Alloyed waterscapes: mining and water at the nexus of corporate social responsibility, resource nationalism, and small‐scale mining

Abstract

This article reviews the relationship between mining and water governance with an emphasis on Latin America. Focusing on the last decade, it identifies three major shifts in global mineral relations: (1) changes to corporation–community relations, most noticeable in corporate social responsibility projects; (2) changes to state–society relations, where there has been a simultaneous strengthening of international support for community rights and a reassertion of the nation‐state through so‐called ‘resource nationalism’; and (3) challenges to the notion of ‘community,’ which must now stretch to encompass small‐scale and artisanal miners. While examining each of these thematic shifts, the paper draws out the relationship between mining and water, suggesting that attention to the ‘alloyed waterscape’ of global mining would provide a compelling conceptual lens through which to explore dynamics that transcend scales and institutional divides. WIREs Water 2017, 4:e1175. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1175 This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Water Governance Science of Water > Water Quality

Resource nationalism

“…While Bolivia, like most Latin American countries, has experienced dramatic swings in recent decades between political right and left, the governments’ reliance on extractive industries for both economic development and political legitimacy has remained constant (Andreucci, 2017; Schilling-Vacaflor, 2017). As was the case with his neoliberal predecessor, socialist President Evo Morales has promoted the mining industry as crucial to national development, sovereignty and identity, while attacking indigenous and environmentalist opponents of mining with similar vitriol (Marston, 2017). Reverence for the mining industry is widespread and popularly expressed.…”

Nexus approaches to global sustainable development

“…Food-energy-water nexus 32 Water-food-energy-climate nexus 128 Food-energy nexus 129 Food-water nexus 130 Energy-water nexus 131 Energy-economic growth-CO2 nexus 132 Water-land-energy nexus Energy-water-food-education nexus 133 Water-energy-people nexus 134 Women-water nexus 135 Energy-poverty-climate nexus 136 Food, energy, water, and health nexus 137 Tourism growth-water security nexus 138 Food-biodiversity nexus 139 Mining-water nexus 140 Nexus between financial autonomy, service provision, stakeholder participation and the resultant allocation of water 141 Nexus of climate change, water and food security, energy and social justice 142 Nexus between water service provision and property development 143 Renewable energy consumption-economic growth nexus 144 Urban-water-energy-climate nexus 145 Evaluates "the inputs, outputs and potential environmental impacts of a product, process or system throughout its entire life" nature interactions within a coupled human and natural system, pericoupling -human-nature interactions between adjacent coupled systems, and telecoupling -human-nature interactions between distant coupled systems. Each coupled system consists of two major subsystems (humans and nature) and includes a wide range of drivers such as population, economic growth, urbanization, power relations, and conflicting goals The nexus is directly or indirectly connected with all Sustainable Development Goals.…”

Neo-Extractivism and Formalization of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining—The Case of the Santurbán Moorland (Colombia)

“…According to Marston [58], ASM has increased significantly in recent decades; hence the need for regulation of mining activities by regional and local governments, in order to maximize its benefits and address the socio-environmental problems that lead to its existence [53]. However, as mentioned earlier, tax and legislative policies for the development of mining have favored the exploration and exploitation of gold by large companies, with reduced prioritization of projects for the formalization and regulation of ASM [59]; consequently, this type of mining poses various challenges in the framework of sustainable development, in the political, economic, social, and environmental spheres [37].…”