Minerals, Wealth and Progress - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 32

The important role of local governments in environmental protection has also been
given due attention through the development of a specific chapter in Agenda 21 of the
1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in Rio de Janeiro
(the so-called 'Earth Summit'). The conference recognized that local governments are clos-
est to the people affected by environmental impacts from mining and other developments,
and therefore have a key role to play in responding to environmental threats.
Today many international, regional and national entities include environmental con-
siderations in activities related to mining, and provide useful guidance materials (see
Appendix 1.1 for some examples).

Moving from the Big Boot Mentality to Environmental
Protection

Governments worldwide have committed themselves to reviewing their legislative
requirements in order to balance environmental protection and economic development.
As with other regulatory schemes, governments can choose between the approaches of
'the carrot' or the 'the stick', in this case referred to as the 'big boot'. The initial response
was to rely on traditional command and control approaches by setting and enforcing qual-
ity standards. The command and control approach is supported by a range of penalties
in which the level of penalty reflects the severity of the breach. It is now recognized that
this 'big boot' mentality has inherent problems. Implementation of command and control
approaches requires adequate government resources to be effective, and constant resort to
penalties does little to promote cooperation from industries. On the contrary, it imposes an
adversarial 'us and them' mentality, which becomes even more so when lawyers become
involved. The environmental protection system of the USA is, perhaps, the most extreme
example of such an adversarial system. On the other hand, in most Australian states, the
mining industry and government regulators have a far more cooperative relationship.
Governments also rely on economic instruments in the form of pollution charges, tax
incentives, or tradable permits to alter production and consumption patterns of both
industries and individuals. Economic instruments are soft measures that change the busi-
ness environment in which companies work. Significant reduction in sulphur dioxide
emissions in the United States of America, for example, is credited to the introduction of
trading schemes in the 1990 Clean Air Act. In emissions trading, companies that have cut
pollution more than they are required can sell 'credits' to other companies that still exceed
allowed limits.
The Environmental Impact Assessment process, as described in the following sec-
tion, serves as an illustration of a co-regulatory approach. Environmental management
practices are formulated and adopted in consultation with key stakeholders, admittedly
within prescribed boundaries. Co-regulation encourages compliance through persuasion
and negotiation. Initially, the consultation process was limited to government authorities
and business representatives, but modern industry practice makes an effort to reach out to
affected people during the EIA process.
A self-regulatory approach has long been promoted by multinational companies, most
notably by the petroleum and mining industries. The Australian Minerals Council's voluntary
Code for Environmental Performance is an example of a particularly successful self-regulation
initiative. Largely as a result of this Code, to which most Australian mining companies sub-
scribe, standards of environmental practice are, in many cases, well ahead of standards pre-
scribed by government regulation. Peer pressure and competition to excel have proved highly
effective in raising standards to the extent that some operations have indulged in 'overkill',

Implementation of command
and control approaches requires
adequate government resources
to be effective, and constant
resort to penalties does little
to promote cooperation from
industries.

The Australian Minerals
Council's voluntary Code for
Environmental Performance is
an example of a particularly
successful self-regulation initiative.