Linking mining with sustainable development in Afghanistan: The value of community-based monitoring approaches

Abstract

This research attempts to show that community-based monitoring in the mining sector is rooted in the unease about the negative social and environmental impacts of mining operations in developing countries where mining intersects with the legacies of civil strife, colonialism, as well as localized dynamics of poverty and conflict. Given, the mining sector’s role in perpetuating conflict in Afghanistan, this paper considers the value that community-based monitoring can have in empowering local communities and spurring sustainable development in Afghanistan’s emerging mining sector.