1. Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development
Laying the Foundations for Positive Change

2. WHAT IS MMSD? A two year effort With three goals:
Develop new approaches to sustainability issues in the mineral life cycle.
Demonstrate that those approaches can be effective by making clear progress on a limited number of key issues.
Develop by consensus both an agenda for future work after the project life and the structures which will carry it forward.

3. FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Staying within the capacity of ecosystems to absorb change.
Providing an adequate standard of living for those who do not have enough.
Creating conditions in which individuals and groups can develop their potential.
Developing systems of governance which promote and sustain these goals.

4. WHY HAS THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA BECOME SO URGENT?
Globalization means that many problems are no longer simply local or national concerns.
Growing evidence that ecosystems are seriously out of balance, posing new and poorly understood risks.
The problem of poverty is inseparably linked with global ecological problems which cannot be solved unless people have a stake in the outcome and the resources to manage the problems.
Governance systems have not yet emerged for the reality of a globalized economy.
Increased awareness and expectations flowing from the new world information regime.

5. SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES WOULD EMBODY
Production consumption and living patterns consistent with ecological balance.
Dramatic reduction of the numbers of people living in poverty.
Greater opportunity to develop individual and group potential.
More open, cooperative, transparent and consensual systems of governance.

6. THE TRANSITION TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY
Will occur.
Will affect fundamentally the way we live.
Will change the conditions under which business is done.
Cannot be achieved by any one industry or sector acting alone - it is fundamentally a joint enterprise.
Could be orderly or chaotic.

7. IN A MORE SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY
People will continue to explore for, produce, process, consume, recycle, and dispose of mineral products.
The way this is done will have to be considerably different.
The mineral industries will have to promote ecosystem health.
And promote greater economic and social well being, with special attention to the problems of the poor.
And support more open cooperative, transparent and consensual forms of governance.

8. MMSD PROJECT OBJECTIVE
To identify how mining and minerals can best contribute to the global transition to sustainable development.

9. CHANGE
Requires action by many different actors (e.g. mining companies, buyers of minerals, indigenous organizations, national governments, non-governmental organizations, local government).
Therefore requires these actors to move toward a shared set of objectives.
They cannot be expected to do this absent clear and understood rules of engagement
which reduce the risks to them of participating
which offer them a chance to achieve some of their objectives
which they themselves help to develop

10. OBSTACLES
The problems are numerous, complex, diverse, and sometimes poorly understood. This makes it hard to develop a broad global agenda.
There is a serious lack of trust among many of the key actors which makes it hard to work together.
Identifying broadly agreed solutions is challenging enough but there is also a serious disagreement about mechanisms for implementing those solutions (e.g. ombudsman processes, codes of conduct, legislation, best practice guides, tax incentives, etc.)
This project will last less than two more years.

11. WHERE DO WE START?
By developing, through consensus, a set of understood rules for engagement.
By identifying a limited number of high priority projects and developing carefully structured processes around them.
By working with, rather than competing with, the many other institutions which have something to contribute.

12. WHO IS INVOLVED IN MMSD? MMSD has four sets of key actors:
The Sponsors Group
The Assurance Group
The Work Group
Regional Partner Organisations

13. THE MMSD SPONSORS GROUP
Provides project funding and resources.
Started with nine (now 31) major mining companies but will expand October 1 to include both industry and non-industry members.
Does not control project outcomes.
Convened by World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Draft charter on MMSD web site.
Contact through Project Coordinator Richard Sandbrook.

14. THE MMSD ASSURANCE GROUP
Balanced to account for great variety of interests and stakeholder groups.
Currently 16 but will expand to 24 members.
Charged with assuring independence, integrity and objectivity of process.
Draft charter appears on MMSD web site.

15. ASSURANCE GROUP MEMBERS
Roger Augustine
Patricia Caswell
Douglas Fraser
Jay Hair (interim chair)
Antonio La Vina
Daniel Meilan
Glen Miller
Duma Nkosi
Ligia Noronha
Manuel Pulgar-Vidal
Leon Rajaobelina
Damien Roland
Charles Secrett
Osvaldo Sunkel
Helmut Weidner
Doug Yearley

16. THE MMSD WORK GROUP
Headquartered at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London.
Charged with administering and developing the project.
Will develop a series of specific projects in consultation with stakeholders, each of which will be focused on a critical emerging theme.
Most projects will be done in cooperation with other organizations already active in the subject matter.

17. THE MMSD WORK GROUP

18. MMSD REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
Will be developed in five to six of the principal mineral producing and consuming regions.
Will be developed through consultation and discussion with regional stakeholders.
Regional programs will have a high degree of autonomy under rules satisfactory to regional stakeholders.

19. PROPOSED REGIONAL CENTERS
The project cannot at this stage cover the whole world but aims to develop regional partnerships in:
North America
Southern Africa
Southeast Asia
Europe
Australasia
South America

20. REGIONAL CENTERS
Will have their own governing structures in a form satisfactory to principal stakeholders.
Will receive some funding from the central project.
Will have their own regional sponsorship groups.
Will divide their focus between cooperating in the development of the global project and pursuing objectives they get at a regional level.

21. REGIONAL STRUCTURE Regional Stakeholder Meeting Regional Steering
Committee
Regional
Sponsors
Group
Project
Headquarters
Research
Research
Regional
Partner
Institution
Stakeholder
Engagement
Stakeholder
Engagement
Communication
Communication
Implementation
Implementation

22. REGIONAL WORKSHOPS
In some other important centres of mineral production and consumption, the project intends to develop multi-stakeholder research workshops.
We are considering such an approach in:
the former Soviet Union/CIS
China
Japan

23.          World Business Council for Sustainable Development
International Institute for Environment & Development   
Sponsor
Group
Assurance
Group     
Project Co-ordinator
Richard Sandbrook
Project Director
Luke Danielson 
 Employment relationship
 Contractual relationship
 Reports to/seeks agreement with
 Services and upholds the terms of reference
 Work in partnership
Project
Team

24. THE PROJECT HAS FOUR CORE ELEMENTS
Stakeholder
Engagement
Information,
Communication,
Dissemination
Implementation
Strategy
Research and
Analysis

25. INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITIES
Will incorporate each of the four elements:
Stakeholder engagement
Research and analysis
Information, communication, dissemination
Implementation and follow up

26. INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITIES
Will be centered on strategic issues in mining and minerals industries.
Will be selected for their importance to stakeholders.
Will have their own timetables and outputs.
Will have their own governance and engagement processes.
The following are examples.

27. PROPOSED ACTIVITY No. 1 Rules of Engagement
Any attempt to engage stakeholders can be successful only if there are understood rules about what engagement means.
Those rules can only be developed by the affected stakeholders themselves.
We propose two workshops which will include a broad range of stakeholders worldwide.
The participants will be asked to develop a set of understandings which will govern participation in all MMSD activities.
These may be supplemented as needed in individual activities.

28. PROPOSED ACTIVITY No. 2
Baseline Assessment of Current Corporate Practice in Sustainability
Corporate approaches to managing sustainability factors vary significantly.
Without a clear understanding of current practice, it is difficult to identify problems or measure progress.
We propose a detailed survey of current practice of the sixty largest mining companies.

29. PROPOSED ACTIVITY No. 3 Standards for Mining Finance
Conditions of finance have a great influence in how projects are developed.
Social, environmental and economic issues are an important risk factor in assessing projects.
There is a lack of consensus on how these risk factors should be evaluated and reflected in the decision to finance projects.
We propose an ongoing process of dialogue at developing clearer and more broadly accepted standards for assessing these risks and how this should affect financing.

30. PROPOSED ACTIVITY No. 4 Large Volume Wastes
Mining worldwide generates large volumes of waste.
Many sustainability issues revolve around how that waste is managed.
We propose a series of research workshops on key issues, including:
tailings stability
acid drainage
riverine disposal
ocean disposal
Followed by broad stakeholder dialogue on how to improve handling of these wastes.

31. THESE PROPOSED ACTIVITIES
Are in the design stage.
Cannot be fully developed without broad consultation and agreement.
Need their own governance structures and processes of engagement.
All of which must be acceptable to potential partners.
Must be developed with a clear concept of how they can be put into action.

32. OTHER ACTIVITIES
MMSD in broad consultation with other actors will continue to develop other specific activities of focus as the project moves forward.
Priorities include:
Specific concerns of indigenous communities.
Management of mineral revenues.
Environmental concerns over metals and the relationship to trade and markets.
Economic, social and cultural impacts on local communities.

33. WHAT CAN THIS PROJECT ACCOMPLISH?
MMSD can do three things in its two year existence:
Develop new approaches for collaborative resolution of key problems.
Demonstrate that those approaches are yielding progress on some issues.
Develop a more broadly shared agenda for work beyond the life of the project.

34. CONTACT INFORMATION
web site:
address: 1a Doughty Street
London WC1N 2PH
United Kingdom
telephone: +44 (0)
fax: +44 (0)