Environmental Impact of Rat-Hole Coal Mines on the Biodiversity of Meghalaya, India

The paper appreciates coal mining laws and policies applied by National Green Tribunal to ban traditional, artisanal and rat-hole coal mining in Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya (a state in India) in an attempt to conserve its environment and biodiversity. Meghalaya represents an important part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot which is one of the four bio-diversity hotspots of India and ranks 34th among the hotspots in the world. It is equally bestowed with rich deposits of coal, which can be found in the Khasi Hills, Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills districts. Coal mining from these districts is labour-intensive and involves digging narrow rat-hole sized tunnels that are four-feet high. The workers enter into the rat-hole in an extremely hazardous manner, setting aside the ergonomic principles for the extraction of coal. The legal framework of coal mining is governed by Mines Act, 1952, Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, Mineral Concession Rules, 1960, Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973, Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 1988 and Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015. However, these laws are not applied to Meghalaya because of its constitutional status enshrined in Sixth Schedule and Article 244 of the Constitution of India, 1950. Coal mining has brought employment opportunities, tribal sustenance and economic development that led to environmental degradation, disruption of ecosystems and biological diversity. The hazardous pursuits have been bereft of safety and ergonomic principle besides being oblivious of SDF of mining laws and policies in India.

Assessing Green Policies for the Rehabilitation and Sustainable Restoration of Mine Sites in Cameroon: Case of the Mayo-Darlé Mine Site, Adamawa Region

Mining is not without negative consequences for the environment. It is appropriate for each concerned state, particularly Cameroon, to adopt and implement mining laws and regulations to reduce environmental risks. The former Mayo-Darlé mine site in the Adamawa region that has been abandoned for several decades is a striking example of the limitations and lapses of national environmental protection policies. Hence, this study outlines an inventory of features in the concerned mine site while analyzing green policies related to the mining sector in Cameroon. The study attempts to modelize the socio-economic and environmental impacts in the sustainable management of the Mayo-Darlé mine site. The study proposes the prescription of a green network to encourage artisanal sustainable practices within mining fields. This “eco-sustainable" strategy shall be specific to mine site development. The implementation of measures outlined in the proposed policy shall considerably improve environmental conditions around the mine site. This involves the establishment of a rehabilitation plan and realistic restoration of the Mayo Darlé site for good preservation of the environment.

Legal regime of land in the mining areas of medieval Serbia

The aim of the research is to cast light on the legal regime of the mining area land in medieval Serbia and to answer to what extent Saxon customary mining law was accepted in this aspect and what the ratio legis of article 123 of Dušan's Code was? It seems likely that until the enactment of Dušan's Code it was possible to occupy land cleared for mining purposes and to acquire property of the mining area, which was previously res nullius. However, Dušan's Code changed this rule prescribing only the possibility of acquiring the time limited mining concession, which was motived by possible permanent monopolization of the land in the mining areas. At the same time, the Code proclaimed the right of ore search and exploration on the feudal lords' land. Similarities to the older Hungarian and Czech law indicates legal transplantation. The mining concession was regulated in Despot Stefan's Mining Code for Novo Brdo, which prescribed detailed rules for losing the concession in the case of neglecting the mining activity. Based on similarities one can assume that these rules were mostly the reception of the Saxon customary mining law, also written in late medieval mining laws of Hungary and Czechia. However, the small differences may show that after one and a half century the Serbian mining community introduced its own unique rules. Research is based on linguistic, systematic and historical analysis of the sources as well as the regressive analysis and comparative method.

The institution of urbarars in mediaeval Serbia

Urbarars are an institution of Saxon customary law, which was present in mediaeval mining laws of Bohemia and Serbia. The aim of this paper is to compare Serbian and Bohemian mediaeval solutions and to discover whether and to what degree urbarars were an original development within the Serbian mediaeval state. The results show that the two institutions are similar with regard to their judicial competence and the task of keeping registries of legal titles. The differences are more numerous. Bohemian urbarars were at the same time contractors for regal incomes, which leads to further differences. Serbian urbarars had smaller competences and, according to the sources, did not collect the urbor. Their jurisdiction was much narrower, confined to mining disputes of lower value. They survey the mining field and keep records about concessions and mining partnerships, which, in Bohemia, was the task of special notaries and not urbarars. The urbarars of Novo Brdo received compensation for their services in the form of fees for surveys and registration of legal titles, as well as fines for delicts, while Bohemian urbarars received a part of the collected regal income. Taking everything into account, it can be cautiously concluded that Bohemian solutions were closer to Saxon customs. On the one hand, Bohemian legal sources are at least a century older than the Serbian sources, on the other hand, Saxons in Serbia were few and were quickly assimilated, whereas Germans remained a significant community in Bohemia well into the XX century, which means that they could preserve their customs, as well as legal customs, more easily. This confirms the authenticity of a good part of norms of Serbian mining law, i.e. that from XIII to XV century it experienced a sui generis development in Serbia. It was then received in the Ottoman Empire and survived the state which created it by several centuries. The applied methods are linguistic, systemic and historical interpretation of the sources, as well as the comparative and historical method.

Vale disaster may prompt tighter Brazil mining laws

Significance The Brumadinho collapse comes just over three years after the similar Samarco disaster in Mariana. Health, environmental and economic concerns are mounting as sludge flows down Paraopeba river and may soon reach the Sao Francisco river. New evacuations have been ordered today at another Vale tailings dam, at the Gongo Soco mine. Impacts Vale faces economic and reputational damage but government intervention in the company is unlikely. Brazil’s key mining exports may be affected by Vale’s output suspension in some areas. The episode may oblige the government to reconsider its preference for making environmental laws more flexible.

Kebijakan Pengelolaan Tambang dan Masyarakat Hukum Adat yang Berkeadilan Ekologis

Permasalahan dalam penelitian ini adalah: pertama, bagaimana kebijakan pengelolaan sumber daya pertambangan berdasarkan undang-undang pertambangan mineral dan batubara? Kedua, bagaimana kebijakan pengelolaan sumber daya pertambangan perspektif masyarakat hukum adat yang berkeadilan ekologis? Metode penelitian ini menggunakan penelitian hukum normatif. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa, pertama, kebijakan pengelolaan sumber daya pertambangan berdasarkan undang-undang pertambangan mineral dan batubara saat ini hendaknya disesuaikan dengan putusan-putusan mahkamah konstitusi dan Undang-Undang Nomor 23 tahun 2014 tentang Pemerintahan Daerah dalam konteks perizinan. Pemerintah daerah provinsi sekarang ini mengambil alih kewenangan pemerintah kabupaten/kota untuk mengeluarkan izin tambang berdasarkan Undang-Undang Nomor 23 tahun 2014 yang sebenarnya masih bersifat semi sentralistik dan secara kewilayahannya dalam konteks tambang masih berada di kabupaten, sementara pemerintah provinsi sebagai wakil dari pemerintah pusat; kedua, Kebijakan pengelolaan sumber daya pertambangan perspektif masyarakat hukum adat yang berkeadilan ekologis terletak pada konsep kearifan masyarakat hukum adat dalam pengelolaan sumber daya alam, dalam hal ini tambang yang menjadi hak penguasaan negara. Terdapat hubungan timbal balik antara manusia dengan alam, dimana masyarakat hukum adat selalu menempatkan keseimbangan alam dalam pengelolaan lingkungan (participerend cosmisch), sehingga keadilan ekologis dapat dirasakan semua unsur alam, selain manusia.The problems in this paper are: first, what are the mining resource management policies based on mineral and coal mining laws? and second, how is the mining resource management perspective of the ecological justice community indigenous people? This research method uses normative legal research with the classification of secondary data including primary legal materials including legislation in the fields of mineral and coal mining, environmental protection and management, and regional government. Secondary legal material in the form of books and journals, while secondary legal material in the form of online news. Data analysis using qualitative juridical analysis. The results of this study are first, current mining resource management policies based on mineral and coal mining laws should be adjusted to the decisions of the constitutional court and Law No. 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government in the context of licensing. The provincial government is currently taking over the authority of the district / city government to issue mining permits under Law No. 23 of 2014 which are actually still semi-centralistic and in the territory in the context of mines still in the district, while the provincial government is the representative of the central government; secondly, the policy of managing mining resources from the perspective of indigenous peoples with ecological justice lies in the concept of indigenous peoples’ wisdom in managing natural resources, in this case mining which is the state’s right of control. There is a reciprocal relationship between humans and nature, where customary law communities always place natural balance in environmental management (participerend cosmisch), so that ecological justice can be felt by all elements of nature, other than humans.

Rudarski propisi klasičnog i postklasičnog rimskog prava / Mining regulations of classical and postclassical Roman law

In order to understand the functioning of mining in ancient Rome, it is necessary to investigate the rules of classical and post-classical Roman law related to mines. Most of the mining information is extracted from the Lex Vipasca, the two bronze plates found in Aljustrelo in Portugal in 1876 and 1906. The first plate from Aljustrelo provided valuable information on the mining sale taxes, the auctioneer’s provision, the management of baths, shoemakers, barbers, metallurgy workers, mining waste tax, teachers and seizure of mines and receivables. The second plate from Aljustrelo defines the responsibilities of the procurator, the rights and obligations of the owner, the price of the mine, and tells us about the way of organizing the leaseholders in societies – societas. From the preserved provision of Codex Theodosianus (CTh.X.19.8.) we learn about the existence of specially separated rights related to the mining and exploitation rights. The aim of our work is, through analysis of the Aljustrelo plates, to show how far Roman law has defined all aspects of mining in detail and to show the functioning of the system starting from the formation, acquisition of property, business, control, disputes, and associated activities that were formed with mines. These two plates with Roman mining laws provide an inexhaustible study-basis for lawyers, as well as others dealing with Ancient Rome. In addition to the mentioned Lex Vipasca, some minor and later mining regulations have been briefly outlined to complement the picture of Roman mining law.

New mining concessions will severely decrease biodiversity and ecosystem services in Ecuador

Ecuador has the world’s highest biodiversity, despite being a tiny fraction of the world’s land area. The threat of extinction for much of this biodiversity has dramatically increased since April 2016, during which time the Ecuadorian government has opened approximately 2.9 million hectares of land for mining exploration, with many of the concessions in previously protected forests. Herein, we describe the system of protected lands in Ecuador, their mining laws, and outline the scale of threat by comparing the mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and orchids from several now threatened protected areas, classed as “Bosques Protectores” (BPs), in the NW montane cloud forests. We examine two large (>5,000 ha) BPs, Los Cedros and El Chontal, and two medium BPs, Mashpi (1,178 ha) and Maquipucuna (2,474 ha). Since BP El Chontal is so poorly explored, we used several other small reserves (<500 hectares) in the Intag Valley to gain an idea of its biodiversity. Together, these BPs and reserves form a buffer and a southern corridor for the still-protected Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, which is otherwise now surrounded by mining concessions. We gathered published literature, “gray literature”, information from reserve records and websites, and our previously unpublished observations to make comparative species tables for each reserve. Our results from these still incompletely known reserves reveal the astonishing losses that mining will incur: eight critically endangered species, including two primates (brown-headed spider monkey and white-fronted capuchin), 37 endangered species, 149 vulnerable and 85 near threatened and a large number of less threatened species Our data show that each of the reserves protects a unique subset of taxa in this land of highly localized endemics. Each of the reserves also generates sustainable income for the local people. The short-term national profits from mining will not compensate for the permanent biodiversity losses, and the long-term ecosystem service and economic losses at the local and regional level.