El medio ambiente en la minería

EL MEDIO AMBIENTE EN LA MINEAIA 26 - The ereation of senior executive positions responsible for environmental management; - The development of corporate environmentaJ policies¡ - The conduet of regular environmental audits; - The undertaking of environmental assessments of planned projects and operations; - The involvement and consultationwith employees, community and various interest groups; and - The inereased corpora:t~ e~~ronmental reporting to thepubIip¡.. Moreover, on an association basis, we see more and more adherence to industry-wide environmental policies and codes of praetice, of which the Charter for sustainable development of the Intemational Chamber of Com– merce is the best known. Chilean industry is in the forefront in giving support to this Charter, with 86companies currentlyadhering to it, including Compañía de Teléfonos de Chile and, IocaIly, Compañía de Consumidores de Gas de Santiago. In spite of many oC these developments, the industry will continue to place a·' very high priority 00 improving and maintaining itsenvironmentaI perfor– mance. My own sector, the non~ferrous and precious metal industry, recently established the Intemational Couneil on Metals and the Environment. Its mandate is to promote the development, implementation and harmonization of sound environ.rnental and heaIth policies and practices. With·a growing world-wide menibership of leading producers, inclúding tneCorporación' Nacional del Cobre de Chile, the IeME has launehed several initiativés to . further advance its mandate. We want to show lhat while industry is andmust be profit motivated, this will nol détraet from its rciponsibility lo the com- munity, to its employees and to the environment. . However, we must aIl be concemed about the potential for'environmental regulations to act as unintended or unjustified non-tariffbarriers to trade, that is, environmental regulations being used as unfair instruments of competition and trade protectionism. This is particularly important to countries such as Chile which are largely dependant on primary product exports to large developed country markets. As you will appreciate, just about every human actMty impinges. on the environment Moreover, govemments are attempting to respond on an urgent basis to the many public pressures for action on the environment. These two factors can create conditions for the promulgation ofenvironmental regulations that unfairly distort markets and cost com~titiveness between