IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v38y2013i4p713-722.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Challenges to measuring, monitoring, and addressing the cumulative impacts of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Ecuador

Author

Listed:
  • Adler Miserendino, Rebecca
  • Bergquist, Bridget A.
  • Adler, Sara E.
  • Guimarães, Jean Remy Davée
  • Lees, Peter S.J.
  • Niquen, Wilmer
  • Velasquez-López, P. Colon
  • Veiga, Marcello M.

Abstract

Portovelo-Zaruma, Ecuador is an artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) region with approximately 6000 gold miners working with mercury and cyanide. Although artisanal gold mining (AGM) has taken place in Portovelo-Zaruma for centuries, highly mechanized small-scale gold mining (SGM) processing plants capable of increased throughput began being built in the 1990s. While there are benefits associated with ASGM, there are also negative impacts experienced by the miners and the surrounding communities. To take advantage of ASGM as a poverty-alleviating mechanism while reducing unwanted externalities, the cumulative impacts must be understood. Numerous challenges to measuring, monitoring, and addressing ASGM impacts result from the complexity of the impacts themselves, the nature of the gold mining as an informal industry, and the shortfalls in the current regulatory framework. These are discussed in the context of ongoing, unresolved issues including efforts to address trans-boundary water pollution, management of mining waste, and conflicts regarding priorities, ambiguities, and enforcement of existing regulations and policies. Internationally, interventions to address both AGM and SGM impacts have typically focused almost exclusively on technological changes through the elimination of mercury use. Our analysis suggests that to better address ASGM and their cumulative impacts in Ecuador, it will be beneficial to revisit the legal definitions of AGM and SGM. Additionally, promotion of information-based strategies including educational outreach programs and cross-scale and cross-level mitigation methods may also be beneficial. The success of these strategies to reduce ASGM-related cumulative impacts will depend on sufficient funding and the commitment of stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Adler Miserendino, Rebecca & Bergquist, Bridget A. & Adler, Sara E. & Guimarães, Jean Remy Davée & Lees, Peter S.J. & Niquen, Wilmer & Velasquez-López, P. Colon & Veiga, Marcello M., 2013. "Challenges to measuring, monitoring, and addressing the cumulative impacts of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Ecuador," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 713-722.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:38:y:2013:i:4:p:713-722
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2013.03.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420713000202
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2013.03.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Stephan, 2002. "Environmental Information Disclosure Programs: They Work, but Why?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(1), pages 190-205, March.
    2. Matthew Rabin & Ted O'Donoghue, 1999. "Doing It Now or Later," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
    3. Horowitz, John K., 1996. "Environmental policy under a non-market discount rate," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 73-78, January.
    4. Anil R. Doshi & Glen W.S. Dowell & Michael W. Toffel, 2011. "How Firms Respond to Mandatory Information Disclosure," Harvard Business School Working Papers 12-001, Harvard Business School, revised Jun 2012.
    5. Simon Gachter & Ernst Fehr, 2000. "Cooperation and Punishment in Public Goods Experiments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 980-994, September.
    6. Weitzman, Martin L., 1998. "Why the Far-Distant Future Should Be Discounted at Its Lowest Possible Rate," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 201-208, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas, Maxim J. & Veiga, Marcello M. & Marshall, Bruce G. & Dunbar, W. Scott, 2019. "Artisanal gold supply chain: Measures from the Ecuadorian Government," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Franks, Daniel M. & Brereton, David & Moran, Chris J., 2013. "The cumulative dimensions of impact in resource regions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 640-647.
    3. Corbett, Tony & O'Faircheallaigh, Ciaran & Regan, Anthony, 2017. "‘Designated areas’ and the regulation of artisanal and small-scale mining," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 393-401.
    4. Bryan Salgado-Almeida & Daniel A. Falquez-Torres & Paola L. Romero-Crespo & Priscila E. Valverde-Armas & Fredy Guzmán-Martínez & Samantha Jiménez-Oyola, 2022. "Risk Assessment of Mining Environmental Liabilities for Their Categorization and Prioritization in Gold-Mining Areas of Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, May.
    5. María Paula Flórez Jiménez & Ángela María Plata & Andrés Acero & Luz Stella Gaona & Álex Smith Araque & Didier Sierra, 2021. "Participatory Analysis of Small-Scale Artisanal Gold Mining in the Santa Rita District, Municipality of Andes, Antioquia, Based on the PAIIO Methodology," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 34(6), pages 669-681, December.
    6. V. L. Morgan & E. S. McLamore & M. Correll & G. A. Kiker, 2021. "Emerging mercury mitigation solutions for artisanal small-scale gold mining communities evaluated through a multicriteria decision analysis approach," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 413-424, September.
    7. Ruth Zárate-Rueda & Claudia Lisbeth Vélez-Hernández & José Alonso Caballero-Márquez, 2021. "Socio-environmental conflicts resulting from extractive activities in Latin America and Corporate Social Responsibility," Estudios Gerenciales, Universidad Icesi, vol. 37(161), pages 668-679, October.
    8. Carlos Mestanza-Ramón & Demmy Mora-Silva & Giovanni D’Orio & Enrique Tapia-Segarra & Isabel Dominguez Gaibor & José Fernando Esparza Parra & Carlos Renato Chávez Velásquez & Salvatore Straface, 2022. "Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM): Management and Socioenvironmental Impacts in the Northern Amazon of Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Gallo Corredor, José Antonio & Lizeth Vargas González, Ginary & Velasco Granados, Marcela & Gutiérrez, Luis & Pérez, Edier Humberto, 2021. "Use of the gray water footprint as an indicator of contamination caused by artisanal mining in Colombia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. Fernando Morante-Carballo & Néstor Montalván-Burbano & Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar & Paúl Carrión-Mero, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Research on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-29, July.
    11. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "Over-spilling institutions: The political ecology of ‘greening’ the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 438-453.
    12. Quintero-Angel, Mauricio & Coles, Ashley & Duque-Nivia, Andrés A., 2021. "A historical perspective of landscape appropriation and land use transitions in the Colombian South Pacific," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    13. Basir & Satomi Kimijima & Masayuki Sakakibara & Sri Manovita Pateda & Koichiro Sera, 2022. "Contamination Level in Geo-Accumulation Index of River Sediments at Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Area in Gorontalo Province, Indonesia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-14, May.
    14. Josephine Singo & Dingani Moyo & John Bosco Isunju & Stephan Bose-O’Reilly & Nadine Steckling-Muschack & Jana Becker & Antony Mamuse, 2022. "Health and Safety Risk Mitigation among Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners in Zimbabwe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-24, November.
    15. Tarra, Jorge A. & Restrepo, Oscar J. & Veiga, Marcello M., 2022. "Coexistence between conventional alluvial mining and artisanal mining to deal with problems associated with informality in the lower Nechí River Basin-Colombia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adler Mandelbaum, Sara E, 2014. "Effects of Threshold Uncertainty on Common-Pool Resources," MPRA Paper 59120, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Hoel, Michael & Sterner, Thomas, 2006. "Discounting and relative prices in assessing future environmental damages," Working Papers in Economics 199, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    3. Bruno S. Frey & Stephan Meier, "undated". "Pro-Social Behavior, Reciprocity or Both?," IEW - Working Papers 107, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    4. Winkler, Ralph, 2009. "Now or Never: Environmental Protection under Hyperbolic Discounting," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-22.
    5. Bogliacino, Francesco & Codagnone, Cristiano, 2021. "Microfoundations, behaviour, and evolution: Evidence from experiments," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 372-385.
    6. J. Doyne Farmer & John Geanakoplos, 2009. "Hyperbolic discounting is rational: Valuing the far future with uncertain discount rates," Levine's Working Paper Archive 814577000000000356, David K. Levine.
    7. Dohmen, Thomas, 2014. "Behavioral labor economics: Advances and future directions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 71-85.
    8. Frey, Bruno S. & Meier, Stephan, 2004. "Pro-social behavior in a natural setting," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 65-88, May.
    9. Green, Gareth P. & Richards, Timothy J., 2018. "Discounting Environmental Goods," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 43(2), May.
    10. J. Farmer & Cameron Hepburn & Penny Mealy & Alexander Teytelboym, 2015. "A Third Wave in the Economics of Climate Change," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(2), pages 329-357, October.
    11. Christopher P. Chambers & Federico Echenique & Alan D. Miller, 2023. "Decreasing Impatience," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 527-551, August.
    12. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2017. "Richard H. Thaler: Integrating Economics with Psychology," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2017-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    13. Fearnside, Philip M., 2002. "Time preference in global warming calculations: a proposal for a unified index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 21-31, April.
    14. Kemper, Fynn & Wichardt, Philipp C., 2021. "Procedurally justifiable strategies: Integrating context effects into multistage decision making," Kiel Working Papers 2202, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Fynn Kemper & Philipp Christoph Wichardt, 2021. "Procedurally Justifiable Strategies: Integrating Context Effects into Multistage Decision Making," CESifo Working Paper Series 9459, CESifo.
    16. Morrissey, J. & Meyrick, B. & Sivaraman, D. & Horne, R.E. & Berry, M., 2013. "Cost-benefit assessment of energy efficiency investments: Accounting for future resources, savings and risks in the Australian residential sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 148-159.
    17. Ariel Fiszbein & Norbert Schady & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Margaret Grosh & Niall Keleher & Pedro Olinto & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2009. "Conditional Cash Transfers : Reducing Present and Future Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2597.
    18. Felix Koelle & Thomas Lauer, 2018. "Cooperation, Discounting, and the Effects of Delayed Costs and Benefits," Discussion Papers 2018-10, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    19. Inhwa Kim & Keith J. Gamble, 2022. "Too much or too little information: how unknown uncertainty fuels time inconsistency," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 1-33, February.
    20. Felix Kölle & Thomas Lauer, 2020. "Understanding Cooperation in an Intertemporal Context," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 046, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:38:y:2013:i:4:p:713-722. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.