6 - Artisanal and small-scale mining and apes

Summary

Introduction

The term “artisanal and small scale mining” (ASM) describes the use of manual labor and low-level technologies that characterize the activity (Hruschka and Echavarría, 2011), as opposed to the capital-intensive and high technological input of industrial, large-scale mining (LSM). ASM is often an informal activity and artisanal miners' lack of recognition, formal rights, and support creates a structural inability that can make it difficult for them to move out of poverty. Described as being amongst the poorest members of society, their trade is often fraught with dangerous practices and, in conflict and post-conflict countries, can have serious implications for security (Hayes and Wagner, 2008). At the local level, however, and in contrast to other subsistence-based livelihoods, artisanal miners are often better off than their neighbors, as their income can enable them to invest in their families' health care and education, buy consumables, and better cope with shocks. But while ASM is an important and increasingly popular livelihood for tens of millions of people around the world, bringing in needed income to rural communities, it is also a serious and growing threat to biodiversity and the integrity of protected areas due to the extraction methods and the livelihood practices that support mining populations (Villegas et al., 2012).

This chapter attempts to integrate the extent of artisanal mining activity within previously identified ape habitats with those mitigation strategies currently in existence, alongside the emerging lessons and knowledge gaps.