International Conference on Environmentally and Socially Responsible Mining for t

描述(由申请人提供)： 采矿业是整个拉丁美洲重要的工业和经济引擎。从历史上看，采矿业留下了对环境健康的影响。展望未来，迫切需要通过采用环境可持续的方法来改善采矿业，将这些后果降至最低。矿场附近的社区往往贫穷，代表性不足；因此更容易受到健康风险的影响。考虑到采矿对邻近社区的潜在发展益处，有必要组织一个跨学科的美国-拉丁美洲专业工作组，进行研究、培训和外联，以促进环境可持续的采矿和当地社区的参与。这项提议的主要目的是召集一个由专家、政府官员、非政府组织以及社区和行业领袖组成的国际小组，讨论如何根据当地社区弱势群体的需要和观点，开展对环境和社会负责的采矿活动。这项提议是举行一次为期三天的会议，将来自美国和拉丁美洲的专业人士聚集在一起，创建拟议的工作组。会议的具体议题包括：1)改善易受地雷影响的社区的环境健康；2)开发采矿污染的预防和补救技术；3)社区参与；4)能力建设。采矿的主要限制不是缺乏可获得的矿藏，而是维持采矿所需的环境资源，以及采矿缺乏社会可接受性。在未来，成功的采矿将需要环境和社会许可证才能运营。这一提议可被视为迈向一种新模式的一步，在这一模式中，作为受影响社区的环境和社会健康的合作伙伴，这是采矿总体商业成功的一部分。为了实现这一范例，迫切需要制定技术和政策，以减少采矿对环境健康的影响，并改善与社区的惠益分享。这些努力需要与外联和人力资本开发相结合，以便弱势社区能够成为保护其环境健康的知识丰富的合作伙伴。该项目最重要的成果将是建立美国-拉丁美洲对环境和社会负责的采矿工作组。这次会议被设想为拉丁美洲设立、组织和维持工作组的一系列三次年度会议中的第一次会议。长期愿景是，工作组将成为与采矿相关的环境健康问题的区域中心，该中心将成为可在世界各地复制的模式。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mining is an important industry and economic engine throughout Latin America. Historically the mining industry has left behind a legacy of impacts on environmental health. Looking to the future, there is a great need to improve mining by employing environmentally sustainable approaches that minimize these consequences. Communities near mining sites are often poverty-stricken and underrepresented; and thus more vulnerable to health risks. Considering the potential development benefits of mining available to neighboring communities, there is a need to organize an interdisciplinary US-Latin American professional working group on research, training, and outreach which promotes environmentally sustainable mining and local community engagement. The main aim of this proposal is to assemble an international group of experts, government officials, non-governmental organizations, and community and industry leaders to discuss how to implement environmentally and socially responsible mining appropriate to the needs and perspectives of vulnerable populations in the local community. This proposal is for a three day conference to bring professionals from the USA and Latin America together to create the proposed working group. Specific topics of the conference include: 1) improving environmental health in vulnerable mine impacted communities; 2) developing prevention and remediation technology for mining pollutions; 3) community engagement; and 4) capacity building. The main limitation to mining is not the lack of accessible mineral deposits but rather the environmental resources required to sustain the mining and lack of social acceptability of the mining. In the future, successful mining will require environmental and social licenses to operate. This proposal can be seen as a step towards a new paradigm in which industry collaborates as a partner on the environmental and social health of impacted communities as part of the overall commercial success of mining. In order to realize this paradigm there is a great need to develop technology and policies that reduce mining impacts on environmental health and improve the sharing of benefits with the community. These efforts need to be combined with outreach and human capital development so that vulnerable communities can become knowledgeable partners in safeguarding their environmental health. The most important outcome of the project will be the establishment of the US-Latin America workgroup on environmentally and socially responsible mining. The conference is envisioned as the first conference in a series of three annual conferences in Latin America to establish, organize and sustain the working group. The long-term vision is the that working group will become a regional hub for environmental health issues related to mining and the hub will become a model that can be replicated around the world.