Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development in Southern Africa. Volume 1: The Report of the Regional MMSD Process

The Steering Committee of MMSD SOUTHERN AFRICA, representative of key stakeholder groups from across the region, was elected at the MMSD Multistakeholder Meeting held in Johannesburg in November 2000. The role of this committee is to:

• provide general advice and support to the Working Group,



• peer review the outputs of the Working Group, and assure the quality of such outputs, and



• engage with stakeholders in their constituencies.

The Steering Committee advised and guided IIED in the selection and appointment of the MMSD SOUTHERN AFRICA Working Group.

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) jointly formed MMSD SOUTHERN AFRICA to lead, manage and guide the southern African MMSD regional process.

The objective of MMSD SOUTHERN AFRICA is to determine how the mining and minerals sector can best contribute to the region's transition to sustainable development.

In order to achieve the objective outlined above, MMSD SOUTHERN AFRICA designed a process comprising three phases.

1. Scoping: the purpose of this phase was to develop a common vision for transition to sustainable development in the mining and minerals sector in southern Africa, and to identify key areas for research.



2. Situation analysis: this is where the bulk of the work occurred through a series of contract research projects based on readily available information.



3. Framework Development: this final phase of the project entailed the development of a framework of recommendations that will guide the transition to sustainable development in the mining and minerals sector in the region. This phase also included commitment to the process by key stakeholders in the region.