Elsevier

Environmental Science & Policy

Volume 123, September 2021, Pages 142-150
Environmental Science & Policy

Incorporating positive deviance into comprehensive remediation projects: A case study from artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the municipality of Andes, Colombia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.05.021Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Positive deviance projects exist in artisanal and small-scale mining communities.

  • Contextual factors of mining communities influence positive deviance projects.

  • Bonding and bridging social capital enhance the performance of identified projects.

  • Expanding pre-existing miner and technical expert networks will improve projects.

Abstract

Environmental remediation of polluted sites in developing communities often faces difficulties due to the misalignment of project objectives with the needs and interests of local communities, establishment of unrealistic expectations for the outcome of the project, and failure to account for the available resources in the community itself. Remediation decisions favor technical data and technical solutions as the main means of determining remediation options, requiring significant investment and local capacity that are often not found in developing communities. Often these systems fail to account for the social aspects in environmental management and remediation. In contrast, new approaches in local knowledge-based solutions focus on pre-existing environmental management initiatives to establish objectives that are meaningful to the community itself. “Positive deviance” – or the idea that there are solutions already in communities that are successful at addressing challenges despite the barriers that a community faces – are often overlooked during project design and implementation. Identifying examples of positive deviance and working with community members who are well versed in local challenges, available resources, and local capacity presents opportunities for community members to establish project objectives and provides the foundation for future environmental management projects in the area. We present a case study of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in the Andes municipality, Antioquia, Colombia and local initiatives to overcome community-identified environmental pollutants. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, surveys, and site visits, we identified community perception of environmental pollutants, management techniques for mining waste, and grassroots initiatives that were locally developed to address them. Through key communication and interaction between innovators with identified positive deviance projects, technical experts, and other miners facing similar challenges, innovative projects that account for the social, political, and economic realities of a developing community can become widespread, leading to improved environmental and social conditions.

Introduction

Attributed with releasing 1220 metric tons of mercury in 2015 alone, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has gained international attention as the largest anthropogenic source of mercury pollution in the world (UN Environment, 2019). ASGM is also responsible for the release of lead, arsenic, cadmium, copper, and a wide array of additional inorganic contaminants (Gottesfeld et al., 2019; Rajaee et al., 2015; Tirima et al., 2016) into water, soil, sediment, and air, making the practice a significant source of environmental contamination. The use of toxic chemicals, unsafe mining practices, and hazardous ore-processing methods also pose major health risks to both miners and surrounding communities. Despite the massive environmental footprint of ASGM and the local and global health risks posed by such activities, ASGM is prevalent in many developing communities worldwide as a predominant livelihood in rural regions. Without intervention, ASGM poses an urgent environmental and health risk to the global community (Esdaile and Chalker, 2018).

Despite the health and environmental concerns associated with mercury use in ASGM and the increased international awareness, environmental risks and therefore pollution cleanup are deprioritized by ASGM communities compared to security, drinking water quality, and formalization of the mining sector. Community members often prioritized these needs as they have a more visible effect or are believed to pose a more urgent risk to the community (Smith, 2019). Alternatively, some researchers cite unawareness of or indifference towards the environmental impact that ASGM activities have on the environment (Metcalf and Veiga, 2012; Ottenbros et al., 2019; Sana et al., 2017; Veiga and Marshall, 2017) as reasons for the deprioritization of the environmental and health impacts of ASGM. Examples of communities prioritizing and addressing environmental concerns associated with ASGM are limited to a couple of examples available in literature (Amedjoe and Gawu, 2013; Masuku, 2019). The absence of attention to community-led remediation projects in ASGM literature is a gap that needs to be addressed.

Instead, environmental management and remediation of ASGM is often motivated by formalization requirements (Veiga and Marshall, 2019) or by intervention from external agencies such as universities, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and government entities. However, remediation of ASGM sites is challenging, as strategies for the remediation process need to be cost effective, socially acceptable, and effective. Environmental management and remediation projects in developing countries often perform poorly due to misunderstanding the social, political, technical, and economic contexts in which they are operating, which ultimately stems from poorly developed stakeholder engagement and community participation early on in project development (Fraser et al., 2006; O’Brien et al., 2020). Additionally, numerous environmental assessments exist that analyze the impact of ASGM on the surrounding environment, but these assessments rarely lead to remedial project implementation (e.g., Basu et al., 2015; Clifford, 2017; Rajaee et al., 2015; Wilson et al., 2015).

Although frequently not identified in literature, there are often existing projects led by community members that are able to address, in part, some aspect of an environmental and health concern despite environmental, social, and economic constraints (Amadei, 2014; Herington and van de Fliert, 2017; Mercy Corps, 2012). The process by which these existing successful projects are identified and shared with the rest of the community is known as the “positive deviance” approach (“Positive Deviance Collaborative,” 2017). Some authors suggest the positive deviance approach for complex problems that involve social and behavioral change (Herington and van de Fliert, 2017; Pascale et al., 2010). The approach focuses on replicating the successes, rather than focusing on limitations and deficits (Doskey et al., 2013). Because of its ability to overcome local challenges and conditions, it has been widely applied to public health and medical practice (Mackintosh et al., 2002; Marra et al., 2013; Marsh et al., 2002; Pascale et al., 2010). However, to the authors’ knowledge, the concept of positive deviance has not been previously applied to environmental remediation.

While some organizations acknowledge the possibility of positive deviance in a community, the general tendency is for organizations to focus on deficits in the community that prevent community members from achieving their goals (Mathie and Cunningham, 2005; Nel, 2018). By ignoring the existence of positive deviance, remediation initiatives are excluding projects that have already accounted for the environmental, social, and economic considerations that are often unknown to the external agency. The purpose of this study is to establish a benchmark understanding of the concept of positive deviance to existing environmental initiatives within an ASGM community. We applied a novel positive deviance approach utilizing analytical frameworks applied to positive deviance projects in the medical community and tailoring it to fit environmental management and remediation projects. We tested this approach in an ASGM community located in the municipality of Andes, Antioquia, Colombia. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, surveys, and site visits, we identify stakeholder perceptions of local environmental risks and grassroots initiatives that have been developed to achieve environmental objectives. We then further assessed how to potentially amplify the positive deviance projects throughout the community. This study demonstrates the importance of identifying positive deviance in complex environmental remediation projects and proposes ways forward to continue collaboration with project innovators and amplify the identified positive deviance projects.

Section snippets

Theory

The necessity for integrating social, economic, political, and environmental considerations into ASGM project design has long been understood by academics and NGOs (e.g., Hentschel et al., 2002; ILO, 1999). Numerous studies take commonly used socio-economic, environmental, political, and geographical concepts to better understand the ASGM sector and tailor their responses to the individual challenges the community is facing. Examples of such concepts include the Global Production Network

Site background and methods

The mining community and surrounding coffee farmers residing in the Andes municipality in Antioquia, Colombia were studied to evaluate the applicability of the concept of positive deviance to ASGM environmental remediation. This section begins with a brief overview of the site characteristics. It then turns to our methodology. Based on key site considerations and identified community norms, we developed techniques to establish the presence of positive deviance within the community. The

Results and discussion

Our results and discussion are organized following Kaiman’s et al. (2016) framework of “Context + Mechanism = Outcome.” First, we present the identified positive deviance projects found within the municipality of Andes, or the outcomes. Next, we discuss the context in which these positive deviances were created, highlighting the environmental perceptions and dynamics between stakeholder groups that shape the social and environmental setting in which these projects were developed. We then

Conclusion

This case study illustrates the application of the concept of positive deviance to community-led environmental management and remediation projects in ASGM communities. By identifying which environmental problems are of concern to miners and members of the agriculture sector and by establishing a baseline of mining practices, we identified ore-processing methods and systems that directly address community concerns. Connecting the concept of positive deviance with theories of bridging and bonding

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Michelle Schwartz: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Visualization. Kathleen Smits: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Jessica Smith: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Thomas Phelan: Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Oscar Jaime Restrepo Baena: Resources, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Project Award No. NSF-1743749. The content of this manuscript has not been subject to sponsor review and does not necessarily represent the view of the sponsor. Further, the views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Air Force, The Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. The authors would like to acknowledge the work of Rosalie O’Brien, Caitlin Cassisi,

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