Minerals, Wealth and Progress - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 31

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999

FIGURE 1.9
Number of Participating Parties in Some Major International Environment Treaties

CBD 1992 (1993)
CITES 1973 (1987)
Ozone 1985 (1988)

UNFCC 1992 (1994)
CCD 1994 (1996)
Ramsar 1971 (1975)

The number of international environmental treaties is constantly increasing with more partici-
pating parties joining in shorter time.

By the 1960s understanding of the complex bio-chemical relationships which comprised
the natural environment had reached a point where scientists could begin to pinpoint and
map the impact of industrial technology on air and water quality, the cycling of toxic chem-
ical compounds such as DDT upward through the food chain (Carson 1962), and impacts
on both terrestrial and marine species through development of coastal wetlands, as well as
a virtual encyclopedia of other induced environmental changes. Solutions to these problems
lay, unfortunately, outside the realm of science, but instead rested in the political sphere.
Prior to the late 1960s, most national legislations had not addressed environmen-
tal issues, as there had been little or no public recognition or demand. However, in part
stimulated by Carson's book, increasing public pressure generated a spate of environ-
mental legislation. The USA introduced the first comprehensive environmental protec-
tion act (NEPA) in 1969. In 1972, the first United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden, and since then global concern for the envi-
ronment has seldom abated. Today there are over 200 international treaties dealing with
an extraordinarily wide range of matters related to environmental and cultural protection
( Figure 1.9 ). They govern, inter alia, marine pollution, international transport of hazard-
ous wastes, protection of species, wetland protection, the use of ozone depleting substances,
and so on. Many of these treaties apply to mining. For example:
1. marine pollution that results from dumping of wastes in the sea;
2. slag shipped from smelters for commercial use overseas or trans-boundary movement
of automobile batteries covered by agreements on international transport of hazardous
waste;
3. large-scale surface mining that requires protection of species and wetlands;
4. coal mining and its contribution to global warming; and
5. human rights and labour issues relating to the employment and interaction with
Indigenous Peoples affected by mining projects.

The USA introduced the fi rst
comprehensive environmental
protection act (NEPA) in 1969.