22 June 2017: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed a loan agreement for a project to promote economic inclusion in Kazakhstan’s energy and extractive industries sector. Also contributing to responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), the UN University’s (UNU) Sustainable Cycles programme, the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) formed a Global e-Waste Statistics Partnership to build country capacity to produce comparable, reliable e-waste statistics and track developments over time.
EBRD will loan US$140 million to Bakyrchik Mining Venture LLP for development of the Kyzyl gold deposit. The project will provide employment and skills transfer to local residents, while enhancing the use of modern technology in Kazakhstan’s mining sector and bringing the sector in line with the highest international standards. EBRD’s President Suma Chakrabarti stressed the Bank’s commitment to the economic development of Kazakhstan’s remote regions, saying the project “will bring innovation, new technologies and new jobs.” The project is expected to advance sustainability by adopting best practices on environmental and social issues.
Kyzyl is the second project signed under the EBRD’s integrated approach to promoting economic inclusion in the energy and extractive sectors in Kazakhstan in cooperation with the government and private and state companies. EBRD’s Board of Directors has approved up to US$1 billion for energy and natural resource projects to help address systemic barriers faced by women and youth in Kazakhstan, with a focus on access to skills and employment.
In other gold-mining news, the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) has developed a guidance document to help governments develop, implement and monitor effective management strategies for artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). ASM is a complex and diversified sector across much of the developing world, and ranges from informal individual miners seeking a subsistence livelihood to small-scale formal commercial mining entities. The guidance document includes steps on how to ensure effective, inclusive strategy development and implementation, as well as effective governance of the process overall.
On e-waste, UNU reports that only an estimated 40 countries collect internationally comparable statistics on e-waste. The Global-e Waste Statistics Partnership aims to improve the production of national e-waste statistics by building capacity to produce e-waste statistics, collect data from countries and build a global e-waste database. The database’s efforts to improve e-waste statistics and evaluate e-waste over time is expected to further support efforts to minimize e-waste generation, prevent illegal dumping of e-waste, and promote reuse and recycling. The partnership will work to identify best practices in global e-waste management and recycling opportunities, and will publish the Global e-Waste Monitor, a review of the e-waste challenge and estimates for global e-waste quantities in November 2017.
The Partnership will contribute to progress on the ITU’s 2014 target to “reduce the volume of redundant e-waste by 50% by 2020.” SDG target 12.5 aims to, by 2030, “substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.” [EBRD Press Release] [IGF ASM Guidance Document][UNU Press Release] [UNU-EHS Press Release]