Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development History Project

Project context

Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) was an independent two-year process of research and consultation in the mining and minerals sector, which was officially completed in 2002. MMSD aimed at understanding how the mining and minerals sector could maximize its contribution to sustainable development at the global, national, regional and local level. MMSD has proposed a clear agenda for global change in the minerals sector, which is based on careful analysis, which is understood and supported by many key stakeholders, and which clearly identifies realistic mechanisms for moving toward greater consideration of sustainability.

The MMSD process commenced in April 2000 and was designed to produce concrete results—a Final Report and a series of Working Papers—and to create a ongoing dialogue process. MMSD was managed by the International Institute for Environment and Development in London commissioned by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The project was initiated by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and supported by the Global Mining Initiative (GMI).

Project objectives

The MMSD History Project was directed by GPPi. It aimed to capture the experiences of several key figures who led the MMSD Project. The idea was to secure their personal recollections of how the MMSD process was launched and how it progressed through its more than two years of existence. This exercise provided former key staffers of the MMSD Project with an opportunity to present their subjective history of the key challenges they encountered in the MMSD Project and how these problems were resolved. A comprehensive evaluation of the MMSD process and its outcomes was conceived as the next step of the MMSD History Project.

Links

Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project website: http://www.iied.org/mmsd/

MMSD Final Report: Breaking New Ground: http://www.iied.org/mmsd/finalreport/index.html  

International Institute for Environment and Development: http://www.iied.org/

International Council on Mining and Metals: http://www.icmm.com  

Global Mining Initiative: http://www.icmm.com/gmi.php  

World Business Council on Sustainable Development: http://www.wbcsd.org