Sustainable Development and

Mineral Resources – an
introduction

Deborah Shields
USDA Forest Service
Research and Development
 Human societies exist within and are
dependent upon services provided by the
earth’s physical, chemical and biological
systems. Current anthropogenic impacts
are endangering our environmental
and socio-economic systems.
Why Sustainability?
 Sustainability has
characteristics that make it
attractive for problem
analysis.
 It is based on a comprehensive
and inclusive, i.e., post-modern,
view of systems as open,
dynamic, and integrated.
 Sustainability is not science,
though it uses science. Rather, it
is a value-based, ethical precept.
 The overarching goals of
sustainability, i.e., economic
prosperity, environmental health and
social equity, are simple and flexible
enough to allow for multiple
interpretations and are applicable in
a variety of circumstances.
 There are many definitions of
Sustainable Development because
there is disagreement about how to
balance the three goals.
Is Sustainable Development
applicable to mineral
resources?
 YES!
The principles of sustainable
development can be applied to
energy and mineral resources.
 Mineral resources are
extracted because their sale
generates wealth and their use
provides a stream of benefits.
Mineral resources provide the
material basis for a developed
society.
However, mineral extraction,
processing, use, and disposal
can entail environmental and
social costs.
 Sustainability offers a
framework within which we
can describe our complex, and
sometimes conflicting, social,
economic, and environmental
goals.
 ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS
• The location of mineral resource deposits is a result
of earth processes.

• Extraction and processing change the form of

mineral resources, and also generate wastes;

• Processes such as recycling and conservation can

never be totally effective;

• Some minerals are toxic at certain concentrations

and in certain chemical forms.
 ECONOMIC ASPECTS
• Countries or regions can become dependent upon
extractive industries in ways that limit economic
diversity, development and expansion;

• Mineral prices are cyclic leading to industry booms

and busts;

• The mineral industry generates jobs, income and

foreign exchange earnings that can be invested in
other forms of natural, human, human built, and
social capital.
 SOCIAL ASPECTS
• In-migration resulting from mineral development can alter
the demographics of an area, which in turn can lead to
pressures on local cultures and indigenous populations;

• Mine closure can lead to out-migration that destabilizes

communities and reduces the funds available for government
services;

• Consumption patterns and social preferences affect the rate of

mineral development, use and disposal.

• Social equity necessitates that intra- and inter-generation

costs and benefits be fairly balanced.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
MINERALS
Mineral resources are:
- durable,
- recyclable, and
- heterogeneous.

As a result, the environmental, economic and

social costs and benefits stemming from
mineral development and use are not all
consumed by the current generation.
 EQUITY

Inter-generational equity
Future generations should have available to them the
amounts and types of mineral resources necessary to
meet their needs and wants.

Intra-generational equity
The benefits and costs of the development and use of
mineral resources should be shared fairly across
regions of the world and segments of societies.
 Thus, the goal of sustainability as
applied to minerals is not to sustain
individual deposits. It is to sustain
the flow of services and benefits
provided by minerals to current
and future generations, in a manner
such that the net contribution is
positive.
But of course it is not so simple
as that-

What should we sustain?

For whom?
How?
When?
The answer to those questions
depends upon one’s values and
perspective.
 WEAK vs. STRONG
SUSTAINABILITY:
opposing perspectives

Weak Sustainability preserves total capital, but not necessarily

each of the four kinds of capital, i.e., the different types of
capital are viewed as substitutable for one another, at least to
some degree.

Strong Sustainability requires that each type of capital be

preserved independently, i.e., the different types of capital can
complement, but not substitute one another.
The capital-based approach to
sustainability acknowledges
the existence of complex
relations and the need for
trade offs.
 Types of capital:

• Natural Capital: Traditional natural resources, including

minerals and natural assets that are not traded in markets.
• Physical Capital: Physical, produced assets that are
assigned monetary value and traded in markets.
• Human Capital: The health, well-being, and productive
potential of individuals.
• Social Capital: The status, functioning, and resilience of
social institutions.
 A capital-based definition of
Sustainability:

a condition in which society maintains the net

amount of natural, physical, human, and social
capital, and transforms capital so as to yield constant
or increasing opportunities for satisfying human needs
and wants generation after generation.
 This morning’s speakers will
share with information on recent
and ongoing efforts to apply
sustainability concepts to
minerals at a variety of scales.