Minerals, Wealth and Progress - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 33

TABLE 1.5
Types of Environmental Regulatory Control

Type Description Example

Command and Control Ambient standards setting, using command and control

instruments (licences); limited scope for fl exibility

● Air and water quality standards
● Effl uent discharge permit

Economic Instruments Use of pricing, subsidy, taxes and charges to alter

consumption and production patterns of fi rms and
individuals

● Tradeable permits
● Pollution charges
● Deposit refund
● Tax incentives
● Resources cost pricing

Co-regulation Formulation and adoption of rules and regulations in

consultation with stakeholders, negotiated within
prescribed boundaries

● Environmental Impact Assessment

Self-regulation Initiatives by fi rms or industry sectors to regulate them-

selves through the setting of self-imposed standards,
and involving monitoring of member fi rms to ensure
compliance

● Codes of Practice
● Self-audit
● Pollution reduction targets
● Continuous improvement
● Global Reporting Initiative 2000

Source:
based on AMC (1993)

going well beyond what is necessary and in some cases beyond what is desirable. The risk here
is that the 'bar is raised' so high that others are deterred from subscribing to the code.
Companies argue in support of their ability to adequately manage themselves.
The public is not so trusting, asking how it would receive assurance that environ-
mental commitments are met. Companies have responded to such concerns in vari-
ous forms, more recently in form of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The GRI is
a long-term international undertaking whose mission is to develop and disseminate
globally applicable sustainability reporting guidelines for voluntary use by organiza-
tions reporting on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of their activities,
products and services (GRI 2000). Self-regulation, on its own, is unlikely to be effective
as there will always be those who will avoid their responsibilities, either deliberately or
through ignorance.
Best practice therefore promotes an integrated management approach, combining the
four types of regulatory controls mentioned above and summarized in Table 1.5 . The
introduction of new and flexible regimes is an ongoing process, as governments move to
downsize, while corporate responsibility continues to increase.

Regulatory controls range from
command and control (big boot
mentality) to self-regulation

1.7 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PRACTICE - ELIMINATE
THE NEGATIVE, ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE

The EIA process is designed to adopt management rules agreed upon by the company, the
government, and affected communities, negotiated within prescribed boundaries. This sec-
tion provides some general background on impact assessment at the project level, focusing on