We, participants of the Tanzania Alternative Mining Conferencedrawn from Faith Based Organisations (FBOs), Civil Society Organizations (CSO), Academia, representatives from the mining communities, Mining Companies, and regional representatives from South Africahaving gathered at Blue Pearl Hotel  in Dar Es Salaam from 13th -14th November 2013 extensively deliberated under the theme   “ Effective  Management of our Natural resources ,Our promising  Future ”;

Learnt that despite being richly endowed with natural resources, Tanzania is ranked as one of the world’s poor nations, partly attributed to ineffective management of its abundant natural resources among others; which  if managed well, the natural resources wealth can bring about lasting economic transformation and reduction of poverty among Tanzanians.

Mindful of government efforts to put in place policies and laws governing the sector e.g. mining policy 2009 and the law 2010, the recently approved Gas Policy and the Natural Gas Master plan in the making. 

Acknowledge the fact that extractives industry is relatively a new economic sector in Tanzania and that the majority population have little knowledge and information about the sector, more effort is needed to educate the public, mainstream transparency and accountability.

Reaffirm our commitment to uphold sustainable exploitation of resources in a transparent, accountable and ethical manner for development of the country in an equitable manner. When the Creator endowed thisnation with the natural resources, he valued them that he gave human beings the stewardship to effectively manage the   resources, respecting people’s rights and taking responsibility, being accountable and transparent.

Deeply concerned about:

The unethical conduct within the extractive industry, natural resources management cannot be separated from moral dimensions.

-           the lack of respect   for the mining workers and community rights,

-          accountability and transparency in the management of revenues accrued

-           environmental sustainability for the full enjoyment of socio-economic and cultural rights

-          Lack of effective, meaningful and respectful engagement and communication with other stakeholders, civil society and citizens in particular.

Call upon the government to pay attention to the following:

1.      Capacity building

·        The government should create more public awareness on exploitation and management of natural resources and revenues accrued thereof. 

·        Make all important publications related to gas and minerals available in vernacular/national language (Kiswahili) to be understood by all. These include policies , laws and contracts.

·         Empowerment of leaders at all levels (local to National)  to ensure that they facilitate concerns affecting their communities.

·         Strengthen members of the higher learning institutions to conduct relevant trainings and researches in the extractive industry  that are responsive to emerging issues, evidence based researches that   bring solutions to Tanzanians’ problem.

·         To have an independent government research institute on EI that will carry the agenda of Tanzania without external influence.

·         Realistic management of people’s/community expectations from the benefits to be accrued from the extractive industry.

2.       Mining  Licences and Certification

• The government should   issues Mining Licences expeditiously and make the Licence register and procedures available publicly in line with the  new EITI standards of which Tanzania signed up for.

• The government should issue Certificate of Origin for all Minerals extracted from Tanzania before exportation.

• The government and banks should devise mechanisms where primary mining licence is accepted as security for loans to promote small Scale Miners’ access to capital.

3.    Consultations

·         The government should actively engage all stakeholders especially leaders entrusted with the authority of managing natural resources from ministerial level to the community involved.

·         Any investor should not start production without reaching an agreement with the community around the mining area to ensure  prior informed   consent from the affected people.    

4.    Respect

· Government leaders must be  God fearing , ethical, moral, open minded, accountable, transparent caring and show respect to humanity as well as  other national leaders that will assist in unifying the nation (in resource governance).

5.    Protection of the Present  Future Generations

·          The government must make certain that it establishes working conditions that respect the rights of mining workers such as  sharing of benefits for both the workers and the community. Follow up for adherence of such is mandatory.

·         Small Scale and Artisanal  Miners’ rights should be protected and recognized in the new constitution as other sectors like fisheries, farmers and livestock keepers.

·         The state must come up with regulatory frameworks that will protect displaced communities and ensure that they are given alternative land,adequately and timeously compensated for loss of livelihoods.  The case of  North Mara People  affected by spillage from the mines should be given prompt, timely and just compensation

·         A policy/guideline on how the revenues/royalties accrued from the extractive industry should be  effectively managed with plans for the future generations to also benefit from these finite natural resource,

·         To establish a Trust  /endowment  fund for part of the revenues to be saved now and invested in future.

6.    Legislation/Policies

·         The government should develop a gender sensitive mining policy

·         Mining laws should be amended to reflect the needs of Tanzanians instead of borrowing laws from other countries in whole sale fashion.

·         Adopt into legislation Country by Country reporting rules as adopted Internationally by the European Union and the USA.

·         Approve the Freedom of Information Act; that allows citizens to enjoy the freedom to access information and sharing of information which is of public interest

·         Put in place an EITI law, making reporting on this measure mandatory for all companies

·         Revisit Tax policies that have led to the country losing out on billions of taxes from previous mining activities due to loopholes in our policy/system.

7.    Conflict Management

·         The government should be responsive and transparent in dealing with conflicts in mining sector without being  biased towards the  companies.

·         Whenever there is conflict between Big mining investors and Small mining investors, the government should not take investors advice as benchmark for its decision on resolving such conflicts.

8.    Transparency and Accountability

·         The government should be Transparent in terms of signing of contracts to investors as a remedy to cancerous problems of natural resources

·         Leaders and executives should be accountable to their actions in the execution of their duties.

·         Beyond the EITI; the government needs to inform the public on exactly how the revenues accrued from the extractive activities have been  spent..

Concluding thatthe Alternative Mining Conference is an extremely useful space for the stakeholders to deliberate, share experiences and concerns; make recommendations for sustainable solutions to the challenges associated with extraction of extractive resources for the benefit of   all parties. The conference was jointlycoordinated by the Interfaith Standing Committee on Economic Justice and the Integrity  of Creation, Haki Madini , Norwegian Church Aid , ONGEA, Policy Forum and Revenue Watch Institute, to deliberate on issues around extractive industries particularly mining in Tanzania.