conflict resolution; Democratic Republic of Congo; political ecology; natural resource management

Lead
Gouverner les ‘minéraux de conflit’ au Congo orientale: réglementation transnationales, autorité publique, access négocié et pouvoir politique
Lay summary
Summary Ce projet s’intéresse à l'impact de la réglementation transnationale concernant les ‘minéraux de conflit’ sur les économies minières africaines, prenant le ‘Tin Supply Chain Initiative de l'Institut international de recherche sur l'étain (iTSCi)’ en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) comme étude de cas. En se concentrant sur l'exploitation et le commerce de tantale, d'étain et de tungstène (les soi-disant de 3T), nous analysons comment ces réglementations - qui impliquent de profondes réformes commerdciales et foncières - influencent les marchés des minéraux dans les zones de conflit, ainsi que la négociation quotidien des relations politiques, sociales et économiques entre les différentes parties prenantes. Plus précisément, ce projet mettra l'accent sur le domaine de l'accès et l'autorité publique. Plutôt que d'assumer un vide réglementaire, le projet évalue de manière critique l'impact de la gouvernance minière transnationale, demandant comment l'accès, l'autorité et le pouvoir sont (re) façonnés par des réglementations transnationales. Plus concrètement, nous évaluons les dispositions juridiques, les réseaux commerciales, les modèles de violence, et la gouvernance locale sont influencés à travers les chaînes d'approvisionnement du secteur artisanale, avec le but de fournir des connaissances essentielles sur l’entremêlement des réglementations transnationales et locales dans la réalité complexe de l'extraction des minéraux en Afrique.

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Last update: 23.09.2016

Self-organised

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This project continues to investigate the impact of (trans-)national ‘conflict minerals’ regulation on artisanal and small-scale mining in eastern DRC. The focus of this project lays on three minerals (tantalum, tin, and tungsten, or the so-called 3T) and their regulation, most notably through the ITRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi). The project’s ambition is to contribute to the ongoing debate about the intimate relationship between transnational governance, natural resources, and armed conflict in the global South through a comparative case study from eastern DRC. Precisely, the project aims at a set of interconnected goals. Building on significant results from the first phase (among others, the publication of two peer-reviewed papers as well as two more under review), the second phase intends to highlight two particular issues: the role of commercial intermediaries in reproducing mobile supply chains, and the evolving relation between public authority and political power in the governance of mineral exploitation and trade framed by a fluid regulatory environment. In order to address these questions, two additional peer-reviewed papers will be produced (adding up to six in total). The first will zoom in on the role of middlemen who perform an ambivalent role within DRC’s mineral supply chains, and whose role at the margins of formal production networks is increasingly under pressure through transnational reform efforts. Through a fine-grained ethnography, the project will dissect their position throughout pre- and post-reform periods. The second paper will put together various dynamics discussed in the other publications by questioning the role of political power in the context of multi-level governance and regulation. It will critically assess the friction between attempted policy and actual politics around eastern DRC’s artisanal mining sector. Empirical research and conceptual analysis around these two clusters will be compounded by additional fieldwork and two workshops gathering outstanding stakeholders of science and practice: the first, to be held at the University of Zurich, will bring together state-of-the-art researchers focusing on similar questions across comparative global cases, while a second meeting will be organised in eastern DRC to offer a platform for returning results to key stakeholders in administration, civil society, partner universities, and industry and to respond to the socio-economic relevance of the project’s topic at the local level. Conclusions of both the workshops and the peer-reviewed publications will be digested in a policy paper to continue informing practitioners, industry, and a wider public on the broader relevance of the topic.