The Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program (RMAP) of the Australian National University in Canberra will host a two-day workshop later in the year to examine ‘Gender and Sustainable Livelihoods in Mining’.

The workshop on Thursday and Friday, November 6 and 7, will be run by the university’s Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, a Fellow of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.

It will provide an opportunity to disseminate the program’s research findings from the past two years and bring together researchers and representatives from industry, government and NGOs engaged with gender, mining and sustainable development issues to explore and analyze a range of interconnected questions and issues with implications for future research, industry practice and policy making.

Such questions include, what is the case for gender mainstreaming in the mining sector? What is the relationship and significance of gender equity to sustainable development or sustainable livelihoods? What role might governments play in supporting gender mainstreaming in the mining sector? What changes in policy or practice can be expected to arise from the growing interest in gender equity and mainstreaming within the mining industry, and can initiatives taken in one corporate, political or cultural context be applied to other contexts?

RMAP is a multi-disciplinary program of research on the historical, social and institutional context of natural resource management in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. It aims to function as a key node in the regional and international network of institutions that undertake or use research on the social, political and economic aspects of environmental and resource management issues in this part of the world.

In 2006, RMAP received funding from the Australian Research Council to investigate gender and sustainable livelihoods in a coal mining region in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The project has been undertaken in collaboration with an industry partner, PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), and key project outputs include gender training materials for use by KPC's Community Empowerment department.

Previously, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt has had many years of experience of working in the Indian mining sector, mainly coal, but also artisanal and small mines, on gender and social issues.

http://empoweringcommunities.anu.edu.au
http://rspas.anu.edu.au/people/personal/lahik_rmap.php