Coalition Against the Mining Pandemic Report and Website Launch
Channel: MiningWatch Canada
Date: 2022-06-15

Over two years since the WHO first declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic, communities around the world continue to face the intersecting and compounding effects of extractivism and the virus.

On June 10th, 2022, we launched reports that document these impacts and highlight how mining-affected communities continue to model a truly just recovery–from both the mining and COVID-19 pandemics.

Research coordinators from the Coalition’s Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America research committees engaged in a round table about the research process, some of the main dynamics they’ve worked to document, and some of the solidarity actions being asked for by frontline communities.

Our collaborative research shows how during the pandemic:
• The economic and political power asymmetries between mining companies, governments, and mining-affected communities significantly deepened.
• States and governments used the opportunity to frame mining as “essential” and necessary for post pandemic recovery and thus justify highly destructive practices.
• Frontline communities faced serious new threats and to their safety and increased risks of violence, both from the virus and selectively implemented pandemic restrictions, militarization, and criminalisation.
• Communities around the world continue to mobilize in the defence of their lives and territories, developing new ways of working together to keep one another and the planet safe from harm.

The project was supported by the Response and Vision Fund of FORGE funders (Funders Organized for Rights in the Global Economy) as well as Rettet den Regenwald/Salva la Selva and coordinated by:
• MiningWatch Canada
• WoMin - South Africa
• mines, minerals, & PEOPLE - India
• TerraJusta - Bolivia
• London Mining Network - UK
• Alyansa Tigil Mina - Philippines
• War on Want - UK
• Institute for Policy Studies - USA
• Rettet den Regenwald/Salva la Selva - Germany
• Yes to Life, No to Mining - global network
• Gaia Foundation - UK