Capacity Building of the Regional Government of Madre de Dios to handle and solve the problems of informal artisanal and small scale mining

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

The Regional Government of Madre de Dios needs capacity building in administering and coordinating the local mining activities including the fast expanding informal, small scale and artisanal mining. While bringing livelihood to local population, they also cause several negative impacts on biodiversity, protected areas, landscapes, waters as well as conflicts with different economic activities like forestry, agriculture and tourism. Social and health problems, including human trafficking and mercury polluted waters, are apparent. The Regional Government of Madre de Dios and its Energy and Mining Directorate need capacity building and training to develop more efficient methods and management tools for control and various permits, as well as to use cleaner and more efficient technologies of processing and extraction of gold, gain tools for assessment on environmental and social impacts and finally to improve the cooperation between various authorities in the mining sector as well as with the neighboring areas in Bolivia and Brazil. The overall objective of the ICI project is to develop the mining sector of region. The project purpose is to increase the capacity of Regional Government for proper management of the problems related to the informal artisanal and small scale mining, in the framework of the Formalization Plan of the artisanal and small-scale mining sector. The expected results of the cooperation are enhanced skills of Energy and Mining Directorate in cleaner and more efficient gold processing methods and in gold reserves evaluation methods on claim-scale. Further expected results are enhanced skills of the Regional Government of Madre de Dios in socio-economic and environmental issues, as well as in national and international cooperation and exchange of experiences. The direct beneficiaries are the personnel of the Regional Government of Madre de Dios and its Energy and Mining Directorate with increased capacity, skills and knowledge of the cooperation focus areas. The other beneficiaries will be the the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, and consequently the people of Madre de Dios with improved living conditions incl. health and socio-environmental aspects as well as their livelihoods. The project implementing parties are Geological Survey of Finland GTK and Regional Government of Madre de Dios and its Directorate of Energy and Mining. Implementing period is 1 January 2013 to 30 June 2015 and project budget is 400 000 Euros.