We promote the integration of environmental sustainability in the governance of the extractive sector.
Natural resources governance
The International Resource Panel conducts research to advise policymakers, industry and communities on how to improve mineral resource management. Their reports have received wide media coverage and reinforced the need to reduce, reuse and recycle.
We are working with Norway on the Oil for Development Programme to provide capacity-building to 12 countries on environmental management of the oil and gas sector.
The UN Environment-hosted Nairobi Convention, which was set up to protect the marine and coastal environment in East Africa, is working to ensure that the burgeoning oil and gas sector in the Western Indian Ocean is run with as small an environmental impact as possible.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining
Through the Global Mercury Partnership and funding from GEF, UNEP is supporting over 30 countries in the development of National Action Plans to meet their commitments under the Minamata Convention to reduce mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. The Convention bans as well new mercury mines and aims to phase-out existing ones, amongst other measures. Moreover, the UNEP-led, GEF-funded planetGOLD programme works in partnership with governments, the private sector, and ASGM communities to make small-scale gold mining safer, cleaner, and more profitable.
Harnessing public revenues
The Green Fiscal Policy Network unites countries to build interest in fiscal policies that allow public revenues from extraction to support sustainable development. The network is a partnership between UN Environment, the German Corporation for International Development (GIZ) and the International Monetary Fund.
The Poverty-Environment Initiative, which is run jointly by the UN Development Programme and UN Environment, works to ensure that the links between poverty and the environment are recognized and accounted for in national policies and budgets. The extractives industry is clearly important in this work. In Myanmar, for example, PEI works with the government to support investments, particularly in natural resources, that are beneficial for Myanmar’s people without high environmental or social impacts. The government is modifying investment laws, policies and practices and has established a “One Stop Service” to guide investors.
United Nations Environment Assembly Resolutions (UNEA)
We are supporting the implementation of UNEA resolution 4/19 on mineral resource governance which was adopted in 2019. A follow-up resolution on environmental aspects of minerals and metals management was approved at the fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly in 2022. More information.
