By Christina Ankenbrand, Zabrina Welter and Nina Engwicht:

Environmental peacebuilding encompasses the establishment of security, the promotion of good governance and the improvement of livelihoods. This is to be achieved in small-scale mining through formalization. On the one hand, small-scale mining provides a livelihood for millions of people in the Global South, but on the other hand it is associated with a variety of social and environmental risks. A focus on improving livelihoods is crucial in order to develop the peace-building potential of small-scale mining. However, formalization measures have so far achieved little improvement, especially in the living conditions of small-scale miners and affected communities - and thus do not contribute to sustainable peace.

Artisanal and small-scalemining(ASM) is an important source of livelihood for millions of people in the Global South. Using simple, labour-intensive means and a low degree of mechanization, small-scale miners extract mineral resources from deposits that are often unsuitable for industrial mining. The largely informal industry is a double-edged sword for many developing and emerging countries. On the one hand, small-scale mining creates a livelihood for many households and represents an important strategy for poverty reduction and income diversification in rural communities. On the other hand, however, small-scale mining is also associated with armed conflict, organized crime, human rights violations, corruption and environmental degradation. The role of so-called "conflict diamonds" in fueling civil wars in Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia has become a prominent example of the problems that can be associated with small-scale mining.

For a long time, little attention was paid to the role of small-scale mining in establishing sustainable peace. Rather, the sector was perceived as problematic and associated with conflict, human insecurity and poor governance. This led to interventions that were particularly promoted by the international community and aimed primarily at preventing conflict financing through the illegal trade in raw materials. This was to be achieved primarily by improving state control and promoting transparent and accountable resource management. Certainly the most famous example in this regard is the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS ) - a global multi-stakeholder initiative designed to prevent the trade in diamonds from contributing to the financing of rebel groups. It requires participating exporting countries to establish comprehensive controls on diamond mining and trade and to develop a certification system of origin. However, like most other initial state- and peace-building interventions in the extractive sector, the KPCS largely ignored the importance of improving the livelihoods of people working in and affected by small-scale mining to address the causes of conflict and build lasting peace. Recently, however, this perspective has increasingly changed. In particular, experts in the field of environmentalpeacebuildingdingwho deal with peacebuilding in the environmental and resource sector are emphasizing the importance of livelihoods in combating the causes of conflict such as poverty, unemployment and socio-economic inequality.

Formalization in small-scale mining: To what end?

Formalization of small-scale mining has become an important reform tool in the extractive sector. Broadly defined as the integration of informal mining activities into a formal legal framework, the formalization of small-scale mining is seen as a crucial tool to address the challenges of the sector, especially in post-conflict societies. Initially, formalization approaches were primarily focused on legalization in the small-scale mining sector. They mainly concentrated on preventing the financing of conflicts, increasing state control and creating transparency. Licensing, registration and traceability processes were seen as the necessary measures to curb informality and promote the professionalization of the small-scale mining sector. In reality, however, this "legalistic" approach to formalization has led to unsatisfactory results in terms of the social and environmental problems associated with small-scale mining. It has also created few incentives for actors in small-scale mining to support the formalization process. The KPCS, for example, promoted formalization in producing countries with a focus on licensing, monitoring and traceability. However, it became apparent that the living conditions of small-scale miners at the beginning of the supply chain did not improve. In addition, the formalization of small-scale mining often unintentionally contributes to the exclusion of actors who cannot afford the direct and indirect costs of formalization. This increases the risk of institutionalizing inequality without addressing the underlying causes of conflict. As a result, there are increasing calls for a different approach to formalization that takes into account the realities and needs of mining communities and improves living conditions. For example, an increasing number of formalization plans now take into account the potential of small-scale mining to create income opportunities and the resulting need for measures that address the needs of small-scale miners and their communities.

Newer approaches understand formalization as a process that supports and empowers state actors and small-scale mining stakeholders to progressively obtain the necessary permits and competencies to ensure that small-scale mining is carried out in accordance with national regulations and international standards. Formalization aims to ensure that policies are implemented, enforced and monitored, that small-scale mining actors are licensed and organized into representative entities, and that they receive the technical, administrative and financial support to increase profits and comply with regulations. The central idea here is that only an inclusive and holistic approach to formalization can both mitigate the negative impacts of small-scale mining and promote its potential to generate income opportunities - which is ultimately necessary to contribute to a peace that is more than the absence of resource-financed violence.