Deep Trouble

Mining is good for Mongolia, but it needs to be done oh so carefully to avoid unnecessary environmental impact. Newswise prints a small article on the problem:

Mongolia’s campaign of preservation, however, conflicts with the rapid expansion of the mining industry; already, mining is occurring in protected areas. From 1993 to 2003, annual growth of the mining sector ranged from 8 to 12%, while cold output of mineral ores has increased 15-fold. In 2003, Mongolia’s mineral sector accounted for 8.6% of the gross national product and 66% of exports.

Adding to the problem, Mongolia has a foreign debt at 75% of its GNP. At present, mining is the government’s most important source of tax revenue. The stability of the nation’s economy will depend on the mining industry for decades.

Author John D. Farrington, a Fulbright Fellow, outlines nine basic approaches that have been successful in the past to resolve conflicts between protected areas and mining. Of the nine, Farrington recommends four that would suit Mongolia’s situation: granting land trades and special dispensations in exchange for mineral licenses in protected areas; granting protected status to all lapsed mineral licenses in protected areas; voluntary forfeiting of mineral licenses in protected areas in exchange for positive corporate publicity; and prohibiting all new mineral activities in existing and proposed protected areas.

Farrington's study can be found here in it's entirety.