opening page

theme          programme            speakers          abstracts          workshop       organizers

participants          field trip          gallery           conference team           venues

summary statement    

  
  



o Messages o

Welcome from the PSDN Conference Organizing Team

Welcome to Manila and to CASM’s Asia-Pacific Learning Event! We are pleased to welcome as cosponsors of this conference The Australian National University (ANU); the Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM) network; and the United Nations Development Program; the Local Government of Itogon Municipality, Benguet Province; the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center Manila; and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The theme of the conference is “Community and State Interests in Small-Scale Mining: Sharing Experiences from the Asia-Pacific Region.” We have developed an exciting program involving the various stakeholders presenting their views and issues around this theme. Participants come from the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Denmark, United Kingdom, Mongolia, India, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and Venezuela. We have representatives from government, NGOs, academe, industry, and communities.

           Papers and a video will be presented for the first two days with the third day reserved for workshops. Topics of discussion in the workshops may center on the nature and dynamics of conflicts of interest and multi-stakeholder consensus building on artisanal and small scale mining (ASM), and opportunities and solutions for harmonizing state and community interests in ASM in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference proper will end with a plenary session where a projected Manila Declaration for strengthening and harmonizing interests in the Asia-Pacific Region will be drafted. There will also be a discussion of the next steps to further consolidate the personal and institutional relationships of participants in the Region.

We have organized a fieldtrip to visit small-scale mining communities in Itogon Municipality which is located in the mountains of the Cordillera north of Manila from June 10-12, Friday to Sunday. The Local Government Unit of Itogon has prepared a program of activities that will be educational and entertaining. This field trip will include popular tourist destinations in Baguio City which is known as the summer capital of the Philippines.

We have booked you at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center Manila. AIM is within walking distance to major shopping centers with many fine stores and restaurants.

All our colleagues in the Philippines Sustainable Network (PSDN) join us in welcoming you to Manila. We are pleased to serve as the host organization for this conference. If you have any questions during your stay, please do not hesitate to approach anyone of our organizing team. They will be glad to assist you with directions or information. They have identifying yellow name tags.

We want to thank all our colleagues who served on the conference committee. We are especially thankful for the strong support from Amy Lecciones and her team from PSDN, to Mayor Mario Godio and the Local Government Unit of Itogon Municipality, Colin Filer and his team from The Australian National University, Jeffrey Davidson and his team from the World Bank/CASM Secretariat, and to Erwiza Erman and Trevor Neale as coordinators of the Indonesian and Papua New Guinea delegations respectively. The team members’ names are printed in this program. Without their help, this meeting would not have happened.

We look forward to seeing all of you at the cocktail reception hosted by PSDN on Tuesday evening. We hope that you enjoy yourself throughout the meeting and find the sessions stimulating. Once again, on behalf of PSDN, ANU, CASM, and UNDP, welcome to Manila.

Evelyn J. Caballero Ben S. Malayang III
Conference Organizing Manager President, Philippine Sustainable Development Network Foundation, Inc. 


  

  

   
Key Note Speech

Ignacio, Demetrio L.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB) warmly welcome the participants and guests of the Learning Event on “Community and State Interests in Small-Scale Mining: Sharing Experiences from the Asia-Pacific Region” and its organizers, the Philippine Sustainable Development Network Foundation (PSDN), Australian State University (ANU), and the Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM) network.

We are beset by numerous problems facing the small-scale mining industry, that an occasion such as this is timely because this can be a vehicle to review the situation at hand, express to our national government sound recommendations to fill in the gaps created by ineffective policies, and at the same time, address the environmental, safety and health and social sciences regarding the industry.

The economic extravaganza ushered in by industry has created a growth of local mining communities, employment opportunities, other business and livelihood activities of such communities where a mining activity exists. These positive contributions are somehow overshadowed by a chorus of persistent and yet, unfounded mining issues and concerns that threaten the very foundation of small scale mining as a reliable income generating activity, especially in the rural sector.

On 16 January 2004, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo-issued Executive Order No. 270 entitled “National Policy Agenda on Revitializing Mining in the Philippines” as amended by Executive Order No. 270-A dated 20 April 2004. The Order provided twelve (12) guiding principles and specifically mentioned that “small-scale mining shall be promoted as a formal sector of the minerals industry and as part of the development initiative for both downstream and upstream industries”. In spite of the significant contributions of small-scale mining, Government recognizes the its operation in the present context, with the exception of the traditional small-scale mining like panning and sluicing, is unsustainable. It is an activity with significant impact to human health and safety to the environment.

This learning activity could provide a forum for participants from here in our country and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region to share knowledge and experiences between the interests of different stakeholders in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, and to the specific interests coming from local communities and the government as well.

So it is in this light that this representation wishes one and all to actively participate and grasp whatever learning that this conference has to offer and use it wisely once you come back to your own fields of expertise.

For a better and well-managed small-scale mining industry!

The Keynote Speaker
Undersecretary for Policy and Planning
Research and Legislative Affairs
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City

  

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