Emerman made it clear that he rejected the EU’s assumed advantage in regulating mining waste, which was supported by recent examples of mismanagement and mining disasters in several European countries, which boasted of their regulatory qualifications.
Take Finland as an example, Recent survey The Yes to Life, No to Mining Network explores the criminal negligence that led to the repeated leakage of toxic waste from the Talvivaara mine, as well as other historical disasters, such as the collapse of the tailings dam at the Aitik mine in Sweden.
At the same time, in Spain, Atalaya Mining has Public accusations Misleading shareholders and the London Stock Exchange about the “serious risk” of the collapse of the tailings dam at its Rio Tinto mine.
In addition to the mining waste issue, the European key raw material strategy also refuses to rule out the possibility of allowing mining operations in the Natura 2000 Reserve and other biodiversity hotspots.
Interrupt
In the past five years, the European Union has allocated 100 million euros to research and seek projects that affect the social acceptance of the European mining industry-the public is expected to resist the expansion of the mining industry.
Dr. Alexander Dunlap, a researcher at the Center for Development and Environment at the University of Oslo, severely criticized the EU’s support for this so-called “social business license” at the special hearing.
Dunlap said that the European Union’s strategy for local communities in Europe, “Closely imitate military manuals used to occupy foreign countries and population-centered counter-insurgency strategies”.
In the context of the European mining boom, these strategies are designed to limit the community’s “Ability and willingness to identify and report corruption and ecological damage caused by mines“, Dunlap said.
More than 30 civil society organizations from all over Europe Formal complaint Inform the EU of its efforts to use EU funds and bureaucracy to monitor local, democratic and broad-based anti-mining campaigns.
These complaints point out that the European Union’s massive investment in social engineering work aimed at persuading, coercing and restricting the rights of local communities is a fact in itself, that the expansion of the European Union’s mining will not become the highly regulated green panacea that EU policymakers claim.
Violation
Elena Solis, a mining activist at the Spanish NGO Ecologistas en Accíon, believes that “It is necessary to support, encourage and empower environmental groups, local communities and individuals to exercise the rights and obligations of active environmental citizens in the new wave of mining, which may turn the surrounding areas of Europe into an extractive wild west. “
Solis emphasized that the mining disaster and the suppression of the community highlighted during the hearing was what she described as “Corruption and indifference lead to systemic violations of EU law“.
At the hearing, the experts also emphasized that although the EU seeks to highlight its own green mining qualifications, the EU’s growing demand for raw materials will continue to be met by products imported from abroad, including those from countries with very poor records of corruption and mining. Human rights and ecological governance of the industry.
Friends of the Earth Europe noted that the current plan outlined in the new plan European key raw material strategy May promote unfair trade rules-ensuring market access for European investors to develop raw materials in the global South.
Alternatives
The root of this mode of squeezing exploitation lies in the EU’s commitment to “green growth” mirage-economic growth while ecological and social impact declines.
Meadhbh Bolger, a resource justice activist for Friends of the Earth Europe, said: “Nature and communities are at the forefront of these mining and development plans. They are frantically looking for ways to continue the EU’s economic growth model while being more’green’.
“This means more mining beyond ecological limits, more development of communities and their lands, and more toxic trade transactions..”
Bolger added that the European Union “Legislators first need to reduce EU demand through a binding target of reducing material usage by two-thirds. Reducing the demand for raw materials is the best way to reduce mining and related hazards.”
More than 180 organizations, community platforms and scholars from all over the world Call on the European Union Find meaningful ways to legally recognize the democratic right of communities to say no to unacceptable mining projects, whether in Europe or overseas mining projects related to Europe.
in a Popular saying These groups, released earlier this year, clarified why a just transition from climate and ecological disasters must enable us to transcend extractiveism, outlining key principles and recommendations for EU policymakers.
Their message—another post-mining world is possible—is becoming increasingly urgent.
This author
Hannibal Rhoades is the communications director of the Gaia Foundation. read We cannot escape the climate crisis exist Ecologist More information about the issues that support this article. visit Say yes to life, say no to mining sites learn more.
