Mining has increased by 52% since the turn of the century due to surging demand for metals and minerals, exerting an outsized impact on tree cover loss in tropical primary rainforests and in Indigenous and local community territories, according to a new report by a non-profit.

The report, published Wednesday by the World Resources Institute, found that mining has increasingly pushed into the world’s forests, especially tropical primary rainforests that act as important carbon sinks and protected areas.

From 2001-20, almost 1.4 million hectares of trees were lost globally from mining and related activities, the report found.

Some 36 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year were released from the felling of these trees, an amount equivalent to Finland’s fossil fuel emissions in 2022, found the study, which analysed tree cover loss data from the University of Maryland and a number of studies on global mining.

The part played by mining in global tree cover loss is minimal compared to the main drivers of forestry, for which 130 mln hectares were lost between 2001-20, and wildfire, for which 90 mln hectares were lost in that period. But it can have an outsized impact regionally, particularly in the case of carbon-rich tropical rainforests and Indigenous lands, where people depend on the forests for their livelihoods, according to the report.

Of the 1.4 mln hectares of mining-related tree cover loss from 2001-20, some 450,000 hectares were in tropical primary rainforests, 150,000 hectares were in protected areas, and 260,000 hectares were in Indigenous Peoples’ and local community lands, the WRI found.

These figures are likely conservative, it said, as they do not account for indirect tree cover loss driven by mining activities such as the building of access roads, and evidence shows that sites often expand.

DRIVERS OF FOREST LOSS DUE TO MINING

Gold and coal extraction resulted in over 71% of all mining-related deforestation from 2001-19, according to a WWF study, influenced by the increase in the price of gold since the 2008 financial crisis and the fact that coal continues to dominate the global energy mix, generating about 36% of electricity globally in 2022.

Meanwhile, the growing demand for critical minerals found in smartphones and renewable energy are also becoming a key driver of mining and are expected to rise further in coming years.

Both large-scale mining (common to the US and Australia) and artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), which is often illegal and informal and rife in the Amazon, Ghana, and Myanmar are common in forested areas, the report found.

WHERE IS IT HAPPENING?

As much as 87% of tree cover loss due to mining and 89% of related emissions in the past two decades occurred in 11 countries: Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, United States, Canada, Peru, Ghana, Suriname, Myanmar, Australia, and Guyana, the report found.

The rainforest-rich nations of Indonesia and Brazil had the highest tree cover loss linked to mining in the period, at 370,000 hectares and 170,000 hectares respectively, mostly due to coal mining and small-scale gold mining, the report noted. The associated CO2 emissions from tree loss were highest in those countries too.

Indonesia in particular has suffered environmentally from mining, with 57% of tree cover loss due to coal extraction from 2000-19 happening in Indonesia alone, according to WWF.

Indonesia is now one of the world’s largest coal exporters, with mining damaging topsoil, leading to flooding and landslides when torrential rains occurs.

However, the US too is not immune to deforestation for coal production, with 20% of global coal-related tree cover loss occurring there from 2001-’19, the study found.

From 2001-’20, some 120,000 hectares of forest loss was related to mining in the US, much of it linked to surface coal mining, the report found.

Meanwhile, growing demand for cobalt, used in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and smartphones, is also driving deforestation. Three-quarters of the metal is produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where mining for cobalt has led to the loss of 13,000 hectares of forest from 2001-20.

And in Ghana, artisanal small-scale gold mining has been linked to the loss of 60,000 hectares of forest from 2001-20, about 2,500 ha of which occurred in tropical primary rainforests, threatening endemic species like the green-tailed bristlebill and the Tai Forest treefrog. Working conditions for employees of ASM are also often very poor, with low pay, long hours, and toxic pollutants.

The impact of the mining, oil, and gas industries on critical ecosystems in the Amazon Basin, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia, was explored in another report this week, which found these operations to be threatening 500 key biodiversity areas (KBAs), 180 million hectares of high-integrity forests, and 30 mln hectares of Indigenous territories.

DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT

While mining can economically benefit Indigenous and local communities, it also often happens without their consent.

“Most local communities lack secure rights to the resources beneath their lands. They’re often excluded from decisions to grant licenses and are not adequately compensated for loss of the forests, water, and other natural resources on which they depend,” wrote the authors.

Lack of consultation with Indigenous communities is one of the critiques sometimes levied against voluntary carbon projects, with Brazilian public prosecutors demanding transparency in information and public consultation with local stakeholders in the state’s $180-million jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD) deal announced last month.

The WRI report found that about 19% of all tree cover loss linked to mining since the turn of the century has happened within Indigenous and community lands, likely due to their proximity to mineral and metal reserves.

From 2001-20, some 260,000 hectares of forest, including 90,000 hectares of tropical primary rainforests, were lost globally related to mining activity on lands Indigenous Peoples and local communities occupy or use, it found.

In the Amazon basin alone, at least 64% of mining-related tree loss in Suriname, Venezuela, and Ecuador occurred on land occupied and used by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

These impacts are also underestimated as the Indigenous and community land maps used in the analysis are not comprehensive, it noted.

As of 2020, mining concessions and illegal mining covered more than 20% of Indigenous lands in the Amazon, threatening hundreds of communities and critical ecosystems across an area the size of Morocco, according to a previous WRI report.

LESSEN IMPACT

To reduce the impact of mining on critical ecosystems and Indigenous and local communities, the WRI recommends that miners follow the forest-smart mining framework developed by the World Bank; that governments always obtain at a minimum free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) from local peoples prior to granting mining permits; and that stakeholders have access to near real-time deforestation alerts, which enable timely on-the-ground enforcement by bodies like the police.

It also advocates for reducing overall demand for mining by designing systems and products that use less critical minerals, extending the use life of products and components, and bolstering materials recycling.

Governments should also enact stringent regulatory policies on responsible mining, such as the EU anti-deforestation regulation and the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, and downstream purchasers of these minerals can require proof of responsible mining practices, such as through independent assurance against mining standards like IRMA, TSM, ICMM Mining Principles, and CopperMark, the authors write.

Earlier this month, the European Commission moved to postpone its anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR) by one year, in an attempt to please international partners who expressed worries about the bureaucratic aspects of the law and its disproportionate impact on small forest owners.

If co-legislators agree to the proposed change, the bill will enter into force at the end of 2025, allowing more time for forest owners and the supply chain to prepare.

By Bryony Collins – bryony@carbon-pulse.com