, these mining related trea-
ties use very general language, lack adequate enforcement regimes, and focus on only a
small portion of mineral development that is ore access, ore processing, and product
controls.
The mining industry of course took notice of the global trend to environmental aware-
ness, and was one of the first sectors to respond to this trend. Once at the margins of mine
planning and operation, environment protection is now a mainstream issue that lies at
the heart of new mine developments. The mining industry, often working together with
government and community organizations, has established a series of codes of practice to
offer innovative and far-reaching solutions to mining induced environmental problems,
from minimizing waste and monitoring operations, to returning mined land as close as
practicable to its original condition. While not yet mandatory, applying sound environ-
mental management practices is becoming the industry norm and can be considered de
facto part of international law.
While requirements based on international law are not mandatory, new mine develop-
ments can not afford to ignore them. A description of the main mining related multilateral
environmental agreements and codes of practice follows.

Ignoring environmental problems
is no longer workable.

Since laws are rules set by
authority, society, or custom,
a variety of other codes of
behaviour can be considered
laws if they are backed by some
enforcement power.

While there is no comprehensive
international mining law,
a number of treaties or
conventions have provisions
regulating the industry.

Once at the margins of mine
planning and operation,
environment protection is now a
mainstream issue that lies at the
heart of new mine developments.