Document Type: Fact Sheets

Mining almost always causes environmental degradation. Forests are cut down to extract mineral deposits. Rivers and lakes are polluted by mining byproducts. Soils are contaminated and eroded. Biodiversity loss and habitat destruction can be rampant. Such environmental impacts have adverse consequences for local communities, such as polluted water or food sources. In addition, although the net climate advantage of clean energy is still high, extraction of critical minerals often causes higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as compared to other minerals.

Clean energy technologies, computers, smartphones, and military readiness all rely on a handful of critical minerals that are in short supply. Growing demand is expected to lead to a global mining boom. Depending on how it is managed, this boom has the potential to either advance or undermine a range of social, economic, and environmental development goals.

Critical minerals have become a top national security priority due to their importance to the U.S. economy, high-level objectives on climate change, and U.S. military readiness. Additionally, the People’s Republic of China maintains a dominant position in both mining and mineral processing globally due, in part, to using non-competitive practices, including strategically targeting countries that have weak governance and are marred by corruption.

For USAID, critical minerals programming can advance our goals on climate change, biodiversity, conflict reduction, anti-corruption, economic growth, gender, and inclusive development. Mining operations can provoke conflict, violate human and labor rights, cause environmental degradation, worsen corruption, and exacerbate existing social inequities, especially in countries with weak governance. However, if these risks are proactively managed and companies commit to mining responsibly, mining can positively contribute to broad-based economic development.

Background

The USAID Liberia Land Management Activity (LMA), a four-year task order under the STARR II IDIQ, is implemented by ECODIT, a woman-owned small business, along with key Liberian partners from the government, the Liberia Land Authority, and several local CSO partners. The LMA fosters effective and inclusive governance of community land and natural resources, including land management, use, and access. The LMA supports Liberian communities to obtain official deeds to their customary land per the 2018 Land Rights Act (LRA) and to improve the use of customary land for sustainable, equitable economic benefit.

Goals

1. Communities Obtain Deeds to their Communal Land.
2. Communities Plan and Manage Communal / Customary Land for Productive Use.
3. Women, Youth, and Other Marginalized Groups Participate in and Benefit from Communal Land
   Management.
4. Communities Utilize Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to Resolve Land Disputes and
   Grievances

Key Results Achieved

• Supported 16 Community Land Development and Management Committees (CLDMCs) to incorporate grievance redress mechanisms in their local bylaws.
• Resolved 19 boundary disputes across 13 communities through traditional ADR techniques.
• Launched an advanced geomantic training program to strengthen the capacity of county-level Liberia Land Authority (LLA) surveyors, supporting the decentralization of the community land rights formalization (CLRF).
• Procured modern surveying equipment for county-level LLA offices to facilitate the speedy survey of customary land and decentralization of CLRF services.
• Implemented 111 communications initiatives reaching 3,268 community members to raise awareness on land rights, the CLRF process, and the critical roles of women and youth.
• Facilitated drafting or advancement of five regulations or guidelines for the CLRF process.
• Built the capacity of 48 community-based organizations (CBOs) to support communities in the CLRF process.
• Developed numerous training tools to strengthen the capacity of communities and their CLDMCs to solidify their land rights and manage their land for equitable benefit.
• Assisted one community through deeding and facilitated the final formal deed hand over to the community.

Secure land and resource rights, coupled with sound governance, encourage investment and support economic growth. They provide a foundation for urban planning and service delivery. Secure rights and good governance enable effective and equitable management of natural resources including forests, wetlands, water sources, biodiversity, and critical minerals. Secure land and resource rights can reduce conflicts and contribute positively to peace, stability, and resilient economic growth. Yet, across many countries, land and resource rights frameworks and governance institutions are weak; there is limited capacity to enforce rules and norms, and for many, access to justice is out of reach. These issues constrain economic, environmental, and social development outcomes in many USAID-presence countries.

USAID’s Integrated Land and Resource Governance II (ILRG II) program works with USAID Missions, operating units, host country governments, civil society, the private sector, and local communities to develop inclusive, innovative and replicable strategies to clarify tenure and property rights and resolve land-related conflicts. ILRG II’s approach to land and resource governance supports a broad range of development goals, including:

• Empowering women, Indigenous Peoples, youth, and marginalized or underrepresented groups;
• Advancing inclusive climate action and nature-based solutions;
• Conserving biodiversity;
• Strengthening sustainable food and agro-ecological systems;
• Promoting responsible land-based investing and innovation;
• Mitigating or preventing conflict mitigated;
• Adopting more responsible and inclusive practices in the mining of critical minerals, essential for the green energy transition;
• Supporting sustainable urbanization and disaster risk management.

ILRG II works with stakeholders to create space for dialogue on these issues and implements inclusive approaches that provide incremental progress toward more just land and resource governance.

Many critical minerals vital to the global energy transition are found in USAID-presence countries. USAID is well positioned to advance just and responsible mining practices in partner countries, which can offset associated supply-chain risks in the face of booming global demand. 

To create a low-carbon economy that will reduce the threat of climate change, the world must shift from a fossil fuel-based economy towards renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. These technologies rely on several dozen minerals, including cobalt, nickel, lithium, and rare earth elements. Global demand for these key minerals is projected to increase by as much as 400 percent by 2040 compared to today’s levels (see figure below). These minerals are mined in more than 70 countries, including many where USAID operates.

USAID has more than 20 years of experience supporting responsible supply chains for diamonds, gold, and other conflict minerals. More broadly, it has deep expertise promoting transparent resource governance, protecting the environment, preventing conflict, improving benefit sharing, and other development goals that intersect with mining. The Agency is well-positioned to build on this work in the context of today’s increasing global demands for minerals, simultaneously working to support our climate mitigation goals, contribute to economic development, and avoid a new “resource curse.” 

To this end, USAID’s Land and Resource Governance (LRG) Division supports Missions to promote more responsible mining. The LRG Division provides technical analysis of mining issues specific to each country, support with private sector and civil society engagement, facilitation for integrating mining considerations into other programs, and other services. Through these efforts in collaboration with host countries and other stakeholders, USAID programs can influence the direction mining takes—mitigating negative impacts while helping to achieve development goals.

An estimated 70 percent of land in developing countries is not documented, and hundreds of millions of households in rural and urban areas lack secure rights to the land and resource they live and rely on. This limits access to capital and the ability to make long-term investments. As a result, these individuals are particularly vulnerable in the event of conflict or natural disaster. Countries where property rights are perceived as insecure are less attractive for investors and more reliant on donor funding. USAID recognizes that strengthening rights to land and natural resources is central to achieving a broad range of development goals on the journey to self-reliance including: conflict prevention and mitigation; countering violent extremism; realizing inclusive economic growth, managing biodiversity and natural resources sustainably; enhancing agricultural productivity; generating own source revenue; and empowering women and vulnerable populations.

The USAID Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) task order under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights II (STARR II) IDIQ – managed by the E3/Land and Urban Office – seeks to address this constraint through four interrelated areas of intervention:

• Supporting the development of inclusive land and property rights laws and policies;
• Assisting law and policy implementation, including clarifying, documenting, registering, and administering rights to land and resources;
• Increasing the capacity of local institutions to administer land and strengthen governance; and
• Facilitating responsible land-based investment that creates optimized outcomes for communities and investors.

The Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) activity provides demand-driven support services and technical assistance for USAID Missions and Operating Units across a wide array of environmental and natural resource management issues.

Sound governance and management of natural resources are central to long-term, sustainable development and resilience. As the world is faced with growing threats to the environment and human well-being, solutions that effectively integrate investments in natural resource management with economic and social development are increasingly urgent. INRM promotes integrated programming across environment and non-environment sectors and across the USAID Program Cycle. INRM supports USAID to amplify program impacts, strengthen gender equality and social inclusion, and identify best practices for integration.