Participatory Environmental Monitoring in Mining Contexts: A Practitioner Checklist to Start PEM
Step 4: Act and follow-up on monitoring results
Step overview:
The first table gives a summary of issues and challenges present during this step. Below the table more detail can be found.
| Pillar | Key tasks | Key questions to discuss |
|---|---|---|
| Governance | Take follow-up actions, if needed |
|
| Set the foundation for continuing PEM |
|
|
| Environment | Choose how to evaluate monitoring results |
|
| Learning | Get involved in other public spaces |
|
| Gender | Strengthen women’s role in the community, as well as support participation for other underrepresented groups. |
|
| Governance | ||
| Key tasks | Key questions to discuss | |
| Take follow-up actions, if needed |
|
|
| Set the foundation for continuing PEM |
|
|
| Environment | ||
| Key tasks | Key questions to discuss | |
| Choose how to evaluate monitoring results |
|
|
| Learning | ||
| Key tasks | Key questions to discuss | |
| Get involved in other public spaces |
|
|
| Gender | ||
| Key tasks | Key questions to discuss | |
| Strengthen women’s role in the community, as well as support participation for other underrepresented groups. |
|
|
You can download a worksheet and use it to write down your thoughts about the proposed tasks and discussion questions as part of the planning.
Governance
Take follow-up actions, if needed
Take follow-up actions, if needed
Two types of follow-up actions can be taken:
- to update the monitoring process: consider how the monitoring initiative can be improved.
- to promote change in mining operations – identifying problems and finding solutions by working with the relevant mining producer or State agency. To accomplish this, the learning through PEM about legislation and regulation is central. In some cases, this may involve follow-up action regarding mining closure or environmental rehabilitation work.
Suggestions when PEM is:
Executed by community members
A community-led PEM effort will only succeed if there is a strong mechanism to voice the potential environmental, social, and cultural impacts of mining. This is particularly true for bottom-up initiatives not formally linked to any State agency. The community will need to reach out to partners that can support them in making their claims heard.
Executed in partnership
In some instances, making follow-up actions mandatory for participating companies can be tempting, but this can hinder PEM initiatives. Better outcomes are achieved through dialogue and negotiation with all parties. Further, identifying an environmental problem is one part of the issue and the other is finding its source. Every party must be cognizant of the need of balancing the urgency of remediation and thorough analysis.
Supervised by community members
When an external convener leads monitoring, it must accept the monitoring results and take the necessary actions. Even if remediation is not needed, this view must be shared by participating community members. Otherwise, PEM may become yet another unfulfilled promise for the affected community.
Set the foundation for continuing PEM
Set the foundation for continuing PEM
This refers to how the PEM team can keep working in the future. A starting point may be to get legal recognition, even in a general way, and not specifically regarding environmental governance. A more structural action is trying to promote legislative changes to include PEM as an explicit option, or regulatory changes that clearly define some of the steps and features that include. The PEM team may also start formalizing their procedures to avoid starting from scratch in the future.
Suggestions when PEM is:
Executed by community members
If the community is driving the PEM initiative, it could make specific efforts to create a core group of interested people. This way, leadership will not rely on only one particular person. Plus, it can help to get legal standing as a community organization.
Executed in partnership
Special attention can be given in partnerships to formalize PEM through consensus building. Even if the PEM initiative is not legally recognized, work agreements between the different parties should be established to highlight the specific focus of each initiative.
Supervised by community members
In this scenario, the community’s participation depends heavily on the convener’s willingness to create a welcoming environment. Looking for creative ways to institutionalize PEM will give it more legitimacy. For example, an independent trust could be set up.
Environment
There are at least three ways to get to conclusions based on monitoring data. One is to use specific standards to compare the data; these can be regional, national, or international standards. Another is to compare the results with baseline information, if it exists. Yet another way is to compare the results with data from other similar places.
Suggestions when PEM is:
Executed by community members
Using formal standards to compare monitoring results may sound daunting at first. But focusing on a few parameters and monitoring using a structured mechanism will make the process easier. PEM is a learning process, so it is fine not to know everything at the start.
Executed in partnership
A partnership provides a space where standards can be thoroughly discussed and agreed upon. A long-term relationship will also lend clarity to understanding the concerns of different parties, and this knowledge will help identify and use relevant standards.
Supervised by community members
A good process and initiative can fail if, at the end, the data is used in a way that does not make sense to participating community members and the community at large. The external convener must not take this task for granted and should avoid relying solely on scientific or legal customs.
Learning
Being involved in PEM means each participant interacts with unknown persons in unfamiliar places. This challenge can turn into a vital asset. This is particularly important when looking to fix or manage any socio-environmental problems.
Suggestions when PEM is:
Executed by community members
Motivating mining companies to address their possible socio-environmental impacts can be difficult for community-led initiatives, even when there is State support. It can be beneficial to associate with other groups in the locality or with like-minded organizations at the national level to give a stronger voice to PEM results and concerns.
Executed in partnership
If the PEM team has managed to work in partnership, they can share their experience in other places facing the same issues. This will not only help other communities but can also serve as a reflection exercise for the PEM team to improve the initiative.
Supervised by community members
If PEM has been driven by an external convener, the convener must encourage participating community members to take on a more significant role at this point. One way to do this is by inspiring and supporting them to participate in events and forums where they can share their experiences.
Gender
Women’s thorough involvement in PEM may allow them to start securing other public positions, strengthening their overall role in the community. PEM may support this by raising awareness of existing public policies that strengthen gender equity and by giving women a chance to showcase their abilities.
Suggestions when PEM is:
Executed by community members
A community group that includes women in PEM efforts should remain mindful that this is only the first step. As the initiative evolves, women could start seeking leadership roles in the group or elsewhere. The PEM initiative can support this by publicly acknowledging the achievements women have helped to gain.
Executed in partnership
A PEM initiative can include educational activities that impact women well into the future. If women manage to voice their hopes and problems, a specific training programme can be designed to help them find the tools to achieve their dreams and solve their problems, even if they are not closely related to mining. An example of such a programme could be a leadership course or a bridge program that can help them pursue secondary or tertiary education.
Supervised by community members
An external convener, being an outsider, may face additional challenges in fostering women’s role in the community. Yet, for the same reason, it can be easier for an external convener to promote new ideas among participating community members or in the community at large. Following up with female participants for feedback on the initiative and asking directly how they want to be supported are good starting points.