Mining in the Philippines

Philippines: Mining or Food?

This latest report from the Working Group on Mining in the Philippines is the result of a field study of six mining sites by former World Bank senior environmental adviser Dr Robert Goodland and Clive Wicks of IUCN. The report shows that mining is causing large-scale ruin of island environments and livelihoods, particularly undermining food production and sustainability.

'The Philippines was once self-sufficient in rice but is now the world’s biggest rice importer,' say the authors. 'The stark choice facing the country is between a few years of mining and thousands of years of irrigated rice and fisheries production.'

Companies whose plans are challenged in the report include BHP Billiton, Intex Resources, Philex Gold, TVI and Xstrata.

Published February 2009.

Download the report (abbreviated version) (pdf)

Download the case study summaries (pdf) 

Frank Nally discusses the report on YouTube.

Download the full report in sections from Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Working Group on Mining in the Philippines: submission to the UK Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights – Call for Evidence on Business and Human Rights (pdf)

Working Group statement on Coalition for Responsible Mining in Mindanao, October 2010 (pdf)

About the Working Group

Mining in the Philippines: Concerns and Conflicts

Report of the fact-finding mission to the Philippines in 2006 to investigate the destructive impacts of large-scale mineral extraction on communities, human rights and the environment. The mission delegation included former UK ­International Development Secretary Clare Short MP and ECCR Board member Fr Frank Nally of the Society of St Columban.

'I have never seen anything so systematically destructive as the mining programme in the Philippines. The environmental effects are catastrophic, as are the effects on people’s livelihoods' – Clare Short

Published January 2007.

Download the report (pdf)