Land Acquisition and Resettlement - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 584

apply, acquisition of land for the mine and associated facilities, involves sensitive and dif-
i cult issues which must be resolved before the project can proceed. Bad feelings generated
during land acquisition can remain, with adverse consequences to the project well after
the acquisition process has been completed.

14.2 WHAT DETERMINES THE SEVERITY OF
RESETTLEMENT LOSSES?

Resettlement effects are complex. They depend on the time and place where they occur,
and on the type of people that are affected. Impacts and risks that are severe at one mining
project may be of no signii cance for another project. Whether impacts of resettlement are
severe will depend in large measure on how resettlement is managed.

Number of Affected People

Of course the number of project-affected people (PAP) is important. Affected people are
dei ned as people who stand to lose, as a direct or indirect consequence of the project, all or
part of their physical or non-physical assets. The more people affected, the more severe is
the resettlement impact. The ADB Handbook on Resettlement (ADB 1998) dei nes resettle-
ment of more than 200 people as signii cant.
The obvious cause of resettlement in a mining project is the need to provide access to ores.
Mineral and coal deposits are immobile and occupation of land for ore extraction is unavoid-
able. Mine infrastructure such as housing, airstrip, mineral processing plants and roads also
requires considerable land area, much of which may be used by communities as productive
land. As infrastructure planners do, communities also avoid difi cult terrain such as swamps
or steep terrain. Mine waste storage and disposal facilities also occupy sizable land areas.
On-land tailings disposal usually involves valleys, land that is commonly preferred for hous-
ing, farming and land trafi c. That said, many mining projects are carried out in sparsely
populated areas and often do not require the physical resettlement of so many people.
Increased migration to the mine area and the associated pressure on existing social sys-
tems can also contribute to resettlement losses increasing the number of affected people
signii cantly. New settlers may migrate to the mining area with the expectation of employ-
ment opportunities or shares of other benei ts. Migration will put pressure on the existing
economy that has developed over generations. The existing economy may disintegrate to the
disadvantage of the weakest and most vulnerable groups of the society. Increases in living
costs, often associated with immigration, have most effect on the poor, and may be devastat-
ing. Other mining activities can contribute further losses. Destruction of traditional hunting
grounds or spiritual places, restricted access to natural resources such as Sago trees, impacts
on i shery, or disruption of traditional transportation routes, all count as resettlement effects.

Increased migration to the mine
area and the associated pressure
on existing social systems can
also contribute to resettlement
losses.

Number of Indigenous and Vulnerable Affected People

A characteristic feature of resettlement is that those most affected represent those in a
society who have the least access to resources. Remote areas where large mining projects
are often located, may be home to tribal and Indigenous Peoples who are disconnected
from and have never learnt to represent themselves to the rest of the society, and are the