The Project

The project will first support systemic interventions focused on developing/updating regulations, policies and guidelines to facilitate a more efficient management and monitoring of ASM operations. This will be combined with capacity building at the institutional level to enable better management of negative environmental impacts from gold mining. The project will support efforts to increase sustainable funding opportunities to address the negative social and environmental impacts of gold mining, and for miners to adopt environmentally-responsible mining practices. The project will also support the mandate of certain key institutions for better environmental management, such as the Environmental Planning and Information Office.

As a third pillar, the project will support engagement from all concerned stakeholders through its work in support of policy strengthening and institutional capacity building. The project will create multi-stakeholder local advisory committees (LAC) for the Mining Training and Extension Centers, which will bring together government institutions, civil society organizations, community and village groups, and ASGM groups and associations. The MTECs and their LACs will serve as a platform for dialogue between different stakeholders, allowing all to voice their concerns and to define solutions jointly.

On-the-ground demonstrations will be implemented by the project through the establishment of Mining Training and Extension Centres (MTECs). Learning from past lessons in Suriname, the establishment of these MTECs represents a central strategy foreseen in this project. These would be operated by non-governmental organizations in pilot sites. The MTECs would act as one-stop centres where miners can access a suite of services that will function as incentives, such as for example: access to on-demand training and technical advice on environmentally responsible mining techniques, the ability to purchase or rent spare parts and maintenance services for ERM equipment at concessional prices, and improved access to social services (health, education, non-mining vocational training)[2]. The project will focus on demonstrating environmentally responsible technologies applicable to the whole mine life cycle, including improved exploration, extraction and decommissioning to reduce impacts on habitat, biodiversity and forests. The project will not support the creation of new mines that may require deforestation, therefore demonstration activities will mainly occur on alluvial sites that are being re-mined, as is commonly practiced in Suriname.

[2] These social and economic incentive services will be provided at the MTECs by project partners through cofinancing.

This project is based on the premise that, in the absence of a comprehensive overhaul of the Surinamese economy and legal frameworks, preventing small-scale miners from conducting their main activity will not be feasible.  The project therefore focuses on the adoption of environmentally responsible mining practices, but also seeks to identify suitable incentives for the broader adoption and upscaling of these practices.  The project will also work at a pilot scale to put in place at least one other livelihood option besides mining, such as sustainable agriculture. While these activities will be insufficient to replace mining and will therefore not constitute “alternative livelihoods”, since this project alone cannot pretend to replace mining in the economic portfolio, they would nevertheless provide avenues for economic diversification, skills acquisition and increased incomes, potentially decreasing the urgency of new mining operations.