El medio ambiente en la minería

Who's environment is it anyway? NickCoppin La preocupación ambiental se plantea en tres niveles, global, nacional y local. Los Gobiernos legislan teniendo en cuenta estos diferentes niveles. En este contexto, el principio de IIquien contamina paga ll , uno de los pilares de la legilaci6n comunitaria europea, plantea potenciales efectos adversos al provo– car el traspaso de los costos a los consumidores. En realidad, es la sociedad la que paga. Otro aspecto a destacar en la actual práctica europea, es la tendencia a efectuar ecoauditorías o auditorías ambientales. Este método comprende el análisis de todo el ciclo de vida de un producto. In this paper, I shall try to make sorne observations relevant to the topie of future trends in environmentallegislation and, 1shall make sorne obsCrvations about the role of environmental protection in the mining industry, iIlustrated with sorne examples from my own experience in Europe. The fícst question to ask is "why do we wish to protect the environment?". It is not simply beeause a few environmentalists jump up and down and shout "hey, you must stop this!". It is because we recognise that the environment is a resource tbat supports many activities, not just mining: agrieulture, the air we breath, the water we drink. We pollute our own baek yard, or someone elses, at our own peril. This operates at three leveL~: - At the globallevel- our relatiom;hip with the intemational community. - At the nationallevel- if there are concems about large seale or long term pollution, depending on the relationship between the mining industry and other interests, sueh as agriculture and publie health, whieh have significant economic consequences.