Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal最新文献

While vital for the development of ‘clean’ energy technologies, the extraction and processing of critical minerals and rare earth elements entail a range of overlapping social and environmental harms in local communities across the world. The transition to low-carbon economies invokes a host of multiscalar dilemmas, injustices and trade-offs, notably between the global imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the local consequences of mineral mining. There are profound barriers to delivering a just energy transition at a planetary scale given the reliance of green technologies upon socio-environmentally harmful extractive practices across critical mineral supply chains. Adopting an interdisciplinary lens and drawing from a set of international case studies, we critically examine the intersection of critical minerals with just transition governance and explore possibilities for more plural, holistic and integrated just energy transition pathways. In this introduction article, we detail the ways in which the production of low-carbon technologies is bound up with global inequalities and ongoing coloniality. We then demonstrate the importance of adopting a global, inclusive outlook on just energy transitions. Drawing from the concept of planetary just transition, we provide an overview of the key debates around the role of critical minerals in a just energy transition.

This research evaluated the impact of applying financial resources from mining exploitation (known as CFEM) on socio-environmental indicators in Parauapebas municipality, eastern Amazon. This study applies synthetic control methodology to establish a counterfactual for Parauapebas by weighting data from municipalities that did not experience the same impact due to the absence of mineral resources. We created synthetic indicators for before and after 1991, the initial year in which these royalties were received. Parauapebas municipality achieved a higher level of socio-environmental well-being with mining royalties than those without this activity. The rates (highest impact since 2000) for the population served with water were 3 %; sanitary sewage: 7 %; and waste collection: 3 %. Thus, resources allocation considers territory demands and expectations for the maintenance of municipality development. This research has important implications: it may guide the actions of various actors operating locally and support government development planning.

The extractive industries play a pivotal role in Nigeria's economy, yet it has been riddled with allegations of corrupt practices involving revenue transfers from operations to the government. To increase transparency and ensure public engagement, the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) introduced the National Stakeholder Working Group (NSWG) as a mechanism to ensure public accountability and civil society organisations (CSOs) as the public interlocuter. To navigate this complex arrangement and critically evaluate its effectiveness, we adopt Boven's (2007) understanding of public accountability. We conclude that while NSWG provides oversight, the NEITI reporting process provides transparency, and the CSOs enable public accountability, these objectives are constrained by a challenging social and regulatory environment.

Transparency in the extractive industries has become one approach to mitigate resource-related problems. However, many transparency policies have failed to consider the local contexts where extraction activities occur and conditions that affect local citizens, limiting policies’ societal and governance impacts on the ground. Using the case of resource revenue redistribution implemented in the oil-rich Pelalawan District, Indonesia, we assess what elements exist in places of extraction that may shape citizens’ ways of making sense of oil revenue management and implications for the design and implementation of transparency-related policy for accountable natural resources revenue management. Drawing on the conception of place, we found that social identities and elements of location, locale, and sense of place characterize citizens’ views of oil extraction and local revenue management. In our case, living in closer distance to extraction sites does not determine citizens’ views and informational needs concerning the extractive industries and revenue management. We suggest that unfolding transparency's transformative process requires understanding the physical and non-physical elements of a place (of extraction). Further, by focusing on extractive industries’ influences on the spatial configurations of citizens’ everyday lives, the development of transparency policy can promote relevant and tangible societal and governance impacts on the ground.

This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the policies and modes of governance driving the acceleration of construction mineral extraction rates in Mexico, through a case study of a controversial development project that resulted in hundreds of thousands of tons of unused concrete: El Zapotillo Dam in the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. It analyzes the types and volumes of materials extracted for the construction of El Zapotillo Dam and for the housing infrastructure meant for displaced families, the subjects involved in the extraction and transformation of these materials, and the socio-environmental impacts. Information was obtained through Mexico's National Transparency Platform and by reviewing environmental impact assessments, academic texts on the conflict around the dam, newspaper sources and data available on the Internet. Primary sources include the application of interviews and direct observation during a series of visits to the affected territories and the dam site between August 2022 and June 2024. In accordance with extractive tendencies on the national and global levels, the findings of this research illustrate how – even in the case of a high-profile development project – poor regulation can combine with the emergence of hybrid forms of governance to expand the extractive frontier.

This research aims to uncover tensions and contradictions between justice claims within the context of low-carbon transitions and the growing demand for critical minerals. By exploring the contested Mining Act reform in Finland, the study sheds light on the multidimensional and multiscalar complexities of justice claims made by various stakeholders. Based on qualitative content analysis of document and interview data, the findings highlight that stakeholders mobilize justice claims on micro, meso, and macro scales, emphasizing diverse normative dimensions and creating tensions around perceived justice in transitions. These claims illustrate the multiscalar nature of mining and the justice consequences of growing critical minerals demand. The research emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach to address justice tensions and contributes to understanding conflicts around critical minerals mining through a systematic analysis of justice claims. Beyond empirical insights, the study raises critical questions about the role of conflicts and the meaning of justice in low-carbon transitions.

Lithium-ion batteries are essential for Europe's renewable energy transition. By 2030, the EU will need 18 times more lithium, and by 2050, 60 times more. For that reason, Europe aims to increase domestic sourcing and achieve nearly full self-sufficiency by 2030. However, lithium mining has a high environmental footprint and can have severe social impacts. This research examines the socio-environmental implications of lithium mining for the EU energy transition and identifies leverage points that alleviate tension between justice and security. The Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political framework was used to systematically gather insights from experts representing various stakeholders on these issues. Subsequently, these insights were compiled into a fuzzy-cognitive map, creating a system-based overview and allow construction and comparison of four scenarios examining the future of lithium and its impacts on the environment and local communities in Europe. This reveals the importance of good governance to avoid issues of corruption and geopolitical tensions with a potential adverse impact on society and environment. However, governance alone is insufficient to mitigate negative impacts. A circular economy, where lithium is recovered from used batteries, is most favorable, reducing the demand for new material and the negative impacts of mining. This holistic overview stresses the need for increased government involvement, stakeholder alignment, and dealing with corruption as vital aspects in mitigating the negative socio-environmental impacts of lithium mining.

This study examines the operational methods, procedures, and socio-ecological impacts of Western and Chinese crude oil extraction industries, focusing on regional variations. Due to institutional dynamics, the study reveals distinct emissions patterns among state-owned sectors in China and the Western Union region. This was achieved by employing DID regression models, using a sample of 60 crude oil mining companies. Furthermore, the data demonstrates that intensifying research and development endeavors directly correlate with pollution reduction, indicating that technological advancements could foster a greater sense of environmental consciousness. Nevertheless, larger corporations emit more pollution, substantially utilizing resources and manufacturing. Both nations prioritize the government's role in reducing negative environmental impacts caused by pollution by implementing regulatory frameworks. Additionally, they focus on achieving long-term ecological sustainability through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The paper suggests government involvement is necessary to enhance socio-ecological conditions at crude oil mining sites in Western and Chinese regions.

Scholars have examined the often ‘illegal’ status of artisanal and small-scale miners in Africa from a range of perspectives. Yet there is scope for further research on understandings of this ‘illegal’ character, which do not only include violations of the national legal framework for mining, but are also linked to broader (perceived) matters of criminality; miners themselves are also at times victims of ‘banditry’ and criminality. We apply a criminalization framework to analyse how artisanal miners are not only seen as ‘illegal’ for their non-state-sanctioned artisanal mining activities or for ‘trespassing’ on mining companies’ concessions – often overlooked or even tacitly accepted as legitimate in a range of contexts – but frequently also perceived as criminal as perpetrators of other infractions such as theft or violence. Drawing on case studies from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe, we lay out the need to unpack the conceptual blurring between artisanal mining, and ‘criminal bands’ and actors who use violence, at theoretical and empirical levels. We argue that there is a need for additional research on the scale and scope of the phenomenon of (urban) criminality and how this phenomenon relates to (but is not reducible to), and intermingles with, artisanal small-scale mining.

This study examines the effects of gas extraction operations (GEOs) on livelihood outcomes among rural communities in the Mtwara Rural District of Tanzania. This study employed a cross-sectional research methodology with a proportionately stratified sample of 260 participants. A questionnaire and interview guide were used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data during focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and household surveys. It examines net annual income in Tanzanian shillings (TAS), the monetary value of a household's assets in TAS, and food security using the Household Food Insufficiency Access Scale (HFIAS). The study revealed that nearby households (treated group) had much stronger food security than distant (control) households by 9.528 to 8.189 across near neighbor matching (NNM) and by 9.444 to 7.619 across radius caliper matching, with these differences being statistically significant at t = 2.0 and t = 2.5, respectively. The results suggest that the government should pursue measures that increase rural households' chances for off-farm jobs in order to improve their well-being.