What’s in a Social License to Mine?
Indigenous, industry, and government best practices for social innovation
The project aims to develop tools to manage Swedish land use conflicts involving the mining industry, indigenous communities and the state by drawing on Canadian comparison and experience. Sweden saw an increase in contestation over mine establishments, particularly related to indigenous rights and land use, in recent years. Consequently, the government and affected actors call for knowledge and practices to avoid mining related conflicts. One response is the need for mineral developers to gain a Social License to Operate from local communities. However, the interplay between the established regulatory framework and the extra legislative SLO related activities and commitments are not well researched.
The project objective is to compare social licensing and mine establishment across Swedish and Canadian jurisdictions, explore the role of the regulatory framework, and identify well-functioning practices in relation to indigenous rights and land use. Five cases in Sweden and Canada will be explored using governance and institutional theory.
This project (project No. 2017-02226) has received funding from the national Swedish Strategic Innovation Program STRIM, a collaborative effort by Vinnova, Formas and the Swedish Energy Agency
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