Abel Kinyondo and Chris Huggins on promoting environmental sustainability in the Tanzanian small-scale mining sector

Abel Kinyondo and Chris Huggins gave a presentation on 19 August 2020, as part of the Sustainable development solutions for Tanzania – strengthening research to achieve SDGs project. The presentation was held as a webinar.

Abstract – Promoting Environmental Sustainability in the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Sector in Tanzania

There is a broad effort, among many bilateral and multilateral development organizations and governments around the world, to support efforts of artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) to ‘formalize’ their systems and practices to among others outcomes, reduce the negative environmental impacts of mining.

The government of Tanzania has in the past acknowledged challenges of monitoring and regulating the mining sector. These challenges are in part financial and logistical. While the attention to environmental issues by the Tanzanian government is likely to be generally positive, there are examples from other countries in which regulations have tended to exclude poorer and less organized or politically-connected ASM actors from the sector, or had other unintended consequences.

Moreover, while researchers have recently identified some environmental challenges in the ASM sector, no one has yet focused on the ways in which the current institutional and policy context might enable ASM actors to improve their capacity to minimize the environmental impacts of their activities. It is in this context that we recommend for a phased approach to enforcement, combined with regular consultation with ASM stakeholders.

About the speakers

Dr Abel Kinyondo is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Dar Es Salaam (DUCE) and an Independent Consultant. He most recently worked as a Principal Research Fellow at REPOA. Previously he worked as a Director of Strategic Research at REPOA and Head of Economics and Geography Department at the University of Dar Es Salaam. He has also worked for the United Nations Development Program.

He holds a Doctorate Degree from Monash University (Australia); a distinction in Master of Art (Economics) Degree from the University of Botswana; and a first-class Economics Degree from the University of Namibia. Dr Kinyondo has over 10 years of research experience having published in internationally reputable journals. He has also led several teams of experts in formulating various socioeconomic policies, regulations and codes of ethics in Tanzania and beyond. Dr Kinyondo currently investigates issues pertaining to tourism, gender, development economics, employment, industrialization, natural resources management as well as governance.

Dr Chris Huggins is an Assistant Professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa. He holds a PhD in Geography (specialization in political economy) from Carleton University, Canada. His research interests include critical political economy, natural resource management, and livelihoods approaches, with a geographical focus on several African countries, particularly Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Tanzania.