Case Studies Flashcards
Western Environmental Management
o Developer, government, public consultation, triple bottom line
Melanesian Context
o Thousands of isolated communities, > 80 % are rural
o Government outreach limited by lack of transport & communication
o Subsistence livelihood: fishing, mangroves, hunting, gardens, supplemented by rice, tinned tuna & noodles
Solomon Islands
o National economic context:
• Fisheries, forestry, mining
• GDP $3000 pp PA
• Annual government budget = $500 million
o Forestry decline
o Unsustainable practices
• Logging practices are socially, environmentally and economic unviable
o The challenge
• 87% of land is customarily owned, divided across 1000’s of tribes
• Limited government control on resource extraction
• People depend on resources for survival
• No security of tenure for development projects
• Government in needs of funds for education, transport, health
• Developer budget is larger than government budget
Ok Tedi
o Copper mine in headwaters of Fly River – 100,000 tonnes of waste rock per day
o Original waste dam destroyed by landslide in ‘84
o Erodible waste dump now employed – sediment washes to river
o Environmental impacts:
• Contains high levels of copper, cadmium, lead, zinc
• River bank has increased by 4-10 mm, sediment build up will last for 50-200 years
• Flooding is a major issue
• Fish species declined by 30%
• Bio-available copper is increasing, dissolved copper is above Australian guidelines
o Fly River degradation
• Natural sediment load = 10 Mt/year
• Mine operations add 90 Mt/year
• Leaches into river
• In some areas, river bed has risen > 10 metres
• Suspended sediment pollution in upland areas (fast moving)
• Sediment deposition pollution in lowland areas (slow moving)
• Vegetation loss
o Cost of remediation
• $60 million per annum to extract 17 Mt
• Will cost over $8 billion to dredge total waste
• Mine profit is only $500 million per year
o Environmental management has impacted 100,000 people’s lives
o Human impact
• River is a water source – health risks of metal contamination
• Gardens wiped out by dieback – sago palms are a primary food source
• Fisheries heavily impacted – sediment & metal load, organic carbon load, acid drainage
o Economic benefits
• Long term investment: $1.4 billion
o How engineers contributed
• The problem:
• Poor design of original dam, poor design of replacement, lax environmental regulation, disregard for downstream communities
• The solution:
• Dredging, plans for tailings dam, class action by people, mine closure plan
Lihir
o One of largest gold mines in the world
o Deep sea tailings disposal
o Training of local staff, hospital, long term investments
o Deep sea tailings placement
• 1.5 km from shore at depth of 115 metres
• 3.5-4.5 million tonnes per year
• Settles on seabed at depths between 900 to 2000 m
• Impacts approximately 60 km2 of sea floor
o Benefits
• Health outreach, schools, scholarships, communication, transportation, training, business opportunities
o Permanent change to landscape
o Social changes
• Contrasts between traditional and post-mine life
• Knowing how to best capitalise on 30 year mine life
Panguna
o Copper mine on Bougainville, PNG – Rio Tinto owned & operated
o Disputes led to mine closure (1987) and violent conflict
o 15,000 died in 10 year civil war
o Mine area blockade
• Local landowners continue to guard armed checkpoint at mine site
o Processing plant destroyed
o Copper leachate from mine pit
Finding the Balance
o Short term development opportunities and long term impacts are both significant
o Community unity is required to ensure long term development
o Traditional skills are supporting communities
o Provision of basic services requires resources utilisation
o Critical to ensure this doesn’t come at a cost to resources that underpin life in Melanesia
