An international minerals treaty proposed by Colombia and Oman at the seventh United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) encountered resistance from several member states, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, Chile and Uganda. The initiative ultimately emerged as a nonbinding resolution after days of negotiations. The proposal was debated at UNEA-7 in Nairobi, Kenya, Dec. 8-12. Colombia and Oman pushed for binding and nonbinding measures to address the social and environmental impacts of mining and the recovery of resources from mining waste. Their proposal was rejected by a broad group of states in favor of a nonbinding resolution to enhance international dialogue and cooperation on mineral governance as well as resource recovery from mining waste and tailings. “As mineral demand surges due to the energy transition and digitalization, the resolution represents a step toward better protections for ecosystems and communities,” Charlotte Boyer, a consultant at the Natural Resource Governance Institute, told Mongabay over email. “However, many countries and observers called for stronger language to move beyond dialogue toward policymaking.” “In particular, the resolution stops short of committing to explore international binding standards leaving a gap between the scale of impacts on the ground and the ambition of the global response,” she added. Tommi Kauppila is a research professor for the Geological Survey of Finland, which provided Finland’s Ministry of Environment with expert support on the minerals resolution at UNEA-7. He told Mongabay that Colombia and Oman originally submitted separate proposals in which Colombia pushed for a legally binding international instrument to address…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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