**1.2 Economic, environmental, and social context**

The seemingly dissonant condition of abundant natural resources coupled with highly limited economic and social development is not uncommon in West Africa [6]. The challenge of remedying that deeply rooted condition is daunting because economic development, social development, and environmental protection are overlapping and often conflicting components in a highly complex system (i.e., sustainable development). To help determine needs, the UNDP calculates a Human Development Index (HDI) based on inputs including life expectancy, education, and per capita income. Of UN's 189 member nations, Guinea's HDI ranks 175 [9]. In fact, all West African nations are ranked in the lowest quartile. To vitalize sustainable development in Guinea, UNDP-Guinea focuses specifically on poverty reduction, climate change risk, and peace building and governance [10].

With a population of 12.7 M [11], Guinea ranks among the world's least developed in infrastructure [12] and, until very recently, FDI [13]. However, in a remarkable change from decades of economic stagnation, gross domestic product (GDP) rose 10+% in both 2016 and 2017, largely due to mining sector expansion [13, 14]. In accordance with its strategic plan [4], Guinea's Ministry of Mines and Geology actively developed new concessions and promulgated a special economic zone (SEZ) for the Boké Region in 2017, underscoring its importance to the bauxitealuminum industry. Of particular note, the bauxite-aluminum industry's current boom is borne largely of FDI from China [15], the UAE [16], Russia [17], and, to a lesser extent, Iran [18], France [19], the USA [20], the UK, Australia, India, and the Netherlands in joint ventures with federal ownership. Moreover, a consortium of mining companies funded a new trade organization, Guinea's Chamber of Mines, to communicate and represent private mining sector interests.

As the World Bank describes in its report on Guinea's mining sector, the bauxite industry's need for infrastructure offers crucial potential for industrialization and service sector development [14]. For example, recent investment in rail transport from Guinea's mining hub in the Boké Region to its commercial port originated in the private sector working through the Chamber of Mines. Potentials for the transportation and service sectors to provide local employment exceed that of the largely automated mining industry, especially if that development is part of a regional network linking nearby landlocked economies to Guinea's port. In fact, Guinea's abundant waterways and other freshwater assets have high regional importance and must be part of any sustainable development plan. Nonetheless, difficulties remain in defining and enacting mechanisms to distribute the mining sector's benefits and to enact good governance, community enhancement, and environmental mitigation.

#### **1.3 Regulatory and policy context**

A lack of transparency about mining concessions and practices, poor communication with communities impacted, inadequate or poorly timed remuneration for agricultural land, and the tendency among foreign mining companies to import everything from power plants and fuel to workers from their home countries have led to civil unrest, especially in the Boké Region [21]. Riots, destruction of property,

emissions and climate adaptation strategies. Notably, Guinea formalized

sustainable development strategy priorities [4] in 2015.

**Figure 1.**

**48**

*Rise of Guinea's mining sector.*

*Regional Development in Africa*

is now fully equipped to access the GCF funding.

**1.1 Conspicuous sustainability resources**

a commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by publishing its intended national development goals (INDCs) and

Recognizing this widespread need, UNFCCC created the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as a mechanism to encourage climate change adaptation and mitigation by matching private sector investment funds. The GCF's eligibility requirements are quite strict, and programmatic assistance is often needed to qualify. Hence, in 2016 Guinea requested and received a GCF Readiness Programme grant to help build its capacity. The UNDP, an accredited partner of the GCF [8], led Guinea's Readiness Programme and, as part of capacity building, sought out Columbia University to develop tools to engage Guinea's private sector in sustainable mining practices. This chapter summarizes that project's conceptualization, methods, and results, including generalized insights into public-private collaborations. The Readiness Programme wrapped up in December 2018 with Guinea's National Designated Authority established and prepared to articulate initiatives, mobilize private sector engagement, and develop a robust GCF Country Programme plan. Thus, Guinea

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8, 9, 11, and 17 integrate responsible resource extraction regimes into sustainable development. At present, a confluence of factors—new mining concessions, presidential agenda, civil society organization activity in the mining regions, and not least of all the GCF matching funding—has created opportunities to solidify sustainable mining practices. UNDP-Guinea's decision to ask Columbia University for support with this acutely relevant work underpins the notion that student-based research can be an effective impetus to useful and compelling outcomes when it is backed by in-depth involvement of seasoned researchers like Widder and Pacioni, on-site face-to-face interactions, and a commitment to collaboration. This project fostered genuine engagement from stakeholders in industry, government, and local NGOs by uncovering pathways to

Like most developing countries, Guinea lacks capacity to meet its INDCs alone.

and disruption of electrical and transportation infrastructure hobble extraction and threaten its continued build-out.

and to access new forms of capital (e.g., GCF); and (f) provide UNDP-Guinea a

to share knowledge and to focus on achievable sustainability goals.

Columbia's conceptual approach was threefold: (1) establish credibility with private- and public-sector stakeholders; (2) develop an unbiased overview of the industry's likely or typical operations, challenges, risks, and opportunities relative to environmental and social conditions; and (3) share pragmatic approaches to sustainable mining in a face-to-face forum to (i) enhance Guinea's knowledge base, (ii) elicit industry feedback on specific tactics used currently and challenges foreseen, and (iii) leverage dialog to form a collaborative effort among stakeholders

In spring 2018, Dr. Lynnette Widder, a Columbia University professor of sustainable development and urbanism, assembled a team that included technical advisor Thomas D. Pacioni whose decades-long experience in extractives and advanced degrees in geology and sustainability management equipped him to guide research and analysis and four graduate students recruited based on academic performance from Columbia's Master's Degree programs in Sustainability

Management and in Public Administration and Development [24]. UNDP-Guinea committed to monitor progress and facilitate communication with Guinean organizations, and their operational support and strategic input proved invaluable. The work scope was modeled on the GCF's 2015 Readiness Proposal for Guinea [25] and was completed in two distinct phases. Columbia's research team initially

• **Literature reviews** on (a) Guinea's current and planned capacity expansion of bauxite-aluminum operations; (b) inputs, outputs, throughput volumes, and potential sustainability impacts from operations; (c) typical GHG emission factors correlated to production; (d) standards and guidelines used elsewhere that could be adapted to Guinea; and (e) successful implementation of sustainability practices in bauxite mining under environmental and social

• **Interviews** with mining industry insiders with expertise in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, financing capital projects in

• **GHG emissions** were estimated for (a) current actual bauxite volumes

conditions; (b) mitigate effectively and realistically a spectrum of

international extractives, and Guinea's regulators, including: a representative of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), a biodiversity consultant working in Guinea's mining sector, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Power Africa (a USAID program), an independent consultant, Columbia's Center for Sustainable Investment (CCSI), Guinea's Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, and Electricité de Guinée.

reported; and (b) near-term future conditions based on conservative estimates

• **Case studies** were selected that (a) apply directly to Guinea's bauxite mining

sustainability risks; (c) cross-reference industry standards; (d) incentivize action on environmental and social performance; and (e) could facilitate knowledge sharing and initiate a dialog with Guinea's mining companies, leading to future collaborative data gathering and discussion of best practices.

model for implementing such initiatives in the future.

*Sustainably Growing Guinea's Bauxite-Aluminum Industry*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86471*

**2.2 Scope and methods**

completed:

**51**

conditions similar to Guinea's.

of published expansion plans.

Although regulations requiring environmental impact reports are in place, Guinea's Ministry of Environment is underfunded and underequipped to monitor and enforce industry commitments [22]. A recent Human Rights Watch report [22] illustrates impacts of poorly enforced regulation on farmers' livelihoods, civil society, and citizen confidence. Reports of waterway degradation from dust released during open-pit mining suggest that the current boom is adversely impacting fisheries, mostly practiced at artisanal scale, which is the country's other primary employment sector [23]. Because Guinea encompasses the source and/or course of nearly all major West African rivers, any water quality or flow degradation will have considerable regional ramifications. Further, these impacts will have a compounding negative effect on region-wide ecosystems as underscored by independent climate change models predicting increased desertification in West Africa [14], especially in the transition zone between the Sahara Desert and the southern savanna (i.e., Sahel).

#### **1.4 Current funding mechanisms**

After clarifying Guinea's willingness to meet its responsibilities under the UNFCCC's Paris Accord, UNDP-Guinea turned its attention to the bauxitealuminum industry because it has overwhelming bearing on Guinea's sustainable development and because it is among the few industries with the capacities to cofinance GCF projects. Currently mining companies are required to pay a small proportion of their profits as a "royalty" intended for use in federal remediation projects. Although mining companies may see the benefits of addressing the cumulative impacts of their activities, this mining royalty modality, the primary modality for participation, is not sufficiently robust. Existing mechanisms designed to ensure effective application of legal and regulatory instruments for mining development are very weak and constitute a hindrance for crowding in private sector investment.

However, one might find opportunity rather than conflict where mining investment and civil society participation intersect. This study landed on the concept of "shared use" to describe these synergies (described below). Accordingly, and as a direct result of the collaborative activities described, UNDP-Guinea is developing a work scope for integrated management of the coastal region that has been impacted by mining activities and erosion, with co-financing of USD 11 M from the GCF and the Chamber of Mines. This demonstrates how the GCF created opportunity to couple Guinea's rapid industrialization to its INDCs.
