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Abstract The global transition towards sustainable energy sources necessitates a delicate balance between incentivizing domestic mineral inputs and ensuring affordable energy transition. This paper investigates a diverse set of policies aimed at promoting domestic mining and their implications for achieving an affordable energy transition. Through a comprehensive economic framework, we analyze the effects of demand and supply-side policies on import reliance, production costs, and the overall progress of the energy transition. By examining various scenarios and their outcomes, we provide insights into the potential challenges and opportunities associated with designing mineral policies that facilitate both domestic mining growth and affordable clean energy technologies. Our findings highlight the importance of striking a balance between promoting domestic resources and ensuring affordability in the pursuit of a sustainable energy future.

The global transition towards sustainable energy sources necessitates a delicate balance between incentivizing domestic mineral inputs and ensuring affordable energy transition. This paper investigates a diverse set of policies aimed at promoting domestic mining and their implications for achieving an affordable energy transition. Through a comprehensive economic framework, we analyze the effects of demand and supply-side policies on import reliance, production costs, and the overall progress of the energy transition. By examining various scenarios and their outcomes, we provide insights into the potential challenges and opportunities associated with designing mineral policies that facilitate both domestic mining growth and affordable clean energy technologies. Our findings highlight the importance of striking a balance between promoting domestic resources and ensuring affordability in the pursuit of a sustainable energy future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In response to the urgent environmental and social challenges posed by mining operations, this paper introduces the Mining Area Sustainability Index (MASI), a novel framework aimed at transforming the mining sector towards sustainable practices. Mining activities have historically led to significant environmental degradation, including water contamination and habitat destruction, contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss. These activities also have profound social implications, such as displacing communities, endangering health, and distributing economic benefits inequitably, often leaving local communities in developing countries marginalized. Recognizing these challenges, this paper outlines the consolidation and standardization in sustainability reporting within the mining sector as a pivotal development. The introduction of international standards by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the European Union's European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) marks significant strides towards enhancing transparency, accountability, and sustainability across mining operations. Furthermore, the concept of double materiality, assessing both financial and social impacts of mining, represents an advancement in comprehending the broader societal impacts of mining alongside its environmental and economic effects. MASI emerges as a comprehensive tool designed to assess the sustainability of mining areas, offering a nuanced understanding of mining activities' impacts on local environments, societies, and economies. By focusing on localized, community-centric evaluations, MASI aims to fill existing gaps in sustainability assessment and provide a reference for local residents to gauge the sustainability of their surroundings. This framework advocates for a multidimensional approach to sustainability, encompassing ecological preservation, social welfare, and economic viability, urging a reimagined, sustainable future for mining communities.

In response to the urgent environmental and social challenges posed by mining operations, this paper introduces the Mining Area Sustainability Index (MASI), a novel framework aimed at transforming the mining sector towards sustainable practices. Mining activities have historically led to significant environmental degradation, including water contamination and habitat destruction, contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss. These activities also have profound social implications, such as displacing communities, endangering health, and distributing economic benefits inequitably, often leaving local communities in developing countries marginalized. Recognizing these challenges, this paper outlines the consolidation and standardization in sustainability reporting within the mining sector as a pivotal development. The introduction of international standards by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the European Union's European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) marks significant strides towards enhancing transparency, accountability, and sustainability across mining operations. Furthermore, the concept of double materiality, assessing both financial and social impacts of mining, represents an advancement in comprehending the broader societal impacts of mining alongside its environmental and economic effects. MASI emerges as a comprehensive tool designed to assess the sustainability of mining areas, offering a nuanced understanding of mining activities' impacts on local environments, societies, and economies. By focusing on localized, community-centric evaluations, MASI aims to fill existing gaps in sustainability assessment and provide a reference for local residents to gauge the sustainability of their surroundings. This framework advocates for a multidimensional approach to sustainability, encompassing ecological preservation, social welfare, and economic viability, urging a reimagined, sustainable future for mining communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mining sector in most developing countries including Tanzania has become an important sector for the economy. However, the sector still faces many challenges to realize its full potential. This paper assesses whether mining companies complied with the regulatory framework of the mining sector based on community perspectives in Kahama District. A total of 215 households were sampled for the study based on Bailey’s method using a sampling per cent of 9.3%. Within villages, respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaire, focus group discussions, observations and document reviews. While content analysis was used to analyse primary qualitative data, factor analysis was employed to reduce variables which were then analyzed to find extent of compliance of large-scale mining companies with regulatory framework for sustainable mining, and documentary review was used to analyse secondary data. The findings show that consultation for views on issues, publication of anticipated effects and benefits in communities were positively attained by the mining companies. However, mining companies’ operations to a large extent have negatively affected the qualities of water, soil, air and use of the available resources within operation areas. The paper concludes that although large mining companies are required in Tanzania, addressing the existing challenges would lead to achieving sustainable mining practices.

The mining sector in most developing countries including Tanzania has become an important sector for the economy. However, the sector still faces many challenges to realize its full potential. This paper assesses whether mining companies complied with the regulatory framework of the mining sector based on community perspectives in Kahama District. A total of 215 households were sampled for the study based on Bailey’s method using a sampling per cent of 9.3%. Within villages, respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaire, focus group discussions, observations and document reviews. While content analysis was used to analyse primary qualitative data, factor analysis was employed to reduce variables which were then analyzed to find extent of compliance of large-scale mining companies with regulatory framework for sustainable mining, and documentary review was used to analyse secondary data. The findings show that consultation for views on issues, publication of anticipated effects and benefits in communities were positively attained by the mining companies. However, mining companies’ operations to a large extent have negatively affected the qualities of water, soil, air and use of the available resources within operation areas. The paper concludes that although large mining companies are required in Tanzania, addressing the existing challenges would lead to achieving sustainable mining practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the socio‐economic dynamics that, in the Colombian case, underlie the relationship between mining and the territory where it takes place. The description includes the key features of public policy regarding mining, under which mineral resource extraction may have produced unintended effects that raise doubts regarding mining's contribution to Colombian economic development. Under a qualitative approach, I carried out a documentary analysis from which I identified several aspects of the economic and mining policy. The analysis confirms several of the explanations for the so‐called resource curse hypothesis, the connection between these aspects, and of them with specific policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study analyzes processes of contentious action in rejection of so-called “mega-mining” deployed on a subnational scale in Argentina from 2019-2021. These processes respond to a new stage in the cycle of social conflict over environmental issues in twenty-first century Argentina. This stage is configured through citizen resistance in different provinces with repertoires of convergent struggle, particularly against state mining policy. This renewed policy promoted by the national government in coordination with provincial governments and transnational corporations takes place in a context of socio-economic, environmental and health crises exacerbated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a technocratic vision of society-nature articulations that clash with aspects of the current environmental legal system in Argentina, this model generates multiterritorial tensions (political, social, and cultural) in diverse subnational areas. The objective of the article is to understand the transformations of the actor dynamics around state mining policy in this context, including diverse and complex civil-social and political-institutional strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin American Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The mining industries of Sweden and Finland currently face several policy issues around investment, stakeholder involvement, and sustainability. Since the two countries garnered significant attention during the mining boom, research from a social sciences perspective grew significantly. One approach to understanding how these issues in Sweden and Finland compare to international examples is through an analysis of the policy development framework. Looking at three factors—institutions, actors, and process—gives a broad overview of the imminent challenges in both Sweden and Finland and potential lessons from existing research that point to similar problems and their solutions. As the mining operations continue to sit at the center of different values, capable policy is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin American Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Venezolana de Gerencia (RVG) is the property of Revista de Filosofia-Universidad del Zulia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Anuari del Conflicte Social is the property of Universitat de Barcelona - Facultat d'Economia i Empresa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Institutions are important to enhance the contribution of mining industries not only to economic growth, but also to environmental justice and equality. In this paper, we study the processes by which four Latin American countries modified their existing institutions to manage the effects or large‐scale mining in their territories. We focus on the political struggles to introduce legislation to restrict the geographical expansion of large‐scale mining in their territories. To this end, we integrate a leading theory of the policy process with theoretical insights from studies of environmental governance and political settlements. Our findings show that processes of policy change followed distinct paths with common elements. The elements that link the initial conditions with change are policy learning, challenges to dominant policy images, conflict expansion, and the involvement of veto players. We also observe that the outputs of the reforms diverge significantly. Three contextual variables contributed to the variability of the outputs of these reforms; the degree of cohesion of elites, the degree of development of environmental institutions, and the relative dependency on mineral revenues. During the processes of policy making, these institutions offered different opportunities and constraints for policy challengers to advance their agenda and for dominant actors to maintain the status quo. The new policy designs offer opportunities for countries to deal with the effects of mining on sensitive ecosystems but political instability threatens the long‐term institutionalization of these reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mining industry today faces a new set of environmental, social, economic, and political challenges. Despite efforts deployed by companies to improve their sustainable practices, and the proliferation of international initiatives aiming at enhanced sector management governance, mining is again being challenged. Centralized management and contradictory legal and institutional arrangements governing public sector institutions—especially the relation between the mining and the environmental authorities—create tensions between central governments and subnational authorities, mandated to manage territories in the context of decentralization. Given the lack of alignment in dealing with mining's environmental, socio-economic, and territorial impacts, central government's top-down decisions are becoming difficult to enforce. The politic dimension of the environmental and social impact assessment processes, in the context of poor inter-institutional coordination, accentuated the lack of trust in the formal procedures of consultation and increased the number of conflicts around projects. Revenue sharing mechanisms introduced by central governments to reduce tensions mostly failed to achieve their objectives. On the contrary, they often created new sources of conflict. To overcome this challenge, mining legislation must be harmonized with other sectors and adapted to territorial management. This requires participatory approaches to define integrated legal and institutional frameworks to manage the territories' natural resources in the context of coherent decentralization processes. It also calls for the aligned intervention of different levels of government using the Municipality as the relevant coordination space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it often is imaginary, in fact, still quite well-being can be packaged attractively in the extractive industry practices. Welfare as a result of mining operations is actually the result of though construction on the existing realities. Welfare often positioned or constructed as a symbol that can facilitate acceptance of a policy. Communication patterns constructed by political elites through welfare bids can shut other desires that may be veiled. Interaction between actors presented governance (State-Private Sector-Civil Society-MNC) on mining operations in the Mountain Protection Forest Mixed Pitu Banyuwangi shows us a form of political communication and propaganda loaded. Color and pattern mining policy is dominated by the preferences and communication ansih elite level. Sound Governance approach is expected to provide opportunities for the emergence of parallel patterns of interaction for all potential possessed by all actors. All actors must be able to stand on equal footing in the face of all the problems that inevitably arise in every operation of the mining industry, such as environmental damage to the ecosystem, social and cultural impact, until the achievement of the welfare of the local community. Welfare should ideally not be imaginary side of an extractive industry, it should be presented through the strategic role of all actors existing governance. The approach used in this study is qualitative wrapped with critical paradigm. This is done to strip to the deepest problems of the cases in the study. While policy analysis is done by using the approach of Walt and Gilson through the blades of analysis for the study of policy such as policy analysis model consisting of aspects of the content, context, process, and actor. While Palmer & Short presents a number of relevant questions in a critical review of a policy. In this study, both approaches are combined and then reviewed again by the advocacy coalition framework as a form of triangulation methods of analysis. This study aims to reveal the form of political communication as well as see the symbolic interaksionalisme actor governance in the mining policy practices.

This paper investigates a greenfield mining project in a peripheral region in northern Sweden through the analysis of how different actor groups formed their own ‘horizons of expectations’ that temporally became fused, only to crumble together with the mining company in a short period of time. By focusing on the co-evolvement of expectations, we show how expectations are differentiated along geographical and temporal scales, reflect upon how these differences relate to interests and historical memory, and finally what these differences mean for the development of large-scale, long-term, raw materials-based projects devoted to industrial production in depopulating areas in an economy otherwise orientated towards neoliberal governance and post-industrial development. By doing so, we make a theoretical contribution to the literature on expectations through the introduction of the concept ‘horizon of expectations’, and a contribution to the literature on neoliberalism and its cultural-geographical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate changes in the Brazilian mining policy during the first year of Temer government. We argue that, similarly with Dilma's period, this government has been favourably disposed towards the expansion of mining activities. During the government of Partido dos Trabalhadores, which we associate with the "progressive neoextractivism", initiatives aimed at increasing the State relevance and its capture of the mining rent, which was diverged, mostly, towards policies against poverty. After government change, in a period defined as "liberalconservative neoextractivism", there is still expectations towards the expansion of mining activities, now guided by market forces; nevertheless, the rent captured by the state is transferred to the financial sector. Throughout the article, we evaluate the relationship between mining and agrarian issues and argue for more critical analyses regarding the extractive sector and its impacts on the organization of the rural space in Brazil. Additionally, we look at the institutional strategies adopted by mining companies, assess government initiatives to open new areas for mining activities and evaluate recent changes in Brazilian mining legislation. Finally, we comment on some issues that seem to be false promises related to the results of such actions and consider some elements related to the reply of social movements against this attempt to reinforce the current Brazilian mining model and respective territorial conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining companies worldwide have been prime movers in the creation of mining towns. Though these towns are of many kinds, all over the world they are going through a similar process of “normalisation” – freeing themselves from their mother companies. This paper compares the way mining towns in three countries, Australia, Canada and South Africa, have been shap ed by changes in production processes and changes in company and government policies. We look at how the local communities are involved and how they respond to the requirements of “open” towns. We note the difficulties that mining towns experience in dealing with both boom and bust cycles. Non-permanent settlement in mining towns has become the dominant trend in Australia and Canada, but South African policy, embedded in a history of migrant labour, promotes permanent settlement. Our analysis brings to light the complexity of the factors that have influenced mining towns, including globalisation, corporate decision making, political ideology and government policy for state welfare and citizens’ rights. It underlines the need for a more nuanced understanding of the places and the communities that mining creates and what their future holds and concludes with a series of recommendations for communities and authorities dealing with change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how policy structure, institutions, and political climate impact the ability of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to ensure the reclamation of surface coal mines. We conduct a policy review that traces the impacts of the three parts of SMCRA; Reclamation Standards, Reclamation Bonding Requirements, and the Abandoned Mine Land fund. We examine the implications the act and its approach have for the mining industry and their ability to reclaim mining areas. We find that each of the three parts of SMCRA’s approach face substantial problems in their implementation. Though largely a positive force for internalizing the environmental costs of surface mining, those issues commonly elucidated in the public choice literature reduce the efficacy of the policy approach and call into question the act’s ability to ensure reclamation occurs. Both in the structure of the bonding requirements and in the regulatory structure created by the act, misaligned incentives sometimes hamper effective reclamation. Further, the funds created under SMCRA to reclaim and restore mined lands have often been directed towards projects that are politically expedient for politicians instead of those that would best serve the fund’s original reclamation purpose. After revealing these problems and putting them in the context of the public choice literature, we suggest updates to the current policy that would align reclamation incentives and better ensure that the reclamation of surface mines occurs. We emphasize the cooperative elements of SMCRA and suggest how other countries, especially those without major existing frameworks for handling reclamation, can emulate the successes of SMCRA while avoiding its implementations snags.

Reforms of the Indian mining sector go back as far as 1991. The present round of reforms, however, fails to address the most important part of the mining sector: coal mining. A big reform has to be introduced to allow the coexistence of both public and private sectors in commercial exploitation of coal resources for the energy needs of the country. It is important to at least attempt to quantify the tangible financial benefits of the present reform accruing to the mining industry directly or indirectly. These aspects cannot be bye-passed as they strengthen the arguments for a true overhaul of the entire legal system governing the mining sector. In order for the mining sector to realize its full potential, more steps than those in the reform need to be undertaken to create a conducive environment for the industry to flourish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian mining reform (IMR) adopted by the government in 2015 reflects a paradigm shift from a first-come-first basis resource development model anchored on extractivism (Extractivism generally refers to an economic model centred on the large-scale removal (or 'extraction') of natural resources for the purposes of exporting raw materials) to one in which mineral resources are harnessed through e-auction and which would enable to accelerate broad-based development and build resilient, diversified and competitive sectorial economies. The reform is premised on a broad understanding of value beyond mineral revenues and management of mining through a transparent digital technologically driven process. The IMR calls for strong economic and social linkages between the extractive sector and other sectors of the local economy as evidenced by the share of wealth that is retained locally and higher levels of value addition and local content. The successful implementation of the IMR requires strong and well-coordinated institutions and coherent and well-administered policies and regulatory frameworks pitched broadly at a country-wide level that concurrently would enable building multi-stakeholder platforms for dialogue and decision-making. This paper discusses the mining reforms in India as an instrument that would facilitate implementation of Make in India, Digital India, Clean India, Skill India and Sab ka sath sab ka vikash programmes as envisaged by the government of the day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1982 an Aboriginal rights provision (Section 35) was added to the Canadian Constitution. This article identifies and assesses two impacts of this provision on Canadian mining policies. First, Section 35 has shattered the legal certainty that characterised policymaking in this field. Second, the traditional approach to mining policy in Canada – an approach that allowed both government and industry to ignore the interests of Aboriginal peoples – is no longer viable. The article concludes by making the case that while Section 35 has undermined the traditional norms of policymaking in this area it is too soon to say whether the emerging modus operandi will provide the means for Aboriginal peoples to secure their interests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines mining management in Chenzhou and Guiyang prefectures in eastern Hunan, discussing the conflicts between government officials and merchants as well as provincial and prefectural officials over the rights to manage mines. The essay argues that the government's conception of trade was heavily influenced by ideas of "rent seeking" and it was this objective, rather than the development of the mines, which drove changes in government policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legacy of mining activities has typically been land‘returned to wildlife’, or, at some sites, degraded to such an extent that it is unsuitable for any alternate use. Progress towards sustainability is made when value is added in terms of the ecological, social and economic well-being of the community. In keeping with the principles of sustainable development, the innovative use of flooded open pits and tailings impoundments as commercial, recreational or ornamental fish farms should be considered in some locations, as it could make a significant contribution to the social equity, economic vitality and environmental integrity of mining communities. This article highlights the growing significance of aquaculture and explores the benefits and barriers to transforming flooded pits and impoundments into aquaculture operations. Among other benefits, aquaculture may provide a much-needed source of revenue, employment and, in some cases, food to communities impacted by mine closure. Further, aquaculture in a controlled closed environment may be more acceptable to critics of fish farming who are concerned about fish escapes and viral transmissions to wild populations. Despite the potential benefits, aquaculture in flooded pits and impoundments is not without its complications— it requires a site-specific design approach that must consider issues ranging from metals uptake by fish, to the long-term viability of the aquatic system as fish habitat, to the overall contribution of aquaculture to sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mining sector has served as a main pillar of the economy in Mongolia during both the socialist period prior to 1991 and the current free market economy. The government conversion of pastoral areas to mine extraction aggressively increased after 1990, with the assumption that mining activity would support the local labor market and boost the local economy, thereby attracting more migrants. Following a conceptual framework of the changes in rural and urban populations in Mongolia using the 2010 workforce survey data, we constructed dprobit models to empirically examine migrations among non-mine soums , urban places, and mine soums. Income was hypothesized as a dominant factor for migration. We found that income is not the leading factor in migration decisions and mine soums are not attractive places for migrants, whereas non-mine soums become less attractive. Both Ulaanbaatar, a capital city, and Erdenet, a huge mine during the socialist-era, remain attractive places for migration. Finally, new mining sectors appear to not improve employment among local herding communities. • Household income in mine soums is not significantly different from that in non-mine soums. • Income is not a leading factor for migration decisions, and mine soums are not attractive for migrants. • Both Erdenet, a mine site during the Socialist-era and the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, remain attractive for rural migration. • New mining sectors do not improve employment in local rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 12 of Sweden's 15 metal mines are situated in the traditional lands of the Sami people. • Socio-legal analysis examines permitting regulations and practices of permit authorities. • Reindeer herding communities have weak possibilities to influence permitting processes. • Lack of state duty to consult the Sami and to assess cumulative effects. • Reindeer herding as a property right poorly recognised in decision-making. In Sweden, extractive industries are placing increasing pressure on the traditional indigenous Sami livelihood of reindeer herding. Consequently, the intersection of indigenous rights and mining-related development in Sweden has become an increasingly contested socio-legal space. In this article, we analyse the extent to which there are meaningful opportunities for Sami reindeer herding communities in Sweden to effectively influence the permit procedures concerning proposed mines, in order to protect their rights and interests. We provide a comprehensive socio-legal analysis that highlights the weak level of recognition of Sami rights and related impact assessments within the mining permitting system in Sweden. We demonstrate the weakness is caused by several factors: an a priori assumption by Swedish authorities that reindeer herding and mining can generally co-exist; the lack of a codified Swedish State duty to consult the Sami; the narrow scope and the weak status of cumulative impact assessments in Swedish EIA legislation and practice; and the weak recognition of Sami reindeer herding as a "property right" during the permit review process under the balancing of competing land-uses. Our results highlight the urgent need for legislative reform in Sweden, if the State is to fulfil its international obligations and improve its legal consistency concerning the rights of the Sami as an indigenous people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• On average there has been a 46.8% increase in densely settled land across the five areas. • This is four times higher than the 10.3% increase recorded for the intermediate cities in South Africa. • The short-term policy approach seems to be a result of weak local governance as municipalities are expected to accomplish tasks that they have no experience in. South Africa's mining towns were established by mining companies mostly after World War II. The workforce lived in company-owned or privately-owned houses, or high-density compounds. Since the demise of apartheid, South African government policy for these towns has promoted integrated mining communities and homeownership. The government's urban policy aims to densify the country's urban areas, which have some of the lowest urban densities. This paper compares the changes in urban density and the unintended land-use implications of mining in settlements around five types of mines: iron ore, manganese, coal, gold and platinum, and in a combination of towns during periods of mining boom and bust. We ask how the South African legal framework addresses land issues that are associated with mining settlements, how urban density has evolved in the five case studies; and how this evolution should be explained. We argue that the sprawl is associated with historical path dependencies and interdependencies. Contributing factors are the need to house miners, the unintended consequences of policies designed to minimise compound living, changing labour regimes, the continuation of migrant labour and the presence of traditional-authority land. This sprawl is evident in market-driven housing, government-subsidised housing and informal settlement development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how policy structure, institutions, and political climate impact the ability of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to ensure the reclamation of surface coal mines. We conduct a policy review that traces the impacts of the three parts of SMCRA; Reclamation Standards, Reclamation Bonding Requirements, and the Abandoned Mine Land fund. We examine the implications the act and its approach have for the mining industry and their ability to reclaim mining areas. We find that each of the three parts of SMCRA's approach face substantial problems in their implementation. Though largely a positive force for internalizing the environmental costs of surface mining, those issues commonly elucidated in the public choice literature reduce the efficacy of the policy approach and call into question the act's ability to ensure reclamation occurs. Both in the structure of the bonding requirements and in the regulatory structure created by the act, misaligned incentives sometimes hamper effective reclamation. Further, the funds created under SMCRA to reclaim and restore mined lands have often been directed towards projects that are politically expedient for politicians instead of those that would best serve the fund's original reclamation purpose. After revealing these problems and putting them in the context of the public choice literature, we suggest updates to the current policy that would align reclamation incentives and better ensure that the reclamation of surface mines occurs. We emphasize the cooperative elements of SMCRA and suggest how other countries, especially those without major existing frameworks for handling reclamation, can emulate the successes of SMCRA while avoiding its implementations snags. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bolivia is historically a mining country where multiple visions concerning the natural resources have emerged, from their plundering by foreign nations to the Eldorado dream of a development of the country on its mining base. The coming to power in 2005 of the first Native American president of the country, Evo Morales, was to endow Bolivia with a new national sovereignty on these resources. This project fits into the "Buen Vivir" vision, which is supposed to allow Bolivia to go beyond the model of capitalist development and propose a new model, more respectful of nature. In spite of these objectives, the Morales government remains dependent on the exploitation of natural resources, which allow financing of its social policies. It hasn’t succeeded either in transcending conflicts between social organizations for the control of the mining fields. While describing the mining sector as "strategic" for the development of the country, the Morales government designs its mining policy more in answer to pressures from these various organizations than in the national interest, as shown by the Mining Act passed in 2014. I will provide an analysis of the contradictions of this policy, based on the study of the various modes of mining governance in competition for the control of the resources and the political response brought out by the Morales government.