Delivering on climate goals will require a rapid halt to deforestation, and reforestation and afforestation at scale. But it will also require a secure and sustainable supply of minerals and materials for green technologies and sustainable infrastructure. Many of these commodities are found in critical forest landscapes, placing forests at increased risk as demand for minerals increases. This paper explores the mining sector’s impacts on forests, and the potential for ‘forest-smart’ mining policies and practices to support deforestation-free mineral supply chains.
5. Conclusion
Delivering on the long-term aims of the Paris Agreement will require an urgent halt to deforestation and support for reforestation and afforestation at scale. It will also require the development of secure and green mineral supply chains for clean technologies and sustainable infrastructure. Even where mining is not the primary driver of deforestation, its indirect and cumulative impacts can be significant, particularly in hotspots for forest risk and mining activity such as the Amazon, West Africa, the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia. With the anticipated growth in demand for some of the mineral commodities – such as iron ore, copper, nickel, gold, bauxite and cobalt – that are frequently mined in forest landscapes, there is a growing risk of mining-induced deforestation and forest degradation. While investors and consumers have long been aware of forest-risk agricultural commodities, other economic drivers of deforestation – including mining and its associated infrastructure – remain underexplored.
In some cases, forest-smart approaches are available, but their implementation is undermined by a lack of early and integrated planning, low levels of capacity, and limited access to finance. In other cases, particularly where critical forests are at risk, the only forest-smart approach will be not to mine at all.
This paper has set out the current state of knowledge on the mining’s impacts on forests, and the potential for forest-smart approaches to help mitigate them. In some cases, forest-smart approaches are available, but their implementation is undermined by a lack of early and integrated planning, low levels of capacity, and limited access to finance. In other cases, particularly where critical forests are at risk, the only forest-smart approach will be not to mine at all. This paper has also highlighted areas for further research and engagement, which could help inform the development of enabling finance mechanisms and forest monitoring systems, and the implementation of forest-smart approaches at country, company and sector level. In the first instance, better-integrated approaches to the monitoring and disclosure of the mining sector’s forest impacts – including their associated emissions and biodiversity impacts – can raise awareness and support effective investor, consumer and civil society engagement.