Svemin: Mining with nature - Sweden's first industry roadmap for biodiversity
image: Svemin
On behalf of Svemin, the Swedish industry organization for mines, mineral and metal producers, Ecogain has developed the first industry roadmap for biodiversity in Sweden: Mining with Nature.
The vision was to create something concrete to support individual companies in their work on biodiversity, and also to send a political message. After discussions in the working group with representatives of the mining and minerals industry, it soon became clear that it was precisely an industry roadmap they wanted to produce - the first of its kind.
The overall target set is ambitious: by 2030, the mining and minerals industry should contribute to biodiversity enhancement in all regions where exploration and mining and minerals activities take place.
To achieve this, the basis of the roadmap includes increasing knowledge in the area and working on the basis of the hierarchy of considerations: avoid, minimize, restore and compensate. This means working actively to minimize the impact on sensitive areas, taking all reasonably significant mitigation measures, planning for ecological aftercare and, in addition to these measures, striving to compensate for any remaining damage to biodiversity.
The aim is to make it easier for the sector and individual companies to understand risks and opportunities and to set targets for their organization-specific work. This may involve identifying risks and dependencies, as well as opportunities to add value to biodiversity.
"The issue of biodiversity will soon be as natural a part of companies' sustainability work as the climate issue, and it is noticeable that more and more actors are becoming aware of how well-functioning ecosystem services and reduced climate change go hand in hand. The mining industry in Sweden is a pioneer that looks beyond fossil-free and takes greater responsibility through this roadmap, but I think it is only a matter of time before more industries follow in the same footsteps."
Although the Corona pandemic broke out in the middle of the work, there was never any thought of canceling or postponing the project. Digital meetings continued as planned and the project was completed on time.
"Of course, there are things that could have been done differently had it not been for the restrictions, but the basic planning in this project was that we would have a lot of remote meetings. This has been a cornerstone of the working method from the beginning and I really believe that it has been crucial for many in the working group to be able to participate in parallel with their other assignments. The project evaluation was very positive, so it feels like a success story! I am absolutely convinced that we will continue to work a lot with video meetings in the future."
