Participatory Environmental Monitoring Committees In Mining Contexts: A Practitioner Guide and Checklist with Country Experiences.
Client, Date and Location
- Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Subject Matter Area
- Community Development, Environmental Protection, Extractives and Energy, Natural and Cultural Resources
Category
- Building Collaborative Capacity
Approach
Since 2014, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SwEPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have jointly implemented the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) as a way to integrate environment and human rights into the governance of the mining sector – active in multiple countries across Latin America, Africa, and Central Asia.
Participatory Environmental Monitoring (PEM) is a collaborative process that offers a dialogue space for the local community impacted by mining, government agencies involved with mining and environment, and in some cases the mining companies themselves. PEM is used to address the community’s concerns about mining and to better prevent or limit environmental damage. With PEM, disputes around the management of natural resources can be navigated earlier and more peacefully.
We built on our previous PEM work in Latin America, and compiled case studies and learning from 11 countries to produce a Guide, and accompanying Checklist, available as a Website and downloadable pdf.
Result
This Guide and Checklist combine and integrate PEM experiences from different parts of the world, organized using steps, tasks and pillars. These publications present an overview of what PEM involves and aims to achieve. Through concrete recommendations and examples, the publications and tools intend to make implementing PEM initiatives more approachable and more effective.
We designed a dialogue process to workshop an early version of the Checklist during the EGP’s Global event in Geneva in November 2024. This included 65 delegates from 11 countries who had participated in EGP programmes, allowing us to hear and learn from insights across four languages. The workshop offered an opportunity for the participants to exchange PEM experience and learnings with peers from other countries; some have worked successfully with PEM for years, while others are just beginning their PEM journey. Participants shared valuable feedback with us on the draft checklist and guide to allow us to validate and improve the publications and learning tools. The workshop provided a thinking space for participants about how they can use the new PEM tools in their respective countries, and what the path forward could be. Developing this Guide has been collaborative and evidence-driven, with consultations and validation workshops at country, regional and global levels to ensure the learning tools and publication reflect country and community experiences and are accessible to use.