Session Description
Communities and responsible entities are increasingly seeking to address historical environmental, social and human rights impacts. This requires a thorough understanding of legacy impacts and challenges assessment professionals to move beyond conventional frameworks. The Legacy Impact Assessment for the former Panguna Mine in Bougainville is a significant example of a legacy impact assessment approach.
The Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment identified and assessed the actual and potential environmental impacts caused by the Panguna Mine since the cessation of mining in 1989, and the social and human rights impacts directly connected to those environmental impacts. It also sought to provide an evidence base to support recommendations for addressing identified impacts and informing future remedy processes.
This session will examine key lessons from the process, which required innovative approaches to stakeholder engagement, trauma-informed consultation, historical evidence gathering, Indigenous and customary landowner participation, and the integration of human rights considerations into impact assessment practice. Through practitioner reflections and discussion, the session will explore lessons for the emerging practice of legacy impact assessment, including:
• How legacy impact assessment differs from conventional ESIA.
• Methods for investigating impacts that occurred decades earlier.
• Integrating human rights and social performance considerations into legacy assessments.
The session will provide practical insights for practitioners, regulators, resource companies, development institutions and researchers working to address complex legacy impacts globally.
Session Summary
Legacy impact assessment is an emerging practice for addressing historical environmental, social and human rights impacts. The Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment is a valuable case study with broad relevance, showing how the process can build understanding and inform remedy responses for complex legacy impacts.
Additional Information
Content could align with several conference streams. Feel free to move.
Session Chair
Tara Halliday
Tetra Tech Coffey
Australia
Session Co-chair
Daniel Moriarty
Tetra Tech Coffey
Australia