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Summary Sand, gravel, and crushed stone are the most mined materials on Earth. Aggregates constitute the foundation for modern civilization and are essential for providing shelter, infrastructure, and communication, but are an increasingly scarce resource. Here, we review the interconnections between the impacts of aggregate mining and the services they provide. We show that the conflicting impacts on the environment and humankind disrupt the net positive effects of aggregate mining on sustainable development. Focusing on low- and middle-income countries, we link these interconnections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and identify critical obstacles to a sustainable future for global aggregate resources. Our assessment identifies an urgent need to improve knowledge on: (1) direct and indirect impacts of extraction on human health, (2) system-level impacts on ecosystems and the services they provide, and (3) how to meet the projected trajectories of global aggregate demand.

Artisanal and small-scale mining and quarrying (ASM) contributes significantly to livelihoods, with a huge and undeniable impact on poverty reduction and economic development at all scales. The sector is also known for persistent challenges related to the environment, OHS, labour, migration and conflict. In view of the progress, challenges, and still yet to be realised opportunities, delegates from 72 nations assembled in Livingstone, Zambia, 11–13 September 2018, for the International Conference on Artisanal and Small-scale Mining and Quarrying. This report summarises the proceedings, placing them in historical context. The report includes the full text of the Mosi-Oa-Tunya Declaration on Artisanal and Small-scale Mining, Quarrying and Development. A theme that permeated the sessions was the necessity for miners to be at the heart of any efforts to transform ASM. All stakeholders should recognise the initiative and leadership demonstrated by miners and their representatives; listen to their issues, concerns and suggestions; seek to understand on the ground realities; eliminate language, discourse and behaviour that worsens the stigma associated with ASM; and empower miners to chart their own vision of development. Only with the involvement of miners in governance will the sustainable development challenges associated with ASM be effectively resolved.

The global discourse on mining and development suffers from a fundamental distortion. Mining, is almost ubiquitously framed as the international trade of metals, energy minerals and precious gemstones, neglecting the industrial minerals and construction materials that are most important for local and domestic development and that dominate global mineral production. In this paper I argue for a rethink in the role of minerals in global development and ask whether the development community has been overlooking key commodities, issues, actors and development pathways. The paper also serves as an introduction to a special issue on Development Minerals, i.e. minerals and materials that are mined, processed, manufactured and used domestically in industries such as construction, manufacturing, infrastructure and agriculture. The special issue interrogates the relationship between minerals, development, livelihoods and poverty reduction with papers covering issues of industrialization, urbanization and agriculture and the role of minerals in the structural transformation of developing countries. The paper ends with a call to action for greater prioritization of Development Minerals and the circumstances of their production as a topic of policy making and development programming.

Tailings facility failures represent a significant risk to the environment and communities globally, but until now little data was available on the global distribution of risks and characteristics of facilities to ensure proper governance. We conducted a survey and compiled a database with information on tailings facilities disclosed by extractive companies at the request of institutional investors. Despite limitations in the data, this information disclosure request represents the most comprehensive survey of tailings facilities ever undertaken. The compiled dataset includes 1743 tailings facilities and provides insights into a range of topics including construction method, stability, consequence of failure, stored volume, and the rate of uptake of alternative technologies to dewater tailings and reduce geotechnical risk. Our analysis reveals that 10 per cent of tailings facilities reported notable stability concerns or failure to be confirmed or certified as stable at some point in their history, with distinct trends according to construction method, governance, age, height, volume and seismic hazard. Controversy has surrounded the safety of tailings facilities, most notably upstream facilities, for many years but in the absence of definitive empirical data differentiating the risks of different facility types, upstream facilities have continued to be used widely by the industry and a consensus has emerged that upstream facilities can theoretically be built safely under the right circumstances. Our findings reveal that in practice active upstream facilities report a higher incidence of stability issues (18.3%) than other facility types, and that this elevated risk persists even when these facilities are built in high governance settings. In-pit/natural landform and dry-stack facilities report lower incidence of stability issues, though the rate of stability issues is significant by engineering standards (> 2 per cent) across all construction methods, highlighting the universal importance of careful facility management and governance. The insights reported here can assist the global governance of tailings facility stability risks.

This important Handbook is an essential guide to the state-of-the-art concepts, debates and innovative practices in the field of cumulative impact assessment. It helps to strengthen the foundations of this challenging field, identify key issues demanding solutions and summarize recent trends in forward progress, particularly through the use of illustrative case examples.Taking an international and transdisciplinary approach, this Handbook provides readers with frameworks and methodologies currently in use by leading academics, consultants and many others involved in cumulative impact assessment and management. This wide-ranging body of work demonstrates increased application of relevant, cross-disciplinary science to cumulative impact assessment problems, as well as a continued commitment to bridge the theory and practice gap for more effective and efficient assessments. Chapters also address contemporary and often controversial issues across a variety of sectors including agriculture, energy, watershed management, regional land use planning, and transport.This cutting-edge Handbook will be of great interest to academics and students who wish to further develop their understanding of key concepts within the field. It will also be beneficial to practitioners, industry, government officials and the many organizations involved in cumulative impact assessment processes.

A combined approach of weathering geochronology, regolith mapping and regolith geochemistry has been applied to unravel the surficial history of the Eastern Australian passive margin. Investigation of 18 weathering profiles, in excess of 100 40 Ar/39 Ar radiogenic dating analyses, two regolith mapping studies, and more than 2500 electron microprobe analyses of supergene (weathering-produced) minerals formed the basis of a comprehensive regional study of the weathering history in southeast Queensland. The spatial distribution and ages of weathering profiles in southeast Queensland shows a strong geomorphological control: deep weathering cover is preserved on the western plateau and the coastal plain, and relatively shallow profiles are present in the regions of active scarp retreat. Weathering profiles analysed on the western side of the Great Escarpment preserve a longer weathering history, spanning from the Middle Miocene to the present. Calculated average erosion rates for this region are in the order of ~1.3 to 1.9 m.Ma-1 for the Late Miocene-present. This is in contrast to weathering profiles on the coastal plain that record a much younger weathering history and higher erosion rates (~4.9 m.Ma-1 for the Pliocene- present). The erosional history proposed for the southeast Queensland margin in this study is consistent with the erosional history obtained for other passive margins based on apatite fission track and cosmogenic isotope studies. The supergene Mn-oxide precipitation record also correlates well with major palaeoclimatic events identified from the sedimentology, palynology and oxygen isotope records for oceanic sediments. Time periods characterised by higher erosion and more arid conditions correspond to an absence of supergene mineral precipitation ages. Conversely, periods identified as reflecting warm/humid conditions are consistent with strong pulses of supergene mineral precipitation. The results support the notion of an episodic distribution of weathering ages and. suggest that supergene mineral precipitation responds to climatic controls. This correlation also suggests that weathering geochronology may provide a numerical and independent method for the study of continental palaeoclimates. Used in tandem with the record preserved in sedimentary basins, weathering geochronology provides necessary direct constraints on continental weathering and landscape evolution.

The quest for mining activities to deliver an enhanced positive impact on the host economy continues to dominate the debate on the pros and cons of mining investments in resource-rich developing countries. Following years of focusing on fiscal policies as the means for achieving positive impact, local content policies (LCPs) have resurfaced as another paradigm to enable linkage of the mining sector with the host economy. Synthesising the literature, this paper critically analyses whether the current conceptualisation of building linkages by deploying LCPs is effective in leveraging mining for the transformation of the host economy. Picking up on earlier critiques of local content policies, it argues that such conceptualisation falls short, because it focuses too narrowly on building mining supply chains as an end-goal rather than a pathway for achieving a transformed economy that delivers a broad-based and inclusive socio-economic development. Narrowly defined LCPs remain, in effect, mining centric creating a local economic system that is tailored to suit and become dependent on the mining industry. In consequence, the linked upstream supply chain industry remains exposed to volatility and short-term gains, undermining economic transformation. Identifying gaps in research, theorisation, and implementation, this paper offers observations and insights for rethinking theoretical approaches to linkage building, and it underlines the need for future research to develop an alternative theory for conceptualising linkages between mining and other economic sectors.

Purpose New sustainability certification schemes (SCS) with different scope, governance structure and operating practice are fast emerging. This rapid growth and divergence in metrics has resulted in questions about the effectiveness of such schemes. Although this practice has been growing fast, to date, there are no reviews comprehensively synthesising the literature regarding SCS’ main flaws, challenges and improvement opportunities. This paper aims to identify what are the key components affecting effectiveness of SCS, highlighting their benefits, flaws and improvement opportunities. Design/methodology/approach An integrated literature review was conducted to identify and assess recent studies related to the benefits, flaws, effectiveness and improvement opportunities of SCS worldwide. Findings Key components affecting the effectiveness of SCS were identified (sustainability awareness; market access; management systems and productivity; social, environmental and economic impacts; monitoring outcomes; competition, overlapping and interoperability; stakeholder participation; and accountability and transparency). The authors argue that SCS to succeed have to be effective; provide accountability about their goals and achievements; and manage stakeholders’ expectations. Civil Society’s awareness of the scientific underpinnings of sustainability issues also contributes to the existence and improvement of such schemes. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this study are associated with the secondary material that was publicly available for our literature review. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need to explore the key components affecting effectiveness of SCS, their benefits, flaws and improvement opportunities. Such a synthesis also identifies the key areas where interoperability between SCS should be pursued by corporations and governments.

This paper synthesises findings of a recent IAIA Symposium on Resettlement and Livelihoods (South Africa, October 2014). Over 250 practitioners from 42 countries attended, representing governments, private sector, academia, impacted communities, civil society international financial institutions (IFIs) and consultants. Five ‘big’ themes emerged: (1) land access and resettlement practice falls short of community expectations, with negative impacts on livelihoods of displaced people, absence of meaningful involvement by communities in decision-making and inadequate benefits from projects. (2) The best practice standards of IFIs are converging. Countries are also increasingly putting in place legislation, but there remains significant scope to improve legislative frameworks and align them closer with international good practice. (3) Livelihood restoration is not being properly planned or implemented. Finding replacement land is increasingly difficult. Women, youth and the vulnerable need more of a voice and more livelihood support. Livelihood restoration is a long-term process and can be better integrated with broader community development efforts. (4) Projects need to start planning and engagement early and more thoroughly. (5) Resettlement practice is improving but requires more resources.

There are various definitions of social risk. For some, social risk pertains to social protection, and risk-taking is thought to enhance human welfare. For others, social risk is contrasted with empirical risk, where the perception of risk by lay members of society differs from that of experts in any given field. More recently, social risk has come to be associated with the potential future negative social impacts of corporate activities and private sector development on individuals and groups. This paper theorises the relationships between social risk and business risk in the context of private sector developments. Many business leaders continue to conflate social risk with their existing understandings of business risk, with social risk understood to be the risk to the business arising from the actions of community stakeholders. Conceiving of social risk in this way has implications for the discrete identification, prevention and mitigation of social and business risks and impacts, and has ramifications...

Societal prosperity is underpinned by access to the increasingly interdependent resources of minerals and energy. In an era of mineral resource constraints and radical transition in the energy sector, this paper reviews the extent to which a long-term view of production and use is adopted in both fields. A long-term view including the mineral-energy nexus is deemed to be necessary (although not sufficient) for managing future resource constraints and energy transitions. Alarmingly, it identifies that the future of minerals resources and production is generally considered 5-10 years ahead rather than several decades or more as for energy. Additionally, the sectors are generally studied independently, rather than with a focus on the nexus. With these findings as evidence of an unaddressed problem, the paper then focusses on the current forces for change in the minerals industry: namely community drivers regarding social licence to operate, new technologies and consumer and government drivers on responsible minerals. As discussions of sustainable development become displaced by the emerging discourse of ‘responsible’ minerals, what is adopted and discarded? Whilst responsible minerals considers chain-of-custody, it does not adopt a long-term view and overlooks the mineral-energy nexus. Using three illustrative cases at the nexus of (i) rare earths-renewables, (ii) coal-steel and (iii) uranium nuclear we extend the theoretical discussion on ‘responsible’ with a range of contemporary examples from the perspectives of producing (Australia) and consuming countries (Japan, Switzerland) and propose a research agenda for an expanded notion of responsible minerals which recognises the complexity of the mineral-energy nexus and connects it to progressing sustainable futures.

With the unprecedented rate of mining and mineral processing over the past decade, there has been an increasing level of concern worldwide about the fate of tailings and the irreversible consequences of contaminant release through dust, tailings dam seepage, dam wall failure, or direct disposal of tailings into waterways. It is likely that in the future the mining of higher tonnages of lower grade ore and the possibility of more extreme weather events associated with global climatic change, may increase the risks associated with mine tailings management. In this paper we review alternative tailings management methods that aim to improve environmental, social and economic outcomes. Three approaches in particular are highlighted: paste and thickened tailings; tailings reuse, recycling and reprocessing; and proactive management (e.g. the integration of sulphide flotation with cemented paste backfill). The aim of the present study is to scope the opportunities that could be gained by developing an integrated research framework that traces tailings properties back to the orebody. In the future models could be constructed to optimise environmental, social and economic outcomes of tailings management across the value chain through integrated orebody characterisation, mine planning, processing, disposal, re-processing, recycling and reuse.

Global climatic change is driving research and development in low emissions technologies. One such technology is the use of charcoal from biomass in steelmaking. This paper adapts social life cycle assessment methodologies to analyse the social dimensions of energy supply alternatives in steelmaking using regionalised production scenarios in Australia. Three energy supply alternatives are investigated: charcoal produced from Radiata pine plantation forestry; charcoal produced from Mallee eucalypt revegetation on agricultural land; and metallurgical coal. Impact indicators analysed include land-use, employment, workplace health & safety and a qualitative analysis of identified stakeholder issues. The research finds that biomass alternatives are significant generators of direct employment at the regional level; have concomitantly higher rates of workplace injuries and represent a significant change in land-use. Charcoal produced from Mallee biomass planted as a conservation measure on farmland, however, has the benefit of representing a shared land-use that provides an additional farm revenue stream and assists dryland salinity management. The paper finds that full substitution of coal by pine or Mallee charcoal does not provide a unique solution for optimising the social performance of the energy supply alternatives across all indicators.

In this chapter, we argue that conceiving of social risk as the risk(s) to businesses conflates social risk with the better known concept of business risk and, in so doing, potentially will have negative consequences for both businesses and host communities. Contributing, then, to a contemporary theorisation of social risk, this chapter is organised in five sections. The present section provides the context of the work, while the following section reviews the literature on risk and discretely conceptualises social risk and business risk associated with mining projects. It also addresses the processes through which impacts and risks are identified. The third section examines the relationships between risks, rights, and impacts, as well as translation mechanisms and what we term ‘mediators’ of risk. The fourth section discusses the consequences of conflating social risk with business risk, while the fifth section concludes the chapter.

This research compares corporate-sponsored community development (CD) and social legitimacy at two co-located mining operations in Chile (one private and one state owned) to explore the contribution of CD to social licence to operate. The research identifies that varied approaches to corporate-sponsored CD and its outcomes have the potential to either enhance or undermine social licence to operate, but that the relationship between the mine and community, the presence of negative environmental and social impacts, and social development associated with the core activities of the mining project are more significant factors affecting legitimacy. The research used a methodology that consisted of a review of corporate sustainability reports and corporate policies, and qualitative interviews with community leaders, local government and corporate community relations professionals (n = 38). The research found that the approaches to CD undertaken by the private and the state-owned company differed. Pre-selection o...

Australia has experienced rapid development within its resource regions, with traditional mining sectors like coal, iron-ore and natural gas expanding and new industries such as coal seam gas emerging. As a result, there is an increasing prevalence and awareness of the cumulative impacts of the extractive resource industries on the society, environment and economy of these regions. Collaborative governance is emerging as a means of addressing cumulative impacts. This article undertakes an analysis of 30 case studies of collaborative governance in the resources sector of Australia. The initiatives analysed range from those focussed on information exchange and coordination to higher degrees of collaboration that involve shared resources and shared risks. The study demonstrates that there are challenges in using collaborative approaches to tackle cumulative impacts, but that significant benefits can be realised. The study highlights the need to nurture and cultivate collaborative relationships in order to provide the foundation for long-term solutions.

It is commonly recognized that there are constraints to successful regional-scale assessment and monitoring of cumulative impacts because of challenges in the selection of coherent and measurable indicators of the effects. It has also been sensibly declared that the connections between components in a region are as important as the state of the elements themselves. These have previously been termed “linked” cumulative impacts/effects. These connections can be difficult to discern because of a complicated set of interactions and unexpected linkages. In this paper we diagnose that a significant cause of these constraints is the selection of indicators without due regard for their inter-relationships in the formulation of the indicator set. The paper examines whether the common “forms of capital”, i.e., natural (renewable and non-renewable), manufactured, social, human and financial capitals, framework is a potential organizing structure. We examine a large region in western NSW Australia where the predominant production systems are mining and grazing for production of wool, beef and lamb. Production in both is driven by consumption of a non-renewable resource, i.e., ore for mining and topsoil for grazing, the latter on the basis that loss rate estimates far exceed soil formation rates. We propose that the challenge of identifying connections of components within and between capital stores can be approached by explicitly separating stores of capital and the flows of capital between stores and between elements within stores, so-called capital fluxes. We attempt to acquire data from public sources for both capital stores and fluxes. The question of whether these data are a sufficient base for regional assessment, with particular reference to connections, is discussed. The well-described challenge of a comparative common currency for stores and fluxes is also discussed. We conclude that the data acquisition is relatively successful for stores and fluxes. A number of linked impacts are identified and discussed. The potential use of money as the common currency for stores and fluxes of capital is considered. The basic proposition is that replacement or preservation costs be used for this. We conclude that the study is sufficiently positive to consider further research in fully-coupled models of capital stores and fluxes.

The development of mineral and energy resources worldwide has placed pressure on regional environments, economies and communities. The cumulative impacts, or cumulative effects, arising from overlapping development have stretched political systems that have traditionally been geared toward the regulation and management of individual resource developments, presenting challenges for policy makers, resource developers and civil society actors. An equally challenging task has been realisation of the potential development dividends of mineral and energy resources in the areas of business development, infrastructure, human development or the management of resource revenues. This paper introduces a special issue on ‘Understanding and Managing Cumulative Impacts in Resource Regions’. The special issue interrogates the effectiveness of new and traditional policy responses, explores methods and strategies to better respond to cumulative impacts, and details practical examples of collaborative and coordinated approaches. Papers cover a range of environmental, economic and social issues, geographical regions, commodities, and conceptual approaches. This introductory paper introduces the cumulative impact issues that have manifest in resource regions, critically appraises current conceptions of cumulative impacts, and details management and policy responses to address the cumulative dimensions of impact.

Extractive resource development necessitates a direct and immediate dependence upon the environment and is particularly sensitive to climate variability and change. This article examines adaptation to climatic changes within the mining industry through a case study of extreme flooding events during 2007–2008 and 2010–2011 in Queensland, Australia. With 47 of the state's 57 coal mines impacted by the 2010–2011 floods, vast infrastructure damage, lost export earnings of more than $2 billion, and consequent impacts on surrounding socioeconomic and ecological landscapes, the case demonstrates the industry's vulnerability to climatic changes and the importance of planned adaptation for its future viability. As mineral resources are embedded within the landscape, adaptation must necessarily be in situ. The article draws lessons from the case to better inform sector-wide strategies for in situ adaptation. The findings are relevant to other industry sectors, such as tourism and forestry, where geographical reloca...

Business and human rights are often thought to be antithetical, but as societal expectations on companies have grown, it has become increasingly important for businesses to understand and act upon their legal and moral obligations to respect human rights. The authors of this paper begin by charting the evolution of the rights paradigm and its incorporation into the corporate sphere of influence. Second, the concept of human rights due diligence is examined, owing to its prominence in John Ruggie's ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ framework. Human Rights Impact Assessments, as an emerging due diligence tool, warrant further attention, theorization and critique. Finally, it is suggested that human rights due diligence could be consolidated within existing corporate risk management systems. Reframing human rights in the context of social and business risks may provide a path for companies to understand the need for human rights due diligence by linking rights considerations with business concerns.

Questions over the role of mining in the Australian economy and society have gained increasing public scrutiny in recent years. In this paper we consider whether the role of mining in Australian society has changed with the recent mining boom. The paper draws attention to four key areas. The first is the economics of mining, where a rise in commodity values has made mining more profitable. Mining now dominates Australian exports more than in previous booms. The second area is the scale of mining operations, which have grown substantially, reflecting unprecedented investment. The third area is the degree to which the effects of resource extraction extend to surrounding areas and distant urban centres through long distance commuting. Finally, we consider the centrality of the mining sector in public life: attention to mining in the media and encroachment on other land uses, and we look for evidence of changes in public acceptance of the sector. In conclusion we argue that the role of the mining sector in Australian society and economy has indeed changed. The changes in terms of trade and the scale of mining have made the resource sector so important in Australia that increased impact in public life is unavoidable.

Technological innovation in the minerals industry must be driven by the need to improve performance according to social, as well as environmental, safety, efficiency and production criteria. This paper outlines the possibilities and rationale for incorporating constructive technology assessment (CTA) into technology research and development within the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Minerals Down Under National Research Flagship (MDU). MDU represents an $80 million per year investment in transformational mineral technology. The paper reports on the development of a process called Social Licence in Design to address the future social challenges and opportunities of the technologies that may arise during implementation. Social Licence in Design utilises social research techniques to account for the perspectives and values of decision makers and likely stakeholders. Interviews with senior technologists and social scientists within MDU reveal the institutional context into which the Social Licence in Design process is to be situated and highlight key factors that may inhibit or enhance its uptake. Despite the long history of CTA the paper is the first to report on the incorporation of a CTA process to address the social implications of technology development within a mineral R&D institution.

Social impact assessment (SIA) is now conceived as being the process of managing the social issues of development. There is consensus on what ‘good’ SIA practice is – it is participatory; it supports affected peoples, proponents and regulatory agencies; it increases understanding of change and capacities to respond to change; it seeks to avoid and mitigate negative impacts and to enhance positive benefits across the life cycle of developments; and it emphasizes enhancing the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged people. We analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing SIA. We assert that the SIA community needs to revisit core concepts, such as culture, community, power, human rights, gender, justice, place, resilience and sustainable livelihoods. It is incumbent on SIA practitioners to educate proponents, regulators and colleagues about these concepts, and to embed them into practice norms. Stronger engagement with the emerging trends of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC); huma...

This paper examines the minerals industry's response to sustainable development in the area of waste disposal and argues that leadership and guidance are still needed to forge collective agreement on norms and standards of practise. To encourage further debate, the paper develops a set of sustainable development principles for the disposal of mining and mineral processing wastes, and discusses the implications for current and future practise. In practise, the principles can guide waste disposal decisions through the consideration of what risk and magnitude, in any given local context, a particular management solution poses to their application. The sustainability challenge in the management of tailings and waste rock is to dispose of material, such that it is inert or, if not, stable and contained, to minimise water and energy inputs and the surface footprint of wastes and to move toward finding alternate uses. Future trends in mining and processing may compound the challenges of waste management, as lower ore grades increase the ratio of waste produced for a given unit of resource, and emphasise the urgency and need for the industry to adopt new approaches. New technologies and innovations, such as thickened tailings, dry stacking and paste backfill, have greatly increased the waste disposal methods available to meet the future challenges to sustainable development.

The expansion and contraction of the coal mining industry in Australia has placed pressure on regional communities and environments and multiplied the extent, magnitude and profile of cumulative impacts. While some mining communities have benefited from the expansion of the coal industry through the creation of jobs and the investment in economies, the compounding impacts of multiple mining operations have stretched environmental, social, human and economic systems and rendered conventional mine-by-mine governance approaches ineffective. In this paper we draw from examples in the Bowen Basin, Hunter Valley and Gunnedah Basin to traverse the range of cumulative impacts resulting from mining activities, and detail working examples of management and assessment practices that aim to enhance positive, and avoid and mitigate negative, cumulative impacts.

The minerals industry interacts with water in many different ways that can affect the environment and communities. In the context of emerging debates about the status of access to water as a distinct human right and the mining industry’s engagement with human rights discourses, this article highlights points of disconnection between technical, scientific and engineering-based approaches to water management on the one hand and human rights perspectives on the other. We argue that greater understanding and emphasis on the intersecting nature of water and human rights is important from a sustainable development perspective. Better connections will increase the likelihood that mining companies will respect human rights, avoid or mitigate adverse social and environmental risks that occur through their interaction with water and collaboratively identify water-related development opportunities. Discursive, organisational, political and conceptual barriers of these various disconnects are considered and strategies for strengthening points of connection provided.

Interdisciplinarity is widely practised and theorised. However, relatively few studies have reflected on university‐wide attempts to foster the concept. This article examines interdisciplinary teaching and learning at Griffith University, Australia. It reflects on the foundations of interdisciplinarity at the university and situates them within the broader context of innovations in worldwide practice; it draws from the literature on interdisciplinarity to traverse the broad understandings of the term; it discusses the Griffith University innovations implemented in support of the concept; and, it reports on the likely outcomes of current methods designed to improve interdisciplinary practice. Whilst challenging barriers to interdisciplinarity continue to exist, compounded by varied conceptions of what interdisciplinarity entails, positive learning and research outcomes have been accomplished at the university from its interdisciplinary foundations, which also provide a platform to go forward.

Introduction Since the nineteenth century gold rushes, mining has been significant in the development of population centres in regional Australia. Given this preFederation prominence and the extensive powers and responsibilities that lie with the states in Australia’s federal system, it is not surprising that most policies directly related to the extraction of minerals and on-shore oil and gas sit with state governments that have sovereignty over these resources. Nevertheless, the Federal Government can intervene in situations involving foreign affairs and trade; international agreements and conventions; Federal Government territory, properties and activities; taxation, financial management and redistribution; as well as cooperation between states and territories (Buhrs and Aplin 1999). Some Federal Government policies and legislation directly influence the resources industry which, in turn, impacts on regional areas. Such legislation includes the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC), Native Title Act 1993, and recently the Mineral Resource Rent Tax Act 2012 (MRRT). In addition, the Federal Government’s economic imperatives and responsibilities for national prosperity and development mean that general regional policy and socio-economic development programmes are relevant to mining-affected regions. Given these potential contradictions about responsibilities, there has been flux and at times confusion over the roles of various levels of government – and, indeed, other sectors – and the policy context for mining involves a complex interplay of factors at multiple levels. This chapter provides a background to the scale and significance of extractive industries in Australia’s regions and details some direct mining-related initiatives of the Federal Government. Primarily it profiles recent policy innovations that illustrate the indirect ways the Federal Government has influenced development in on-shore mining regions within the legal and administrative framework of a federation. Federal involvement is important to ensure that Australia’s mineral and energy resources are utilised to maximum advantage in the national interest and that possible negative ramifications for regional communities associated with resource developments are addressed. The chapter finishes by suggesting some priority policy areas in this respect.

Sustainability science has grown as a field of inquiry, but has said little about the role of large-scale private sector actors in socio-ecological systems change. However, the shaping of global trends and transitions depends greatly on the private sector and its development impact. Market-based and command-and-control policy instruments have, along with corporate citizenship, been the predominant means for bringing sustainable development priorities into private sector decision-making. This research identifies conflict as a further means through which environmental and social risks are translated into business costs and decision making. Through in-depth interviews with finance, legal, and sustainability professionals in the extractive industries, and empirical case analysis of 50 projects worldwide, this research reports on the financial value at stake when conflict erupts with local communities. Over the past decade, high commodity prices have fueled the expansion of mining and hydrocarbon extraction. These developments profoundly transform environments, communities, and economies, and frequently generate social conflict. Our analysis shows that mining and hydrocarbon companies fail to factor in the full scale of the costs of conflict. For example, as a result of conflict, a major, world-class mining project with capital expenditure of between US$3 and US$5 billion was reported to suffer roughly US$20 million per week of delayed production in net present value terms. Clear analysis of the costs of conflict provides sustainability professionals with a strengthened basis to influence corporate decision making, particularly when linked to corporate values. Perverse outcomes of overemphasizing a cost analysis are also discussed.

This chapter provides guidance for practitioners on assessment and management strategies to enhance positive, and avoid and mitigate adverse, cumulative social impacts. We define cumulative impacts as the successive, incremental and combined impacts of one or more activities on society, the economy or the environment (Moran et al., 2007; Brereton et al., 2008). Cumulative impacts are also commonly referred to as cumulative effects. Cumulative impacts can be very important to communities, economies and environments because it is the accumulation of impacts that they actually experience (Kennett, 1999). While cumulative impacts can be generated from the aggregation and interactions of the impacts resulting from a single intervention, in general the term refers to the issues of assessment and management across multiple activities and actors in the one region. Sometimes called cumulative effects assessment (Damman et al., 1995; Hegmann et al., 1999), cumulative impact assessments are rarely done, and when they are done they tend to focus on biophysical impacts rather than social impacts. Social impact assessment (SIA) too has probably not given sufficient attention to cumulative impacts (Lockie et al., 2008; Canter and Ross, 2010). [Introduction extract]