Mining Politics and Policy in Finland: the Talvivaara Case
Mining Politics and Policy in Finland: the Talvivaara Case
CICADA / STandD Co-Sponsored Seminar
With Invited Speaker
Dr. Rauno Sairinen
March 19, 12:30-14:00
ARTS 160, McGill University
Professor Sairinen will first introduce the activities of the LYY Institute (Natural Resources, Environment and Society) (www.uef.fi/lyy; www.uef.fi/en/web/serm). His main presentation addresses the development of responsible mining policies in Finland and analysis of the Talvivaara mine case. The negative environmental impacts of Talvivaara mine became a key focus of Finnish politics during 2010–12. The case, which has been described widely as “an environmental catastrophe,” has also become a symbol or prism through which to discuss the development of Finnish mining as a whole. Its performance has sparked a heated discussion about the legitimacy of the mining industry and its place in Finnish society. The presentation analyses both the stages and processes of conflict and also reasons behind the story.
Bio:
Rauno Sairinen is professor of environmental policy at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu. He works also as a scientific leader of the Institute for Natural Resources, Environment and Society (LYY) and has been affiliated as an Honorary Professor with the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at the University of Queensland in Australia. During 2011-2016 he was co-chair of the Social Impact Assessment section of the IAIA International Association of Impact Assessment. During 2007-2010 he worked as a professor of social-scientific environmental research in the University of Joensuu and during 1999–2007 as a research director at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the Helsinki University of Technology. His major research themes during recent years have concerned environmental governance, natural resource policy (especially mining) and community development as well as the content and role of social impact assessment in natural resources governance and in conflict management.