MINING, A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN PROTECTED MOUNTAIN AREAS: CASE STUDY - SAN JUAN PROVICE, REPUBLICA ARGENTINA

• Jurisdiction: Derecho Internacional

International Mining and Oil & Gas Law, Development and Investment
(Apr 2009)
CHAPTER 12A
MINING, A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN PROTECTED MOUNTAIN AREAS: CASE STUDY - SAN JUAN PROVICE, REPUBLICA ARGENTINA
Jimena del Valle Daneri Lucero
Barrick Argentina
San Juan

Jimena del Valle Daneri is a lawyer specialized in mining and business matters. She has also completed graduate courses on Law of Civil Procedures at the Catholic University of Cuyo and on Business Management at the High Management Foundation (Fundación Alta Dirección). As a graduate student she was awarded an international scholarhip from the Intercampus Program, granted by the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation to conduct studies at the University of Gerona - Spain, 1997, on Alternative Methods of Conflict Resolution. She is also a Mediator certified before the Court of Justice of the Province of San Juan. From 1998 to 2001 she worked as a lawyer for the subsidiaries in Argentina of Homestake Mining Company, of American origin, and the Canadian Lundin group. She joined Barrick Gold Mining Argentina in 2002 and she occupied various positions in the firm until the year 2006 when she became Legal Manager of the company. In this position she has been mainly in charge of legal matters associated with the Veladero mining operation and the binational Pascua Lama Project.

I - INTRODUCTION:¹

The purpose of this work is to share with the audience a specific example of harmonious co-existence and integration between human activity and nature in a given area and its surroundings, which has been recognized by the UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve Area under its Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB).

The site is located in the northwestern region of the Province of San Juan, in the Republic of Argentina, and shows that responsible mining, performed under the most stringent international technical and environmental standards, has become a factor for sustainable development in the San Guillermo Biosphere Reserve Area and its surroundings.

This work is arranged as follows:

* General Outlook of the Province of San Juan, Republic of Argentina;

* Discussion of Protected Areas laws in the Province;

* Biosphere Reserves:

(i) General Framework,

(ii) Functions and Areas

* The San Guillermo Biosphere Reserve:

(i) Legal background to its creation - Areas

(ii) Features

(iii) Challenges

(iv) Mining in the Biosphere Reserve and Campo Las Taguas

* Barrick's Projects in the region adjoining the San Guillermo Biosphere Reserve Area:

(i) Veladero Mine

(ii) Pascua Lama Bi-National Project

* Barrick's Environmental Commitment;

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* Other Actions taken by Barrick for the benefit of the San Guillermo Biosphere Reserve;

* Conclusions.

II - THE PROVINCE OF SAN JUAN:²

San Juan is one of the twenty-three (23) Provinces of the Republic of Argentina. It is located in the central western region of the country and is flanked by the Andes Mountain Range to the west.

Its central area is at six hundred and fifty meters above sea level (650 masl), although this altitude varies significantly when getting closer to the Andes Mountain Range, reaching six thousand meters above sea level (6,000 masl).

According to the Population Census of 2001, it had five hundred thirty-seven thousand one hundred ninety-six (537,196) inhabitants, gathered mainly in the lowest areas (central region). At present, its estimated population is approximately six hundred twenty-five thousand (625,000).

The Province has a desert climate, with scarce rainfall, extreme aridity and a large temperature range. Mean temperatures vary from 27°C to 44°C in summer and 8°C to -8°C in winter in the lower areas, with these differences increasing significantly in the mountain areas.

The Province has a surface area of nine million two hundred seventy-eight thousand nine hundred hectares (9,278,900 ha), seventy-eight percent (78%) of which is mountainous. There are two mainstem rivers: the San Juan river (with an average flow of seventy-one cubic meters (71 m3) per second) and the Jáchal river (with an average flow of fourteen cubic meters (14 m3) per second). Both rivers are fed by multiple tributaries from the high Andes that cross the Province in its central and northern areas, respectively, and form the humid valleys that host the main economic life in the area.

For years, the Provincial economy was focused on grape and wine production. At present, it is expanding its horizons to other areas such as cattle breeding, tourism, agriculture and mainly mining, including construction

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stones and precious metals. Two large-scale mining projects are already in operation in the Province, whilst others are at advanced development or exploration stages.

III - PROTECTED AREAS IN THE PROVINCE OF SAN JUAN:³

Another feature that distinguishes the Province of San Juan are its Protected Natural Areas. To date thirteen (13) Protected Natural Areas under different management categories have been created in the Province. The first of these areas has been the San Guillermo Biosphere Reserve.

These specially protected areas stretch over two million two hundred and twenty-seven thousand five hundred hectares (2,227,500 ha) and account for twenty-two percent (22%) of the Provincial territory (9,278,900 ha). San Juan, being a mining Province, is also the Argentine Province with the largest surface area percentage governed by special conservation rules.

These protected areas were created at different times since the seventies.

At present, beyond the fact that each area is subject to a specific foundational legal instrument and special management regulations, all Protected Natural Areas are governed by Provincial Law No. 6,911, published in the Official Gazette of the Province on March 10, 1999.

This law created the "Provincial System of Protected Natural Areas", which applies to all protected areas existing in the Province of San Juan as of its promulgation date and any others that may be created under subsequent laws (Sections 4 and 20, Law 6,911).

In addition, the following "Management Categories" for Protected Natural Areas (Section 4 et seq.) were created:

* Strict Natural Reserves

* Natural Parks

* Natural Monuments

* Managed Natural Reserves

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* Protected Landscapes

* Multiple Use Reserves

* Biosphere Reserves

* World Heritage Sites

Each Protected Natural Area may qualify under more than one of the categories referred above, and as from the promulgation of Law 6,911, any new areas must be created by a Provincial Law, in either public or private domain lands. In the latter case, the management category assigned to the area is agreed upon with the landowner (Section 21, Law 6,911).

In turn, each area must be zoned and must have a Management Plan (Section 19, Law 6,911), which is defined as the "set of decisions and actions planned and formally approved by the Competent Authorities, aimed at the conservation and management of the natural components found in protected areas for the benefit of man, with a view to their sustained use".

IV - BIOSPHERE RESERVES:

a- General Framework:

Man, aware of the opportunities and issues, dilemmas and solutions relating to the environment, conceived the notion of Biosphere Reserves in the year 1974 with the aim of reconciling biological diversity conservation with sustainable resources.

Thus, reserves or areas of terrestrial, coastal or marine ecosystems, or a combination thereof, emerged and were internationally recognized under the UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB).

Biosphere Reserves are nominated by the governments of the different countries seeking such designation, which define the measures deemed necessary to improve their functioning. These Protected Areas must meet certain criteria and must combine three supplementary conditions or functions in a given site so as to be admitted to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

The concept of Biosphere Reserve was originated by a task force of the MAB Program in 1974. The Network of Biosphere Reserves was launched in 1976, and by March 1995 it already included 324 reserves in 82 countries. In 1983 the UNESCO and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) convened the first International Biosphere Reserve Congress in Minsk (Belarus). The Congress' activities gave rise to an "Action Plan for Biosphere Reserves" in 1984 that was approved by the UNESCO's General Conference and the UNEP's Governing Council. Although part of the Minsk Plan is still in force, the context in which Biosphere Reserves operate has changed dramatically over time, as was shown by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and, in particular, the Convention on Biological Diversity signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The major objectives of this Convention are: * conservation of biological diversity, * sustainable use of its components; and * fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. Reserves promote this integrated approach and thus contribute to the enforcement of the Convention.

During the ten years that followed the Minsk Congress, thoughts on Protected Areas and the Notion of Biosphere have developed in the same direction and at present, the relationship between "conservation of biological diversity" and the "development needs of local communities" is a key aspect in the management of these areas. In this way, new methodologies for involving all stakeholders in the decision-making and dispute solution processes have been developed, and many reserves have shown substantial evolution, from the primary focus on conservation to a deeper integration between conservation and development.

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In this context, in 1991 the UNESCO's Executive Board resolved to organize an Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves, which decided to review and evaluate all actions taken so far and to devise a...