moving into communities located near a project, creating resentments and conflicts. Noise, Vibrations, and Blasting: Local Effects. These have an impact on the stability of infrastructure, buildings, and homes of people living near mining operations. Gender. Increased gender inequality can result from unequal access to employment in mines or a loss of male support for household work. Women may need to expend increased time and energy to access clean or available supplies of water and food because of a degraded environment.30 General disadvantages for women arise from issues surrounding the ownership and possession of land, mineral rights, capital, and equipment. As one study notes, in the “relatively few instances that they have access to resources, women do not control them or the resultant benefits” (International Study Group 2011, 74). Women are also often left out of community decision-making processes. In ASM they often have unique, specific roles that can lead to health and safety risks; in the ASM production chain, “most women take part in the activities allocated to them by society (mainly men) and are barred from others because of cultural taboos.” Areas of particular vulnerability. Even when an EI sector project has support from community leadership and brings benefits to them, all too often such projects make life worse rather than better for the disadvantaged and the most vulnerable sections in the community. These can include women, youth, children, and the elderly, who might typically bear the risks of extractives activities while the benefits accrue to the more affluent and to men. However, impacts of EI sector projects on the poorest and most vulnerable are sometimes not part of the regular monitoring or reporting and all too often occur out of sight of the government, the EI sector company, financiers, and aid agencies (Ross 2001). Thus, proactive interventions are needed to gauge the impact on the poorest and most vulnerable and take corrective measures. Community leaders can make sure that representation is inclusive of the poorest (and not just an elite), and community women (not just men), have a voice in community decision making. The movement of land by excavation and people by displacement or migration to industry sites can create risks to cultural sites, either archaeological or spiritual in character. Protection of such sites can be required by means of the mining agreement and local laws, by requiring surveys prior to the commencement of any activities, and by taking protective measures.
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9.5 TOOLS: LEGAL AND REGULATORY
Governments can and do use legal tools to manage environmental and social impacts of development. From a perspective of sustainability, it is most important to use them to anticipate impacts and take action to minimize or avoid them. It is increasingly common to see social and environmental protection policies, together with related procedures, instruments, compliance standards, and assignment of responsibilities, spelled out in laws and regulations as opposed to contracts or agreements. Where this is done, the laws and regulations will typically stipulate the process by which the various data, impact assessments, and management plans will be reviewed and by whom; the process by which any needed corrections and improvements will be made; and the process and criteria for approvals to be given and by whom. The array of legal and regulatory instruments that governments typically have at their disposal to manage impacts and ensure compliance with policy on extractives is wide. When determining whether a project will facilitate longterm sustainable development or not, the following four tools have particular importance. Environmental and social impact assessments
Environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs) have become standard preproject planning tools to assist in anticipating impacts, proposing actions for their management and mitigation, and for monitoring compliance. They are routinely required by project sponsors (for example, the majority of governments, the Equator Banks, and the IFC) per domestic legislation and/or contract. However, they are often also tied in to programs of corporate social responsibility. This would make them voluntary, whereas many countries have them as a legal requirement. Their findings can shape or even prevent a project from going ahead. The primary intention of the ESIA is to analyze shortterm and long-term impacts and risks, including (1) direct impacts (the project site and neighboring communities, infrastructure such as ports, pipelines, pumping stations, roads and railways, as well as all plant, equipment, landfills, and other facilities at the site); (2) indirect impacts; (3) cumulative impacts; (4) transboundary impacts; (such as from air emissions); and (5) global impacts (such as from GHG emissions). These impacts are identified through all stages of the planned EI sector project (predevelopment, development, production, abandonment, or closure and postclosure). Alternative ways of carrying out the project would typically be included.
