Estratégias de Sustentabilidade — Extração Mineral e Desenvolvimento Sustentável

Estratégias de Sustentabilidade — Extração Mineral e Desenvolvimento Sustentável

Integrated Research Programme — Subproject 2

1996–1998 · CNPq · NAEA/UFPA · Mining · Sustainable Development · Regional Development · Amazonia

Mining · Regional Development · Public Policy · State Intervention · Sustainability · Global Mineral Relations · Social Systems Theory

Project Overview

Estratégias de Sustentabilidade was an integrated research programme developed at NAEA/UFPA to examine theoretical and practical strategies for sustainable development in Amazonia.

The programme was coordinated by Franz Josef Brüseke and organized around four interconnected subprojects addressing sustainability theory, mineral extraction, energy and material losses in Amazonian industry, and the institutional conditions of sustainable development. My responsibility was Subproject 2 — Extração Mineral e Desenvolvimento Sustentável.

The subproject continued a longer research trajectory on mining in Amazonia. It followed Projeto Mineração — Ouro: a garimpagem e a mineração industrial (1994–1996), which compared artisanal and industrial gold mining, and shifted the analytical focus toward a broader question: how mineral extraction might be connected to sustainable regional development and translated into durable benefits for resource-producing populations.

The project was supported by CNPq. A later CNPq research report identifies the supported project as Estratégias de Sustentabilidade: a mineração e o desenvolvimento sustentável and records my participation in the integrated project.

Research Context

The project emerged from two observations developed through earlier mining research.

First, mineral extraction had become one of the most important economic and transformative activities in Amazonia, particularly in Pará and Amapá. Second, earlier research raised doubts about the ability of public policy to translate mineral extraction into durable benefits for regional populations.

The research therefore connected mining to a broader problem of regional development:

How can the extraction of non-renewable mineral resources be integrated into a strategy of sustainable regional development?

This question required attention not only to economic effects, but also to public policy, institutional capacity, regional structures, the global organization of the mineral sector and the theoretical foundations used to explain extractive development.

From Gold Mining to Sustainable Regional Development

Earlier research had concentrated primarily on artisanal gold mining and, subsequently, on comparison between artisanal and industrial gold extraction.

The new project broadened this perspective substantially. Mining was no longer treated primarily through the organization of extraction itself, but through its relationships with:

regional economic structures;
state policies;
international mineral markets;
large mining corporations;
environmental conditions;
institutional capacities;
theories of sustainable development.

The project therefore marked an important transition from research on gold mining as a particular extractive activity toward a more general research programme on mineral extraction and regional development.

Research Objectives

The subproject combined theoretical and policy-oriented objectives.

Its principal objectives included:

formulating recommendations for mineral policy within a concept of sustainable development;
analysing the economic linkages generated by mining projects in Amazonia;
examining regional impacts of large mining projects;
analysing public policies directed toward mining at municipal, state and federal levels;
identifying areas of convergence and conflict among different public-policy interventions affecting the mineral sector;
examining the possibilities and limits of public intervention in a highly globalized mining sector;
comparing experiences of large-scale mining in other countries;
evaluating concepts developed for the sustainable use of non-renewable natural resources;
testing the explanatory usefulness of concepts such as synergy, self-organization and non-linearity;
investigating whether mineral extraction could be incorporated into a broader strategy capable of generating more durable regional benefits.

The project also aimed to contribute to public debate concerning mineral legislation, regional development policy and the institutional conditions under which mining could become more strongly connected to regional development.

Empirical Scope

The original research design envisaged comparative analysis of several major mining regions and projects in Amazonia.

These included:

Carajás — Pará;
Mineração Rio do Norte / Oriximiná — Pará;
Serra do Navio — Amapá;
Projeto Jari — Amapá/Pará;
Pitinga — Amazonas;
Urucum — Amazonas;
Caulim do Rio Capim — Pará.

The comparative design was intended to examine how different forms of mineral extraction interacted with regional economies, public institutions, infrastructures, social structures and environmental conditions.

However, the empirical field programme was not implemented to the extent originally planned. A later CNPq report states that the project had been conceived with a substantial field-research component, but the absence of complementary financing for costly fieldwork in Amazonia prevented the planned research trips from being carried out.

This limitation shifted the project more strongly toward theoretical reconstruction and analytical work.

Mining, Region and External Intervention

A central theoretical problem concerned the relationship between mining projects and the regions in which they were established.

Existing interpretations frequently emphasized relationships between resource-producing peripheries and world markets. Dependency approaches, enclave models and later interpretations associated with Stephen Bunker and Elmar Altvater provided important insights into unequal exchange, material and energy transfers and the structural effects of extractive economies.

The project nevertheless identified an important limitation in these approaches: they tended to explain relations between extractive projects and external markets more effectively than the structures and interactions developing between mining projects and the regions in which they operated.

The research therefore formulated a broader theoretical challenge:

How does a region structure and transform itself in response to an external intervention such as a large mining project?

This question became increasingly important in my subsequent research on regional development.

Sustainability and Non-Renewable Resources

The project also addressed a fundamental tension within discussions of sustainable development.

Mining depends upon the extraction of non-renewable resources. This raised the question of whether, and under which conditions, mineral extraction could be compatible with a concept of sustainability.

The research examined approaches from natural-resource economics and ecological economics, including discussions of:

exhaustible resources;
natural capital;
material and energy flows;
environmental accounting;
sustainability criteria;
questions of justice and sustainability;
the relationship between mineral depletion and regional development.

The purpose was not simply to adopt one sustainability model, but to assess the theoretical and practical usefulness of different approaches for understanding mining in Amazonia.

Public Policy and the Limits of State Intervention

A major component of the project concerned the historical development of mineral policy in Brazil and Amazonia.

Research examined the role of institutions such as DNPM, CPRM, CVRD, regional-development programmes and successive mineral-policy strategies.

The project was particularly concerned with the discrepancy between the intentions of public policy and its actual consequences.

This generated a central question:

To what extent are unintended consequences of public intervention the result of inadequate knowledge of regional conditions, and to what extent do they reflect structural limitations in the ability of public authorities to produce the intended effects of regional-development policy?

The research also emphasized a growing asymmetry between territorially bounded political intervention and globally operating economic actors. This raised questions about the capacity of public policy to regulate a mineral sector characterized by multinational corporations, global markets and transnational investment.

Mining as a Global Economic Activity

The project treated mining as a highly globalized sector characterized by large corporations, transnational investment and international commodity markets.

Research therefore sought to understand the internal logic and strategic behaviour of large mining corporations operating in, or considering investment in, Amazonia.

This perspective broadened the analysis beyond local and national mining policy.

Resource-producing regions were increasingly understood as connected to decisions, markets and organizational strategies generated elsewhere.

This development later became important for my research on global raw-material policy, transnational resource governance and regional development.

Theoretical Development: From Synergetics to Social Systems Theory

One of the most important outcomes of the project was theoretical.

The original project design explored concepts derived from synergetics, self-organization and non-linear thermodynamics as possible alternatives to conventional explanations of regional development and mining impacts.

The subsequent research process revealed important limitations in transferring such concepts directly into social analysis.

The CNPq report records that thermodynamic and non-linear approaches offered useful insights but tended to reduce socioeconomic complexity by searching for relatively simple causal factors. This made it difficult to explain non-linear causalities and consequences emerging from the operation of modern society as a complex whole.

The search for a theoretical framework capable of addressing this complexity led increasingly toward Niklas Luhmann's theory of social systems.

The report proposed confronting a universal theory of modern society, largely developed through observations of Europe and North America, with social conditions in Amazonia and with questions of development.

This theoretical transition became highly significant for my subsequent research.

Research Approach

The project combined:

theoretical and bibliographical research;
analysis of mining and regional-development literature;
analysis of mineral and regional-development policies;
study of public institutions and regulatory arrangements;
comparative analysis of mining regions and projects;
analysis of international mining experiences;
examination of natural-resource and sustainability theories;
theoretical reconstruction of regional-development processes.

The initial design also envisaged extensive field research across several Amazonian mining regions. Because the required co-financing was not obtained, this component remained substantially more limited than originally planned.

The project therefore developed into a research process combining mining studies, regional-development analysis, public-policy research and increasingly intensive theoretical work.

My Role

I was responsible for Subproject 2 — Extração Mineral e Desenvolvimento Sustentável within the integrated programme Estratégias de Sustentabilidade.

The integrated programme was coordinated by Franz Josef Brüseke. My role concerned the development and implementation of the mining and regional-development research component.

The subproject continued my earlier work on artisanal and industrial gold mining while broadening the analysis toward regional development, sustainable mineral policy, state intervention, global mineral relations and theoretical approaches to complex regional transformation.

Selected Project-Related Outputs

A CNPq research report explicitly records several publications as related to the supported project. These include:

Riqueza Volátil. A mineração de ouro na Amazônia

Mathis, A., Brito, D., & Brüseke, F. J. (1997). Belém: CEJUP.

The book also draws directly on the preceding research on artisanal and industrial gold mining.

“Garimpagem de ouro e valorização da Amazônia: a formação de relações de trabalho sob o quadrângulo mercado internacional, estado nacional, região e natureza”

Mathis, A. (1998). Papers do NAEA, Paper 101.

This paper connected gold mining to relations among world markets, the national state, regional structures and material conditions.

“O fim da supremacia da política. Possibilidades e limites da intervenção do Estado na interpretação da teoria dos sistemas”

Mathis, A. (1998). Papers do NAEA, Paper 102.

This paper represents an important stage in the theoretical shift toward social systems theory and the analysis of limits to political intervention.

“Modelos explicativos para analisar a dinâmica social e econômica no sul do Pará”

Mathis, A. (1998). Papers do NAEA, Paper 103.

The paper addressed competing theoretical approaches for explaining social and economic dynamics in southern Pará and is closely connected to the project's theoretical reconstruction.

Contribution to My Research

This project represents an important transition in my research trajectory.

Earlier work had concentrated primarily on artisanal and industrial gold mining. Estratégias de Sustentabilidade — Extração Mineral e Desenvolvimento Sustentável broadened the research problem toward the relationships among mineral extraction, regional structures, public policy, global markets, sustainability and the capacity for political intervention.

In retrospect, three developments became particularly important for my subsequent research.

Mining and regional transformation. The research increasingly asked how mining projects interact with existing regional structures rather than treating mining as an enclave connected only to external markets.

Limits of intervention. The discrepancy between political intentions and regional consequences strengthened research on the structural limits of deliberate political steering.

Theoretical reconstruction. The search for alternatives to linear and reductionist explanations contributed directly to the growing use of social systems theory in my work on development and regional transformation.

These developments subsequently became central to research on public policy, mining governance and regional development.

From Mining and Sustainability to Regional Development in World Society

The project was conducted long before the development of Regional Development in World Society (RWS) and should not be interpreted as an early application of that theoretical framework.

The project already formulated a problem that later became central in a different theoretical vocabulary: how externally generated processes interact with historically established regional structures and produce differentiated regional consequences.

It also raised questions concerning:

the global organization of economic activity;
the territorial limits of political intervention;
organizational and institutional capacities;
the role of knowledge and theoretical observation;
non-linear and unintended consequences;
the relationship between material conditions and social structures.

The subsequent turn toward social systems theory provided a conceptual framework through which several of these questions could later be reformulated.

Retrospective analytical relevance:
Mining · Regional transformation · Political intervention · Organizations · World-market relations · Materiality · Complexity · Regional differentiation

The relationship to RWS is therefore one of research genealogy rather than theoretical continuity.