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Environmental Liability in the Mining Sector: Prospects for Sustainable Development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Mining, Society, and a Sustainable World

Abstract

The return of international financial institutions to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), after many years of dictatorship and war, occurred in 2001. Since 2002, the transition government, in collaboration with financial backers, has implemented a series of large-scale reforms, beginning with the adoption of a new Mining Law, conceived to encourage foreign direct investment in the country. During this process, the mining sector has experienced a new cycle of growth, and the spectre has arisen of substantial environmental liabilities with consequences for the entire country. This chapter raises the question of environmental challenges for the country in terms of sustainable development. This leads to the thorny issue of who is responsible for solving this problem: the state, private companies, and/or international financial institutions? These issues are approached using the results of an environmental audit of Gécamines (a state-owned mining company) financed by the World Bank Trust Fund, and conducted by Canadian consultant group SNC-Lavalin. The audit was submitted to the Bank and government of the DRC for review in April 2003, and was made public in 2004.

While protecting the environment is expensive, the cost of doing nothing will be much more expensive. (Annan 2002)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This chapter contains numerous abbreviations, particularly those of the plethora of agencies in the DRC involved in the mining sector. To help the reader, all abbreviations are listed in an Annex at the end of the article. In the case of the DRC, I present the function in English in the text, followed, when appropriate, by the abbreviation (in French). The full French titles are provided alphabetically (by the abbreviations) in the Annex. I have also chosen, for reasons of transparency, to indicate each time that a quotation is translated into English (“our translation”) even if this is frequently obvious to the reader.

  2. 2.

    http://www.undp.org/mdg/goal7.shtml

  3. 3.

    In October 2002, a small number of banks convened in London, together with the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation (IFC), to discuss these issues. The banks present decided jointly to try and develop a banking industry framework for addressing environmental and social risks in project financing. This resulted in the Equator Principles (http://www.equator-principles.com), which were announced in Washington, DC, on June 4, 2003.

  4. 4.

    I use the term artisanal mining and small-scale mining interchangeably throughout this text. Artisanal miners include men, women, and children, working in a variety of roles such as “creuseurs” (diggers), screeners, store-keepers, dealers, transporters, traffickers, intermediaries, and guards. In the Mining Code, the legislature has preferred the term artisanal miners, which is less pejorative than diggers. Section 1, point 21: Artisanal Exploitation, reads: “Any activity by means of which a person of Congolese nationality carries out extraction and concentration of mineral substances using artisanal tools, methods and processes, within an artisanal exploitation area limited in terms of surface area and depth up to a maximum of thirty metres.” Point 22: Small-scale mining exploitation, reads: “Any activity by means of which a person carries out permanent small-scale exploitation, requiring a minimum amount of fixed installations, by using semi-industrial or industrial processes, after a deposit has been found.”

  5. 5.

    “The sources of growth more inclusive in the short term are mining, agriculture and energy. To enjoy these sectors one needs to develop infrastructure, and donors can also play an important and catalytic role in these sectors”. Final press statement by the director general of the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Kinshasa—July 25, 2008 (author’s translation): http://www.forumrdc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=399&Itemid=2

  6. 6.

    A major study, entitled “The study of the impacts of mining operations on biodiversity” was conducted between 1999 and 2003, mandated by the Ministry Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism. The final report is not currently available.

  7. 7.

    Mining Code, Protection of the Environment, articles 202–218.

  8. 8.

    There is a project for framework legislation on the environment, dated July 2000, which has been updated in 2008, but this has not been adopted by the Congolese parliament. This bill has been heavily criticized within the Mining Ministry, which objects to the failure to take account of existing sectoral legislation.

  9. 9.

    The Ministry of Environment and Conservation of Nature is involved in the preservation and rehabilitation of mining sites. It works with the Ministry of Mines through the Standing Committee Evaluation (CPE) in the protection and rehabilitation of sites affected by mining and quarrying.

  10. 10.

    Provisions for inspections and monitoring are set out in Article 15a of the Mining Code, and articles 444–449 of the Mining Regulations.

  11. 11.

    Mining code, articles 64–85.

  12. 12.

    Article 408 in Mining Regulations.

  13. 13.

    Article 112 of the Mining Code, and Annex V in the Mining Regulations, article 416 for Saesscams’ mandates.

  14. 14.

    Articles 445 and 458 in the Mining Regulations.

  15. 15.

    For more details see article 459 and 461 of the Mining Regulations. For example, in article 459 of the Mining Regulations: “Every two years from the date of approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment of the original draft, the holder of a mining or quarrying is required to implement at its own expense an audit by an approved office of environmental study other than that which prepared the Environmental Impact Assessment of the project or the Environmental Management Plan Project”.

  16. 16.

    Articles 447 and 461 in the Mining Regulations.

  17. 17.

    Article 258, Provision for site rehabilitation, in the Mining Code, and 472 in the Mining Regulations.

  18. 18.

    Article 258 in the Mining Code.

  19. 19.

    Article 294 in the Mining Code.

  20. 20.

    Article 417 in the Mining Regulations.

  21. 21.

    Article 566 in the Mining Regulations.

  22. 22.

    Article 12 in the Mining Regulations.

  23. 23.

    Previously known as the Inter-ministerial Committee for Small Scale Mining (CISSCAM), set up in November 1999.

  24. 24.

    In 2008, the Mining Ministry created 42 specific artisanal areas in the main mining provinces.

  25. 25.

    Here I draw no distinction between the Mitigation and Rehabilitation Plan (MRP), the Environmental Impact Study (EIS), Environmental Recommendations of the Environmental Adjustment Plan (PAE), and Environmental Management Plan of the Project (EMPP).

  26. 26.

    In 2006 and 2008, the World Bank provided a certain amount of training in environmental expertise. The training was described to us by Mining Ministry officials as significant but insufficient, too theoretical, and, in the end, poorly adapted to the government employees’ training needs.

  27. 27.

    In mining camps, children are often affected by malaria and diarrhea, which can be killer diseases if left untreated.

  28. 28.

    At the time of writing, no final version of the report was available.

  29. 29.

    An externality exists when one agent’s action influences the well-being of another agent, without mediation by the logic of the market-place.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by CIRAD, the French Agricultural Research Centre working for International Development. It forms part of a PhD in sociology, supervised by Dr. B. Campbell at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Also, the author would like to thank Christian Lukusa Kantumunda, freelance attorney, for his pertinent review of the legal aspects of this chapter, and Chedly Boussetta for help with the layout.

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  1. Groupe de Recherche sur les Activités minières en Afrique (GRAMA), Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), H3C 3P8, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Marie Mazalto

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  1. Dept. Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Earth Sciences Bldg. 1-26, Edmonton, T6G 2E3, Canada

    Jeremy Richards

Annex: Abbreviations Used in this Chapter

Annex: Abbreviations Used in this Chapter

  • CAMI: Cadastre minier: Mining Registry

  • CPEM: Comité permanent d’évaluation environnemental: Standing Committee for Environmental Evaluation

  • CTCPM: Cellulle Technique de coordination et de planification minière: Technical Unit for Coordinating Mining Planning

  • DPEM: Direction de protection de l’environnement minier: Directorate for the Protection of the Mining Environment

  • DSRP: Documents de la Stratégie de la Réduction de la Pauvreté: Strategy for Poverty Reduction Documents

  • EC: European Commission

  • EIS: Environmental Impact Study: Etudes d’impacts environnementaux

  • EMPP: Environmental Management Plan of the Project: Plan de Gestion Environnementale de Projet (PGEP)

  • EPE: Engagement de protection environnemental: Commitment to Environmental Protection

  • FDIs: Foreign Direct Investments

  • FEL: Fonderie Electrique de Lubumbashi: Lubumbashi Electrical Smelter

  • Gécamines: Générale des Carrières et des Mines

  • HDI: Human Development Indicator

  • IBRD: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

  • IFIs: International Financial Institutions

  • LBG: Ligue pour la Bonne Gouvernance: Good Governance League

  • MIBA: Société Minière de Bakwanga

  • MRP: Mitigation and Rehabilitation Plan: Plan d’Atténuation et de Réhabilitation (PAR)

  • NDS: Nouvelle Dynamique Sociale: Union for a New Social Dynamic

  • OECD: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

  • PAE: Plan d’ajustement environnemental: Environmental Adjustment Plan

  • PAR: Plan d’atténuation et de rehabilitation: Attenuation and Rehabilitation Plan

  • PNKB: Parc national de Kahuzi-Biega: Kahuzi-Biega National Park

  • PMURR: Programme Multisectoriel d’Urgence pour la Reconstruction et la Réhabilitation: Emergency Multisectorial Programme for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation

  • PNAE: Plan National d'Action Environnemental: National Plan for Environmental Action

  • SAESSCAM: Service d’assistance et d’encadrement du Small Scale Mining: Service for Assistance and Framework for Small-Scale Mining

  • SGE: Système de gestion de l’environnement: Environmental Management System

  • UNDP: United Nations Development Programme

  • UNEP: United Nations Environment Programme

  • WBG-IFC: World Bank Group–International Finance Corporation

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Mazalto, M. (2009). Environmental Liability in the Mining Sector: Prospects for Sustainable Development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In: Richards, J. (eds) Mining, Society, and a Sustainable World. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01103-0_11

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