International And Comparative Mineral Law And Policy

This book covers a broad spectrum of issues shaping the current paradigm of minerals sector governance. The ultimate aim of the book is to understand trends and developments in mineral law and policy occurring at international, regional, cross-border and in some selected cases at national level and also to identify some of the challenges lying ahead. With these objectives in view, the book brings together a representative selection of the most knowledgeable authors on the subject. The contributions deal with a diverse range of issues tackled from interdisciplinary perspectives. Topics are divided into five main chapters: international and comparative aspects of mineral law; actors and policies in the minerals industry; investment prospects, financial and fiscal issues; sustainable development and regional outlooks. The book aspires to serve as a useful reference for scholars, practitioners, students and all those with an interest in current developments in the areas reviewed. Elizabeth Bastida is the Rio Tinto Research Fellow and the Director of the Mineral Law and Policy Programme at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum, Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee (CEPMLP/Dundee). Thomas W?lde is the Professor of International Economic, Natural Resources and Energy Law and was (until 2001) the Executive Director of CEPMLP/Dundee. He currently runs TWA, his private consultancy firm, which provides advisory services in natural resources and energy law, regulatory reform, investment promotion, state enterprise/agency appraisal and restructuring, privatisation, contract assessment, negotiation and dispute management. Janeth Warden-Fern?ndez is a Research and Teaching Fellow, an advisor of the Mineral Law and Policy Programme and the Manager of the Distance Learning Programme at CEPMLP/Dundee.

"Mining Law and Policy: International Perspectives explains the key legal issues in the regulation of mining. The book starts with an overview of the mineral sector and broader forces which influence (and are impacted by) mineral regulation including mineral economics, sustainable development and other policy considerations." -- provided by publisher.

This book explores a disciplinary matrix for the study of the law and governance concerning mining and minerals from a global perspective. The book considers the key challenges of achieving the goals of Agenda 2030 and the transition to low-carbon circular economies. The perspective encompasses the multi-faceted and highly complex interaction of multiple fields of international law and policy, soft law and standards, domestic laws and regulations as well as local levels of ordering of social relations. What emerges is a largely neglected, unsystematised and under-theorised field of study which lies at the intersection of the global economy, environmental sustainability, human rights and social equity. But it also underlies the many loopholes to address at all levels, most notably at the local level – land and land holders, artisanal miners, ecosystems, local economies, local linkages and development. The book calls for a truly cosmopolitan academic discipline to be built and identifies challenges to do so. It also sets a research agenda for further studies in this fast-changing field.

This is the first book of peer-reviewed, edited papers that examines the minerals industry in relation to sustainable development. The book takes a proactive, positivist, and solution-oriented approach, while not shying away from the fundamental problems.

Edwin Mujih explores the difficulties associated with regulating multinational companies operating in developing countries, with a particular focus on extractive industries. The author highlights the need to establish an international legally binding framework to ensure that multinationals operate in a socially responsible manner to protect local communities and the environment. Edwin Mujih’s analysis reveals that the existing mechanisms for controlling the behaviour of huge multinational entities are of normative force only, that these are particularly inadequate, and that the notion of corporate social responsibility is only meaningful where behaviour can be legally regulated. Regulating Multinationals in Developing Countries features a study of the Chad and Cameroon Oil and pipeline project, which highlights the problems arising in countries that have neither the capacity nor the will to effectively regulate those operating within their borders. The author has evaluated compliance by the parties with their social and environmental obligations. He has found that, despite controversy surrounding inadequate regulation of this project in its incipient stages, the system that was put in place following huge opposition from the affected communities and from NGOs is worthy of attention and could stand as a model for similar projects elsewhere. This first title in Gower's Corporate Social Responsibility Series to approach CSR from a legal perspective provides insight not just into the complexity surrounding efforts to regulate multinationals operating in countries with weak regulatory regimes, but also into the fundamental nature of multinational corporations and the debate about different notions of CSR itself.

Situating the global poverty divide as an outgrowth of European imperialism, this book investigates current global divisions on environmental policy.

Exploring the relationship and interaction between economic interests and normative non-trade values, this book argues that the emergence and development of non-trade values is based on a complex dialectic interaction between selfish economic interests and normative values, and examines how their structural interdependence has given rise to a remarkable evolution in international trade. Conceiving this relationship as an intricate dialectic one that is neither purely value-driven, nor purely economic-interest-driven, it addresses the emergence, function, and role of non-trade values in international trade with a synthetizing approach and explores the results of their interaction in international economic intercourse. Approaching the non-trade issues of trade in a holistic manner, the book demonstrates that trade can operate smoothly only if it is framed by an architecture of normative value standards and international trade liberalization has reached the level where further development calls for cooperation also in fields that, at first glance, may appear to be non-trade in nature.