The Mining for Development Conference 2013 took place on 20 and 21 May 2013 in Sydney, Australia.
The Conference was the Australian Mining for Development Initiative’s second annual event, and was hosted by the International Mining for Development Centre at The University of Western Australia and The University of Queensland.
With the theme ‘Maximising Benefits’, the Conference provided a unique opportunity for developing countries, civil society, the private sector and the international donor community to discuss the challenges and opportunities that developing countries face as they commercialise their resources sectors.
The Conference focused on a range of issues that underpin the realisation of long term, sustainable benefit arising from mining for communities across the developing world.
Sessions tackled the critical issue of inclusive development, with a focus on gender in resources development, and ensuring that the benefits of mining are captured for women in communities as well as for men. The Conference also included sessions on conflict resolution, effective agreement making, building sustainable local enterprise and employment frameworks and developing human capacity and leadership to generate positive change.
At a more global level, the Conference looked at the factors that comprise good governance, including transparency, and the importance of building strong and effective subnational governance around the world.
The Conference featured prominent speakers from governments, industry and civil society globally, including the Hon Clare Short, Chair of EITI, Erik Solheim, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee and Professor Michael Ross, author of the 2012 publication, ‘The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations’.
The EITI, the global standard for transparency of revenues from natural resources, held its 2013 Global Conference directly after the Mining for Development Conference, on 23 and 24 May in Sydney. The EITI Conference was another milestone in the evolution of EITI and its steps toward ensuring that natural resource wealth leads to development.