On Friday, the 7th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) concluded in Nairobi, Kenya. The Assembly ended without the decisive next steps for improved oversight of the mining industry that were called for by Indigenous Peoples, civil society, and mining-impacted communities.
A proposal for global coordinated action on minerals gets watered down
Every two years, governments from around the world come to UNEA to define common goals and strategies to address the Triple Planetary Crisis: climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. This year, Colombia and Oman proposed a mineral governance resolution that would create an open-ended working group tasked with identifying possible international instruments for coordinated global action on the environmentally sound management of minerals and metals, with a goal of reducing environmental impacts.
The proposal also included a mandate for UNEP to facilitate a process to identify and develop, “global guidance for the resource recovery of mine tailings, addressing scientific, technical, economic, and environmental, social and governance dimensions.” Currently, there are no industry-wide guidelines for remining mine waste. Identifying and consolidating best practice would have been a welcome contribution to addressing the risks and channeling the opportunities presented in the billions of tons of mine waste stored at tens of thousands of sites around the world.
However, the approved resolution was a watered down agreement. It simply requests that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) convene dialogues on topics related to mineral governance, including “resource recovery from mining waste and tailings through sustainable approaches, such as circularity.” This is not the first time the UNEA has shied away from decisive action. The UNEA-6 resolution on minerals and mining also resulted in a disappointing lack of ambition.
A technical task force must be accompanied by political commitment
Concurrently, on December 10th, UNEP also announced the creation of a United Nations Task Force on Critical Energy Transition Minerals to coordinate the United Nations’ activities across all principles and actionable recommendations identified by the Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.
This Task Force could be a step forward in advancing the technical work needed to implement the Panel’s recommendations. However, it remains to be seen how meaningful it will be, and technical progress alone is not enough. It must be complemented by political commitment, which is why the final resolution passed at UNEA proved so disappointing.
Indigenous Peoples’ representatives say the Assembly failed
The UNEA ended with a strong rebuke from the Indigenous Peoples Major Group during the closing plenary. Through their representative, Indigenous Peoples criticised UNEA for de-centering and marginalizing Indigenous Peoples, their knowledge and their environmental stewardship. They asserted that UNEA-7 had failed Indigenous Peoples and that relying on the systems that created the triple planetary crisis will not solve it.
Governments must meet the moment
The results of UNEA-7 are a disappointment but not a surprise. As the world acknowledges the need to address the potentially exponential growth of the mining sector and the harms it inflicts on communities and ecosystems, spaces for international coordinate struggle to meet the moment. From COP 30 to UNEA-7, rights holders and stakeholders push to secure the bare minimum while mineral consuming governments, like the United States, undermine meaningful change. Opportunities for improved accountability and oversight still remain, through the UN system, through bilateral agreements, but governments must step to meet the moment and ensure the rights of Indigenous Peoples, protect communities and guarantee a healthy environment.
