Workshops on information dissemination for sustainable development of industrial minerals resources and environmental constraints. (MPSR/99/44).
Abstract
World consumption of industrial minerals is increasing and is likely to continue if the rising expectations of Asia, South America and Africa are to be met. The British Geological Survey, through infoDev Program funding, has run three regional workshops - in Africa, Latin America and the Far East - to provide specialists from government and the mining and consuming industries in developing countries with an appreciation of evaluation techniques for industrial minerals, effective databasing of the resulting information, and use of this information to formulate realistic and responsible long-term strategies for resource management and land-use planning.
These workshops were held in the Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (for Africa), INGEOMINAS, Bogota, Colombia (for Latin America), and UNESCAP, Bangkok, Thailand (for the Far East). A good mix of policy- and decision-makers from both public and private sectors was achieved for the African (16 countries) and Far Eastern (14 countries) workshops. The workshop in Colombia attracted only one external participant (from Peru) in spite of advance notice being provided to all geoscience and related organisations in the region.
Two possibilities for further work are identified in the report. (1) Setting up an interactive industrial minerals website aimed specifically at developing countries would be an effective means of continuing the dialogue established during the workshops. (2) Further workshops for central and northern Africa, the central Asian republics, and Latin America would appear justified.
This report is available for downloading in full colour (236 kb) and black and white (236 kb).