The shift to a low-carbon future will require more mining of minerals, many of which are predominantly located in forests. This has implications for forests that mitigate global warming, and are a critical habitat for biodiversity. Forests also provide essential ecosystems services vital to the livelihoods of more than a billion people around the world.   

With the anticipated increase in demand for minerals and metals, many countries face difficult decisions due to competing interests between development and conservation. A more sustainable approach to mining is urgently needed to ensure we have both clean energy technologies and healthy forests.

The World Bank’s Climate Smart Mining Initiative has adopted a forest-smart mining approach as part of its work. The overall aim of the initiative is to reduce the climate and environmental footprints of the supply chain of the critical minerals and metals needed for a clean energy transition. To help achieve this goal, the initiative is developing concrete guidance on implementing forest-smart mining principles for large-scale and artisanal-scale mining activities.  

With funding from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and PROFOR, the Climate Smart Mining Initiative has examined the extent to which developing countries and the private sector are effectively establishing forest-smart mining principles in their practices. The study concluded that there were effectively no instances of mining fully incorporating forest-smart approaches. 

How forest-smart mining principles can help

Forest-smart mining is an important building block within the Climate Smart Mining Initiative, providing practical guidelines to ensure that the growth of mining will not be at the expense of forests. The approach acknowledges and understands the relationship between forests and other land uses, such as socio-economic uses and ecosystem services, and actively seeks to reduce loss or damage to those uses, and in some cases, promote a net gain that enhances forestry cover.

The initiative’s large-scale mining component is seeking to build the readiness of public and private entities within the mining sector to use climate tools, policies, and finance mechanisms towards reducing their net greenhouse gas emissions, while also establishing a legacy of protecting and enhancing reclaimed lands.   

The initiative’s artisanal-scale mining component is developing forest-smart mining standards by developing detailed principles, criteria, and indicators that guide artisanal-scale mining actors on how to conduct their mining activity in a forest smart manner. It also works to engage with governments to include forest-smart mining guidelines and principles, criteria, and indicators in existing standards and policies.   

As the science of climate and land use have evolved, the issue of forests and mining has become even more urgent. The recognition that the world is undergoing a twin crisis of climate change and biodome extinction has provided additional impetus to focus on actions that work to preserve and augment our forested areas, while also mitigating the world’s emissions through sustainable land use practices.

While mining represents nearly 25 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions, it is estimated that not even 5 percent of mitigation investments are in the land-use sector. And private sector financing has, up until now, fallen significantly short in supporting greenhouse gas mitigation actions related to land-use change. As one of the sectors responsible for these impacts on forests, particularly in vulnerable tropical zones, the mining sector has an exciting opportunity to be an innovative contributor and financial supporter of win-win solutions that address climate change and ecosystems at risk.