Social openness and responsibility (in mining and land use policy in Portugal)

Challenge the practice is addressing: The General Directorate for Energy and Geology (DGEG, Portuguese Mining Authority) fosters a land use planning policy that clearly includes mineral resources in harmonization with other uses of rural soil (recognizing their parity and co-existence with other natural resources), avoiding conflicts in the use of soil, and preventing uses that might compromise/sterilise the current and future access to deposits and known mineral occurrences.

Concrete practice to achieve the expected goal: a) Involvement of municipalities in licensing/permitting procedures: The municipalities in which a project is going to be developed are directly consulted by DGEG (Direção Geral de Energia e Geologia) during the license/permitting procedures, whereby their opinions are analysed and taken into account. b) Involvement of other stakeholders: Prerequisites, defined by the new Mining Act are 'systems' or protocols for sharing information to be understandable by different stakeholders. In order to keep other stakeholders informed about recent mining activities GEG publishes the main conditions of the application on the Government Journal and in two national and local newspapers. c) Redirecting royalty revenue to regional development: Due to the allocation of a part of the royalties value (up to 25% of the total amount of the royalties due to the Government may be deducted and applied to local programs by the mining companies) towards regional investment, communities become more open, and less opposed, to mining activities.

Expected impact/goal of the practice: Increasing corporate social responsibility as well as public awareness and trust in the mining sector, the sector should improve the quality of life and local programmes through social openness and responsibility.

Who is the target user group of the practice/intervention or implementing the practice/intervention? This practice is intended for policy makers and in further consequence industry.