Register here.
Join the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), in association with Steptoe LLP, for Session 3 ("Managing Community Relationships and Environmental Impacts") of our four-part webinar series, Candid Reflections on Resource-Based Development.
Mining has highly localized community and environmental impacts, unfolding in relatively remote geographies and often affecting marginalized communities. Out of necessity and in response to robust public scrutiny, the mining industry has invested resources and developed experience in engaging in a profound and sophisticated way with these issues. Regardless, failure and acrimony remain common. Environmental and social impact assessments—often sponsored by the mining company itself—that under-report social and environmental risks can lead to conclusions that fail to reflect the true impacts of investments. For their part, national environmental agencies have comparatively under-resourced technical teams to review and shape environmental assessments and management plans. Moreover, the interests of local communities may not be represented by national governments. Despite decades of effort to establish best practices in both community rights and environmental protection, the cycle has been difficult to break. This panel will engage with the politics of environmental and social impacts and management plans, and consider whether new ways to approach this central challenge might alleviate persistent tensions.
Speakers:
To be announced soon
Moderators:
- Lisa Sachs, Director, CCSI
- Christophe Bondy, Partner, Steptoe LLP