Topic: The Environmental Impact of Mining
Country: Belgium
Delegate Name: Ian Blackman-Staves
School: Grand Rapids City High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Belgium position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
The Kingdom of Belgium is in favor of broad international regulations and oversight over more specific regional policy that is tailored to the soil composition and mining focuses of each area.
The mining industry differs greatly from place to place and from resource to resource. Some of the practices can be very harmful to the environment and the people who live around the mining operations, and overexploitation leads to an unsustainable industry. Waste management is difficult, as many mining techniques produce contaminated water that cannot be released back into the environment. Unchecked mining can cause even more problematic geological phenomena. However, t is important to maintain strong and sustainable local mining operations for four main reasons. For one, we do not currently have alternatives for all mined resources and therefore rely heavily on them. Secondly, limiting any regional mining operations would lead to further imports of raw materials, leading to unsustainable mining practices elsewhere. Thirdly, many industrial activities are heavily reliant on local mining activities. Lastly, transportation is both economically and environmentally costly, so continued local mining operations would be much more efficient.
Under article 6 of the law of the reform of 1980, Belgium’s mining regulations are delegated to the individual regions of Belgium rather than the national government. In the Walloon Region, mining is a large part of the economy, although it has been in decline since the Second World War due to international competition in the coal industry. Because of this, a large part of the mining industry in the Walloon Region has moved towards chalk and dolomite quarries. Wallonia’s mining industry provides up to 16000 indirect and direct jobs. The Walloon Regional Act on quarries (4 July 2002) forces mining companies to have an environmental permit. This permit is only given if the mining company aligns with the regional plans and waste and water treatment. Under the 2008 decree on mining waste management, each mining program must draw up a plan for waste management and give a report every five years. In the Flemish region, the 2003 Decree on Surface Mineral Resources ensures sustainable mining practices, in order to guarantee continued mining possibilities as well as protecting the environment. The special plans of surface mineral resources (BOD) are used in addition to the general plan of surface mineral resources (which is primarily based upon market analysis) by taking into account the ecological and health impacts of specific mining sites to allocate space for mining operations.
The situations surrounding mining operations vary wildly. Every aspect of every mining operation, from the amount of local industry that relies on the mining, to the type of mining and the specific environmental impacts, down to the smallest detail such as the soil type needs to be taken into account when evaluating it. Because of this, strict international laws are too cumbersome for this type of regulation. Instead, we need collective international oversight to ensure a level of safety and environmental consideration in all operations (including regulations for waste management, maximum regional quotas, and human rights considerations), but more specific regional policies with regard to their own programs. The BOD in the Flemish region are a great example of the success of these policies. The special plans for gravel mining set a quota and a goal for reduction of gravel production, which was successful. Not even the national government, and certainly the UN could not supply such consideration of detail in decisions regarding regional mining operations.
