Mining and Mining Policy in the Pacific: History, Challenges and Perspectives" conference in Noumea, NC, 21-25 November 2011

The international conference "Mining and Mining Policy in the Pacific: History, Challenges and Perspectives" will be held in Noumea, New-Caledonia, from 21 to 25 of november 2011

The subject of the conference is mining and all its aspects. It will examine the relationships between the mining companies, the public authorities and local communities, the NGOs, the officials, experts, consultants and representatives of civil society. It will also investigate the role and importance of the aid donors and of international financial institutions and organisations. Four major areas of interest have been identified:
1.The activity of mining itself, i.e. the nature of the resources involved, technical processes, company strategies, financial context etc.
2.The impacts of mining on different levels (ecological, economic, social, political, cultural and gender), and the interaction between these issues in the dynamics of mining conflicts and in the negotiations that follow them or can enable their avoidance.
3.The existing (and desirable) institutional, regulatory and legal frameworks, measures, policies and innovations relating to mining, including case studies on provisions at national level (for example Papua New Guinea’s extensive experience in the sector), international level (“best practice”) and at company level (development and implementation of frameworks for corporate social responsibility).
4.The community strategies regarding inter alia the management of the revenue generated by the exploitation of mining resources (forms of organisation, justification discourse, strategies, conflicts, negotiations, agreements etc.).
5.Mining in history, literature and expressions of culture can shed a very revealing light on the way mining has shaped the imagination and means of expression of communities affected by the industry.
These questions will be examined on the different levels, i.e. local, national, regional and international.