In the past year we have witnessed at least three news items of historical significance in the extractive industry:
1. "GOODBYE TO CYANIDE?
On May 5, 2010, the European Parliament Resolution No. RC-B7-0238/2010 produced) by which urges the European Commission, which is the EU body that has legislative initiative to ban the use of cyanide in mining operations in member countries. This resolution will have to make sure a hard process to become binding, but is worth noting that was approved by an overwhelming majority: 488 votes for, 48 against and 57 abstentions.
worth recalling here that since our ancestral cultures had found the technology to dispense with the cyanide and, even, of mercury. Indeed, in the town of Tado, in the Colombian department of Choco, 194 families lead a successful gold mining project without the involvement of toxic chemicals, and do so using a mix of plants, the knowledge inherited from their African ancestors. Last year, the project entered the list of the Fairtrade Foundation and is already one of the pioneers of fair trade projects in mining gold in the world.
2. NO TO MINING OPEN!
The Congress of the sister republic of Costa Rica approved last November 9, 2010, in the second and final debate and unanimously, a legal reform that declares the country a "free metal mining in the open."
This project was the son of the debate generated by the mining project Crucitas that, despite meeting all legal requirements, would, if implemented, an environmental threat of gigantic proportions for the Central American country.
personally think that a sweeping ban of this type can be counterproductive to the development of a country. But undoubtedly, it is desirable and in fragile ecosystems of high diversity biological or high community involvement.
3. YASUNÍ PROJECT: A PROPOSAL UNRELEASED
Thirdly and lastly, I want to mention the project Yasuni, the sister republic of Ecuador. I consider this novel, because I know of no other history of a country which decides to give up the safe operation of a wealth of underground, to protect all ecosystems and cultures in the area.
is a vast Yasuni National Park, situated 250 kilometers southeast of Quito, in the Amazon jungle with a surface area of \u200b\u200bover 9800 square kilometers. In 1989 it was declared by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve and studies have confirmed that this is actually one of the richest biodiversity on the planet. It houses many indigenous ethnic groups, including some uncontacted tribes still. No wonder, Yasuni is translated by the locals as "Sacred Ground" (see documentary on "The Holy Mountain, in this Blog).
addition, the proven oil reserves ITT Field, located in Yasuni National Park, totaling 944 million Barrels (20% of the country's total reserves). That has led the Ecuadorian government finally formalized the call Yasuni-ITT Initiative, by which Ecuador is committed, a binding manner, not to exploit these reserves, in exchange for Annex 1 countries of the Kyoto Protocol commit themselves, in a span of 13 years (estimated time of holding such reserves), to give back to Ecuador with 50% of the expected benefits of such exploitation . These resources would be managed by an international trust managed by the UNDP and its financial performance would be used to develop renewable energy projects in Ecuador itself. This initiative is ongoing at present and would be expected that overcome the adverse effects of the crisis, to become a successful initiative.
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