Who is worst affected by mining?
AD: Obviously once the community’s rights are violated in terms of access to livelihoods, in terms of access to their dignity, in terms of access to housing, it affects the totality of the nation. But the ones who are exposed to all of these three impacts – social, economic and environmental – are local communities. They are usually located directly by the mines and they receive the day-to-day impact of whatever problems mining generates. But it is not just the totality of the community, because within the community there are different clusters of social groups. If you take, for example, women, they are the hardest hit because they depend on land. But in terms of compensation, women receive a very, very insignificant portion of the compensation because even though they occupy the land, they don’t own the land. Then you have traditional authorities, who are a separate interest group when it comes to mining. They are direct beneficiaries of mining in local communities. IPS: What are some
