Guide for prioritizing and evaluating environmental remediation projects: managing mining legacies

This document contains information, methodologies and guidelines for policymakers and those responsible for implementing public policies aimed at prioritizing investment in environmental remediation projects. It presents an analysis of the concepts of environmental mining legacies and remediation, as well as their most important aspects, taking into account the heterogeneity of the definitions used in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Emphasis is placed on safeguarding human rights, environmental protection, liability for remediation of damage, and economic and financial analysis. It provides common definitions and guiding frameworks to standardize the economic and financial analysis of risk-based environmental management. As a starting point, any remediation project must first control the risk for people and the environment. Subsequent financial, economic and social analyses help to determine the most appropriate projects on the basis of the prevailing conditions. The concepts presented throughout this paper are applied and understood in the framework of public sector economics, environmental economics, welfare economics and the economic and financial spheres.