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Unit 14: Professional Ethics and Current Issues

Notes
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), UK’s Department for International
Development (DFID) and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade (DFAIT), to encourage member states to implement the relevant mining clauses of
the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

In the food and beverage industry companies have participated in consultative processes
particularly on the issue of packaging. Interestingly these activities are closely related to
previous self-governing advances around packaging e.g. on the issue of recycling of
packaging material. Another area of fostering is the building of weak administrative
capacities, especially at the provincial and local tier of state administration. In South
Africa, companies are for example required by law to integrate their local policies within
the framework of Integrated Development Plans of municipalities. This is not enforced
and there are many examples of companies ignoring or circumventing ineffective state
agencies.

Co-Regulation
The South African government is the driving agent to engage stakeholders, including
business actors from all sectors, in environmental policy formulation and implementation.
There are ample general and issue-specific multi-stakeholder forums which are proscribed
in the national legislation or which are initiated by national or local government as a
response to a particular problem pressure. Companies also engage in multi-stakeholder
initiatives either at the transnational level, or initiated by companies within the local
context of their operations. At the transnational level, a number of multi-stakeholder
initiatives have emerged engaging in the development of transnational voluntary
standards and codes of conducts.
The mining industry has faced extensive criticism for its negative impact on the
environment, especially in developing countries. In order to counter increasing public
pressure, the industry has come up with a number of initiatives, not only at the company
level, but also in the form of collective business responses at the transnational level. In
1999 nine of the largest mining companies closed ranks to form the Global Mining Initiative
(GMI), presenting the industry as committed to environmental principles and standards.
In preparation of the WSSD in Johannesburg 2002, a comprehensive consultation and
research program was initiated; the Mining/ Metals and Sustainable Development process
(MMSD). For a period of two years, a comprehensive consultation and research effort was
undertaken to come up with a state of the art of sustainability policies within the industry,
amongst others in the Southern African region.
As a result, the ICMM was established and mandated to develop a common global reporting
standard for the industry, the Sustainable Development Framework (SDF). At the national
level, all larger mining companies are part of the South African Chamber of Mines, which
acts as the major spokes body for the big mining companies’ vis-à-vis the South African
government. The national body of the mining industry, the South African Chamber of
Mines, has traditionally been a powerful industry body, and represents about 90% of the
industry.

According to the research, there are two dominant drivers in South African industrial
environmental policy: governmental legislation and global and local proponents of
environmental standards. The government has been the driving force behind South Africa’s

Contd....

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