ABSTRACT
African countries have an abundance of natural resources but low levels of human development. To address substantially unregulated mining practices, sustainability certification schemes and standards, most of them voluntary, are emerging organically and rapidly. In the wake of this fast growth are questions about their effectiveness in delivering sustainable economic, social, and environmental outcomes.
Sustainability certification schemes and standards are valuable instruments with potential not only to deliver positive outcomes, but also to drive change and share the wealth of the mining sector equitably beyond the mining life cycle.
As global interest has grown in how the extractive industries both fail to deliver sustainable growth and fuel conflicts, development of different governance initiatives, such as sustainability certification schemes and standards, has also grown.
This chapter provides a literature review to identify and assess the challenges and to reflect on how sustainability certification schemes and standards can be used as instruments to deliver positive outcomes in Africa.
