A SCIAF Family Statement on Mining & Extractives

Based on consultation with our partners and allies across the Caritas network, SCIAF has developed a Family Statement on the vital issue of Mining and Extractives. 

The statement identifies the key challenges of the mining industry and outlines tangible ways for Governments and mining companies to address these challenges.  

There is an urgent need for action! Metals mining is one of the world’s dirtiest industries and is linked to water pollution and biodiversity loss. In addition to this, the social impacts of mining of transition minerals are extensive: the industry is rife with human rights violations, unsafe labour conditions, conflict, forced displacement of communities, gender-based violence and child labour. 

In a world where transitions to a renewable energy economy is crucial, we must pay careful attention to the impact of extracting minerals essential to this transition. Governments and mining companies are not doing enough to minimise these impacts. To avoid solving one crisis by perpetuating another, action is needed to ensure our transition away from fossil fuels is just for everyone, in every country, at every level of the global economy. 

We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.” 

- Pope Francis, Laudato Si’