Environmental/social performance indicators (ESPIs) and sustainability markers in minerals development: reporting progress towards improved health and human well-being: Phase I
for International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada

Summary

This was Phase I of a collaborative project with the University of Bath, UK, and the University of Antioch, Colombia. The objective of the project is to describe, develop, and test new and improved tools and methods for research on ecosystem approaches to human health and well being. Phase I involved developing a conceptual framework of performance indicators and sustainability markers, which can be used by different user groups to systematically evaluate and communicate the performance of mining projects with regard to improving the well-being of mining related communities over time.

The entry point for the study is the mineral development project, and the stakeholder most focused on, is the community in mining clusters. The main issues relate to environmental quality, income and employment, and health.

The framework suggests the development of 3 sets of tools:

ESPIs for the identified issues are built using the Pressure State Response approach. These are sets of measures related to the conditions found in a mining region, of mining practices and activities that affect health and well being, of responses to such conditions and pressures, and the relationships among such variables.
A quality of life instrument to assess the satisfaction of the individuals/community in the mining region with the conditions that they have to live in.
The use of an accounting framework to arrive at an estimate of an impact adjusted income figure for the minign region.

In the next phase of this research, the following will be done:

Development of a framework of environmental and social performance indicators based on issues identified in Phase I
Testing of the indicator framework
Development, refinement and testing of the QOL (Quality of Life) instrument
Developing natural resource accounts for the mineral sector in Goa