Strategic Objective: To encourage more sustainable forms of agriculture and other natural resource use through the development of incentives and increased community participation in decision-making.

Achievements and Highlights

• This past year saw a remarkable activity level for IISD in the mining and minerals sector. In particular, this period saw the culmination of the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development – North America (MMSD-NA) project. MMSD-NA was the independent North American component of a global review of mining practices led by the International Institute for Environment and Development (London). The project aimed to develop industry prescriptions for ensuring the compatibility of mining activities with the broad societal shift to sustainable development. The findings and recommendations of the global project were reported at the Global Mining Initiative Conference held in Toronto in May 2002 with the results further presented in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in August-September. MMSD-NA, which was led by IISD in partnership with the Mining Life Cycle Centre, University of Nevada, Reno, released its final report to the Mines Ministers of Canada Annual Meeting in September 2002. The results of MMSD-NA's work have subsequently been described at a number of conferences and symposia. MMSD-NA involved the participation of about 150 individuals drawn from a wide range of interests across North America.

The IISD team has helped bring the relationship between security and the environment into focus and has worked with stakeholders in the mining and minerals industry to persuade the industry to integrate sustainable development issues into their business plans.

• This was a year of maturation for IISD's work on environment and security, even as security issues were at the top of the international political agenda. Building on the initial work of our expert task force, IISD staff members took part in—or led—several major initiatives, including:

  • contributing to the United Nations Global Compact "Conflict Impact Assessment Guidelines for Companies";
  • serving as the secretariat for a multiagency environment and security initiative launched by several UN agencies and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to address concerns in the former Yugoslavia and the Central Asian states;
  • acting as an advisor to the United Nations Environment Programme's Post-Conflict Assessment Unit's missions to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Occupied Territories of Palestine; and
  • participating in an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development working group on environment and conflict.
  
  

• Conserving the Peace, the IISD/IUCN book on resources, livelihoods and security, is becoming a popular resource in the field, and is currently used in courses at the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa and the University of California-Irvine, among others. The book contains a number of case studies and many recommendations about how effective conservation practices can contribute to improved security and livelihoods at the community level.

IISD is actively pursuing expansion of the Natural Resources Management strategic objective area, which is currently functioning without a director. A process to assess our prospects and resource requirements began at the end of the fiscal year.

• Arthur Hanson, IISD Distinguished Fellow and Senior Scientist, continues to serve as one of two Ministerial Oceans Ambassadors in Canada, focusing on Canada's Oceans Act. Dr. Hanson also chaired the Technical Advisory Committee for the Equator Initiative, culminating in awards presented by the United Nations at the WSSD, recognizing tropical communities successful in reducing poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. He also spent a considerable portion of his time during the past year as Lead Expert with the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, helping to set new directions on policy advice.