While the Medina administration is yet to announce whether it will give Glencore Xstrata’s Falcondo the environmental permit for mining nickel in Loma Miranda, the conclusion from the UNDP-hired specialists was that the environmental impact study by the mining company did not meet environmental and social requirements for sustainable development and that the company does not have the social license to operate. Presidency Minister Gustavo Montalvo says that the Ministry of Environment still needs to announce its decision on Loma Miranda. Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez said he would address the matter after analyzing the UNDP report.
An article in Forbes defines social license as “an imperative for corporations in the resource extraction sector that require support from local communities to secure financing and government approval for their projects”.
Environmental experts from the Ministry of Environment and Academy of Sciences had already documented the reasons why mining in Loma Miranda, a 218km2 area in La Vega province, was not in the collective interest.
Following the announcement of the decision yesterday, Thursday 23 May, deputy Elpidio Infante said that Congress should declare the area a National Park, in order to ensure protected status for the future.
In her announcement, UNDP representative in the country Valerie Julliand also planted a seed for discussions on the desirability of mining operations in the country. In the review, the UNDP confirmed the negative track record of mining companies in the DR. The UNDP said the country needed to open talks on whether it is pertinent to promote mining as a priority, given its environmental and social impact. Mining operations have proven to be lethal to water sources and farming, with a surge of large numbers of people affected by life-threatening diseases in the Bonao area where existing Falcondo operations are located.
As reported in El Dia, Falcondo also announced it would analyze the UNDP report. The company says it is open to talks so that the project can be implemented. “We are open to recommendations on how to improve our environmental performance and back the government’s commitment to ensure the country develops sustainably. It is the same focus we have applied in our own operations,” said the company.
In the report, the UNDP specialists said the company had omitted several areas that should have been analyzed in terms of ecosystem services, risks, and social and biophysical impacts.
The president of the Dominican Republic Academy of Sciences, Milciades Mejia, said that once again it is confirmed that its experts have the fundamental knowledge on this kind of project. “Our proposal is for Loma de Miranda to be declared a National Park. We are appealing to Minister of Environment Bautista Rojas Gomez to demand the fulfillment of Law 64-00 in the case of mining by Xstrata Nickel and that they start to restore the mined areas as the law says,” said Mejia after hearing the report presented by the UNDP. The company had said that if it did not receive the permit it would cease its operations in the Dominican Republic.
The city government of Bonao also issued a resolution backing La Vega to demand that Congress declare Loma de Miranda a protected area, following a proposal presented by La Vega senator Euclides Sanchez.
In an editorial in Diario Libre, Ines Aizpun criticizes the role the government has taken as a spectator in the mining debate. “There is a big difference between governing by listening to the people and governing to be applauded by the people and sometimes they overlap. That is a great risk.
“The role of the Ministry of Environment and Mining Department has been weak, ignored, irrelevant. That is a problem,” she writes. “What is the national development agenda? Does it include mining? Here, as in the case of the Los Haitises cement plant, the government approved projects. They were halted because people protested, not for conviction or environmental strategy, and the UNDP was sought as an arbiter to ‘decide.’ That is a great weakness,” she highlights.
In its editorial today, Friday 24 May, Hoy highlights the UNDP’s advice to the country to avoid using mining to propel its development. “Intense mining has caused environmental damage in several parts of the country, which still needs to be resolved. To save Loma Miranda from mining is to save many vital resources for the country. Loma Miranda should be salvaged as an untouchable reserve.”
www.pnud.org.do/content/el-proyecto-de-loma-miranda-no-responde-exigencias-de-desarrollo-sostenible-del-pais
www.7dias.com.do/index.php/youtubeplayer/detail/PNUD-rinde-informe-sobre-impacto-de-Loma-Miranda/30#.UZ6LwqWRPzI
www.diariolibre.com/movil/noticias_det.php?id=385145
www.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=385135&l=1
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/05/24/i385153_sectores-celebran-informe-pnud-declara-factible-explotacion.html
www.hoy.com.do/editorial/2013/5/23/481828/Un-santuario-intocable
www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/12/28/three-ways-to-secure-your-social-license-to-operate-in-2013/