Date: November 30, 2012
Event Type: International Scientific Symposium
Speakers: Saleem Ali and 12 national and international experts
Venue: American University of Armenia
(http://newsroom.aua.am/2012/12/05/mining-socio-economic-development-media/)
International and local experts were in Yerevan on for a one-day conference examining the choices available to Armenia as it tries to balance economic gains with that of social equity as well as public and environmental health.
The conference featured a keynote presentation on mining’s role in economic growth and social development by Dr. Saleem Ali, Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at the University of Queensland, Australia. The event’s first panel examined whether mining can play a key role in Armenia’s economic growth, while the second panel focused on mining’s impact on Armenia’s environmental and public health. The event’s last panel explored whether Armenia’s legal and institutional framework on mining fosters socio-economic development.
These issues were discussed against the larger backdrop of a growing unease in and outside Armenia on the potential benefits and risks of mining to the country’s socio-economic and environmental future.
Dr. Saleem Ali and Dr. Varduhi Petrosian speak to Civilnet about mining and its economic, environmental and health impacts in Armenia
PANEL 1: Can mining play a key role in Armenia’s economic growth? (video)
Moderator: Alen Amirkhanian, College of Science and Engineering, AUAPanelists:
PANEL 2: Mining and Armenia’s Environmental and Public Health: Impact and Mitigation (video)
Moderator: Karen Aghababyan, Acopian Center for the Environment, AUAPanelists:
PANEL 3: RA Legal and Institutional Framework on Mining: Does it foster Armenia’s socio-economic development?(video)
Moderator: Tom Samuelian, Dean, College of Humanities and Social Science, AUAPanelists:
Closing Remarks: Outlining Key Takeaways and Future To Do’s (Dr. Saleem Ali) (video)
Date: May 3, 2012
Event Type: Seminar
Speakers: Margrit von Braun, Ronald Dobbin, Susan Spalinger
Venue: American University of Armenia
The American University of Armenia’s College of Health Sciences and Acopian Center for the Environment organized a Seminar on Lessons Learned from Hazardous Waste Sites from Around the World and a Panel Discussion on the Role of Safety, Health, and Communities in Mining and Metals.
Dr. Margrit von Braun presented case studies from waste sites in the US, Russia, Nigeria, Dominican Republic and other locations around the world. The sites – focused on mining and metals recycling – were used to describe the frequent intersections of human rights abuses, pollution and poverty and the importance of understanding environmental pathways as well as the key roles of environmental scientists, community leaders, non-governmental organizations, governmental officials, policy makers and others in resolving environmental problems.
Dr. von Braun briefly presented the main environmental regulations of the US and covered the history of their development. Ronald Dobbin continued the presentation covering health problems of those who work in mining and metal recycling industries (reproductive problems related to lead exposure, cancer and other lung problems related to exposure to diesel emissions, asbestos, and crystalline silica dust). Susan Spalinger concluded the panel discussion presenting the role of communities in environmental clean-ups and importance of proper risk communication.
AUA students, researchers, faculty, representatives of health and environmental NGOs, and environmental activists attended the two meetings and had active discussions with the experts.
Dr. von Braun is Dean/Professor Emerita of the College of Graduate Studies at the University of Idaho and a founder of TerraGraphics International Foundation, a non-profit corporation that assists community leaders, local governments, universities, and other NGOs to apply accepted environmental health intervention and remediation methodologies in low and middle income countries. She is the Founder and Vice President of TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering, Inc., an Idaho-based U.S. consulting engineering company with more than 100 employees and offices in four States. Ronald Dobbin is an Occupational Hygienist who worked in the U.S. federal public health agencies for over 30 years and is the President of the Society for Occupational and Environmental Health in the U.S. Susan Spalinger is a Principal Environmental Scientist and Human Health Risk Assessor at TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering Inc., U.S.
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| Dr. Margrit von Braun | Varduhi Petrosyan, Susan Spalinger, and Ronald (Denny) Dobbin | Audience |