Post-Conflict Transformation of ASM through Education, Organization and Consultation in Colombia

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in Colombia has a long history significantly shaped by conflict. An estimated 340,000 Colombians – both directly and indirectly – depend upon the sector, which when left unmanaged may serve as a financial instrument for armed groups and civil conflict. Mining activities in Chocó, Colombia’s second-largest gold producing region, have failed to tangibly benefit the local people due to a lack of formality, control, and surveillance, which invites corruption and creates barriers for equitable benefit sharing.

It is believed that a peaceful and collaborative transition of control of ASGM activities is key to addressing the environmental degradation arising from the sector’s informality. In Choco, it is estimated that 97% of all small-scale gold mines operate without environmental permits, leading to deforestation, biodiversity loss, chemical contamination, and river siltation. While governance reforms over the last 25 years have striven to improve the socioeconomic benefits and minimize the environmental risks of artisanal mining, the potential impacts of regulatory and political reforms have not been fully realized. The development of the ASGM sector in Colombia represents an opportunity to not only to lower poverty but also safeguard environmental resources and strengthen post-conflict consultation.

Gender

• CIRDI has been explicit in its feminist approach with all project stakeholders, which ensured local consideration of needs for women’s well-being and economic empowerment. As project activities were defined and refined with community representatives, special attention and consideration were given to women leaders and miners and their expressed interests. Because 70% of gold panners in the target community were women, extra effort was made to include recommendations for improved exploration and recovery for the panners (not only for organized mining groups). Additionally, since CIRDI’s project was tied to the community’s efforts to create “community businesses”, CIRDI probed community leaders to consider the unique roles and needs of women in the building of a business (e.g., women are highly involved in accounting activities within the mining cycle).

Environment

• CIRDI signed an MOU with the Ministry of the Environment as the main project partner, meaning that environmental stewardship will remain a central tenant of all project activities and objectives. Furthermore, in the design phase of the project, there was clear and strong demand from the community partners for activities that will reduce environmental impact. Key project objectives were determined to be the improvement of techniques for alluvial gold prospecting/exploration and recovery. 
  

Governance

• CIRDI believes that ensuring strong communication and collaboration across stakeholders is an important pilot strategy for enabling the process of transition and formalization. Thus, the project took a participatory approach, requiring collaboration between the national government and local communities, and within local communities. CIRDI worked to ensure better communication and internal agreement on project activities between government, donors, universities, and local communities.

• Improved knowledge of livelihood and resource issues related to gold mining for vulnerable populations (i.e. Afro-Colombian, Indigenous Peoples, and women) through research and open dialogue.
• Improved access to geologic information used to inform environmentally sustainable mineral exploration and mine management practices in protected areas through the delivery of technical and vocational training and dissemination of information obtained from mineral and environmental assessments.
• Improved the willingness of stakeholders to engage (particularly vulnerable populations) in participatory decision-making processes that facilitate formalization and regulation of the ASGM sector by opening up the dialogue on ASGM policy and regulatory instruments.
• Strengthened the processes for engagement and dialogue between government, miners, and communities on mineral resource governance and geologic information through the development of a road-map to formalization.