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

Summary

Goal

The objective of this project is to support the larger quest of improving health and human well-being on a sustainable basis in regions stressed by mining activities.

Specifically this project attempts to:
Improve and refine the tools developed in Phase II through further research and
Enhance the capability set of people in mining regions by focusing on:

- issues that have constrained their ability to do or be, and
- issues which need to be addressed to inform improved policy choices that relate to
  health systems and to remediation of mining regions

Background This project has evolved from two previous phases of research. In Phase I (1999) a conceptual framework was developed for a set of tools to track changes in health and well-being of communities in mining regions over time. In Phase II (2002) a set of three tools were developed and tested, namely:

Environment and Social Performance Indicator (ESPI) tool to track the sustainability of    performance in the minerals sector,
Quality of Life (QOL) tool to track changes in the quality of life of communities in
   mining belts
Impact Adjusted Income Accounts where the income obtained from mining is
   adjusted for the social and environmental impacts of mining activities in the region.

In Phase III we continue to use the Ecohealth approach to understand the constraints to good health and well-being in a mining context and to understand better how mining influences the quality of life. The research focuses on the interplay of a variety of constituents and determinants1 of health and well-being originating in various domains or spheres within our mining ecosystem, namely the social, economic, political, biophysical, biomedical domains.

Activities

This project revolves around three main activities:

Research which is broken down into four sub-components. These are

-  Further explorations into health, well-being, and gender issues in mining regions
-  Valuing the environmental-health linkages from air pollution in mining regions
-  Understanding environment-health linkages in remediation plans - the issue of fruit
   trees for community plantations
-  Assessing governance with regard to health and well-being issues in mining regions

Capacity building of (a) local government to regulate and monitor, and (b) local communities to understand the nature of issues and to plan alternatives

Dissemination of research findings and tool activities along with guidelines to enable the stakeholders to monitor and manage mining ecosystems more effectively.

Further explorations into health, well-being, and gender issues in mining regions

Through this component of the project, we attempt to refine the Quality of Life (QOL) tool developed in Phase II of the project, through further research. The QOL tool is a survey-based tool that attempts to track changes in health and well-being in mining communities through a variety of subjective and objective indicators cutting across a range of domains such as the biomedical, social, economic, political, and biophysical.

Within this component of the project the research focuses on how mining has impacted men and women in terms of their biomedical health status, their livelihood opportunities and their access to basic amenities such as water, health services, etc., all of which are intrinsic to good health and well-being. Through the research we attempt to tease out how women and men are affected differently or to differing degrees.

In terms of biomedical health status, the research focuses on identifying the most common ailments within the community among men, women and children and understanding people’s perceptions of the causes of these illnesses. Additionally, the research aims at documenting the kind of medical services available in the region, problems relating to access to care, and people’s perceptions and expectations in terms of health care service delivery.

Since the mining areas in Goa are largely located in rural areas, the project seeks to highlight the impact of mining on agriculture, a traditional source of livelihood, and water. Here gender differences are sought in terms of women’s participation in agriculture, the differing impact on men and women where agriculture is stopped and differential access to new livelihood opportunities created by mining. Open-cast mining in Goa has also affected ground water in areas around the mines. The differing impact of water shortages on the lives of men and women as a result of mining are also studied.

A variety of different research methods are being used to gather data within this component of the project, including participatory techniques, focus group discussions, and surveys.

Valuing the environmental-health linkages from air pollution in mining regions

The main aim of this component of the project is to improve upon the valuation of health costs due to mining, as carried out in Phase II of this project. Our focus is on health costs associated with air pollution in the mining areas, as this was found to be the major environmental impact adversely affecting health outcomes. A major limitation of the valuation of the cost of ill-health conducted in the Phase II study was the assumption that the dose-response functions for other countries hold true for the study area. Improving on this limitation, this component of Phase III involves the development of a dose-response function for the study area.

The novelty in our approach is the use of total exposure assessment while using the health production model and supplementing the quantitative assessments with qualitative data so as to provide a holistic picture. Using total exposures to air pollution and not merely ambient concentrations of air pollution leads to a more accurate estimation of exposure, a larger set of management options, and a better picture of the effects of air pollution on different socio-economic groups. The total exposure assessment approach most importantly captures the role of other sources of pollutants such as traditional cooking fuels.

In order to develop a dose-response function, three main research components have been identified, namely, 1) assessment of community health status, 2) air pollution exposure assessment, and 3) economic valuation of the cost of ill health. Each component includes a number of activities as listed below:

The assessment of health status involves 312 households participating in a household survey to gather socio-economic data, an individual survey (1418 subjects) to gather data on reported health, clinical tests for the same 1418 subjects (chest x-rays and pulmonary function tests), health diaries maintained by each household to maintain a record of illnesses and a recall survey.

The air pollution exposure assessment includes a time budget survey of the daily routine of 1418 subjects to identify how many hours are spent in each micro-environment.
Simultaneously air pollution monitoring in micro-environments is to be conducted in three seasons to determine ambient concentrations within the micro-environments.

Within the economic valuation we will attempt to establish a link between observed health status and air pollution exposure levels (dose-response function) and use the dose-response function to arrive at a valuation of the cost of ill-health as a result of exposure to air pollution.

An institutional ethics committee has been formed based on the guidelines from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) to ensure high ethical standards in the involvement and testing of human subjects. The approval of the ethics committee is integral to our research methodology.

Understanding environment-health linkages in remediation plans - the issue of fruit trees for community plantations

Focus group research in the previous phase (Phase II) of this project indicated that local communities would like to grow fruit trees on mine dumps. Interviews with mining companies and policymakers have suggested that growing of fruit trees is of interest to these stakeholders as well. However, there is inadequate research on the possible health implications of such measures with regard to the potential for metal uptake by fruits grown on iron ore dumps. The literature review suggests that metal uptake by fruits will depend on the type of the soil and the type of the plant.

While metals such as copper, iron, manganese, and zinc are essential for growth and functioning of plants under normal conditions, when they are present in the soil in excess of the required range, they pose environmental and health concerns similar to other heavy metals. Toxicity in humans can be either due to direct consumption or through the food chain and several authors have discussed the toxicological effects of iron on humans.

This component will assess metal uptake by local fruit trees grown under local conditions on the mining rejects in Goa. This research is expected to establish linkages, if any, between health and environment through accumulation of metals from the soil system into fruits. Recommendations for the type of plants for cultivation on the dumps will be based on metal uptake by the plant system. This will help better dump management practices by various stakeholders.

The following activities are being taken up under this component:

Vegetation assessment to identify the different species of vegetation growing on mine rejects and in the mining areas.
Estimation of metal content in soil and biological samples such as fruits and leaves using atomic absorption spectrophotometry
Analysis of metal uptake by fruits and other biological samples
Cost-benefit analysis of end-use of vegetation type
Stakeholder consultation and dissemination.

Assessing governance with regard to health and well-being issues in mining regions

Mining or industrial activities often have negative impacts on the natural environment that in turn affect the health and well-being of local communities. In this context good governance is crucial for effective monitoring, control and/or mitigation of these impacts. In this component of the project we attempt to assess the effectiveness of governance in our mining ecosystem in addressing issues or problems thrown up by mining. Additionally we attempt to refine and improve the feasibility and practicality of the Environmental and Social Performance Indicator (ESPI) tool developed in Phase II by building a set of guidelines for use by industry and government.

In this sub-project we subscribe to the UNESCAP (2004) definition of governance, which states that governance is “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)”. The same authors suggest that an analysis of governance should focus on the formal and informal actors involved in decision-making and implementation and the formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and implement the decisions (UNESCAP 2004).

After extensive research using participatory methods taken up in Phase III we have chosen to further probe the issues of health care services, water supply, air quality, compensation for land lost, and the performance of local government bodies [Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)]. It is upon these determinants of health and well-being, that we impose the scrutiny of good governance.

We attempt to assess the processes of decision-making and implementation relative to these issues by identifying the actors, institutions and associations involved, the links between them and the factors that influence or constrain their performance. This sub-project also specifically focuses on studying the relative differences in the performance of PRIs across the study area and will attempt to identify measures to strengthen PRIs through the monitoring of environmental and social indicators.

A variety of research methods including participatory rural appraisal exercises, surveys, focus group discussions, and formal and informal interviews are being used to implement the research agenda.