On Thursday,10 March the ‘Future We Need’ (FWN) group launched their Mining Toolkit: ‘Digging At Our Conscience’. Mary Reynolds rsm, Director MIA, welcomed everyone to the launch, saying it was an exciting moment to have this important resource in print and in our hands!

Members of the FWN group with Mr Eamonn Meehan, CEO Trocaire
Front row. L-r: Marcella O’Connell rsm, Maureen O’Connell pbvm, Carmel Bracken rsm, Angela O’Grady ibvm, Catherine Gibbons rsm, Ann Pender pbvm
Back row. L-r:  Denise Boyle fmdm, Eamonn Meehan, Michael O’Sullivan, Betty Lacey, Cathal Duddy

In introducing Ms Betty Lacey, Project Manager of the Toolkit, Sr Mary highlighted the excellent job Betty had done in encouraging and supporting members as they worked on the country case-studies. The patient manner, in which Betty organised meetings to do the edits and re-edits, helped everyone to keep focused on completion of the resource. Most importantly Betty’s dedicated professionalism, gentle cajoling and good humour, ensured that the printer’s deadline was met, and it was! Betty spoke on behalf of the FWN group.

FWN is a faith-based group comprising members from eight different congregations or institutes. These are the: Charity, Columbans, Franciscans, Jesuits, Loreto, Mercy, Presentation and UNANIMA, all of whom have members working overseas and enjoy special status with ECOSOC (UN Economic and Social Council).

In her address Betty reflected the joy of the FWN group in ‘bringing to birth’ this project that had a very long gestation period! She thanked each member of the FWN sub-committee who worked on the project, saying that it would never have reached publication without their hard work, professional dedication, generosity and good humour!

As the Researcher with the Global Action Team in Baggot St, Betty shared how she started research in 2012, on the relationship between indigenous peoples and mining companies who want to mine their land. Her findings were shelved for a while, until Denise Boyle fmdm suggested it was too valuable a resource not to be shared with the Mercy Family and others, in a user friendly format. Subsequently members of the FWN group, decided to use Betty’s research material as the basis of a Toolkit, aimed at a general audience of interested persons. It was agreed that the focus would be to raise awareness about the challenges an indigenous community faces, when a multi-national company wants to construct a project on their land.

Thus the idea of the Mining Toolkit ‘Digging At Our Conscience’ was conceived. The original number of countries was expanded; when members of the FWN agreed to make contact with people they knew working in specific developing countries, to obtain more case studies. These served as concrete examples of the vulnerability of indigenous groups, when dealing with some multi-national companies.

Another important goal of the Toolkit is to invite each reader to become more sensitive to the human and environmental costs entailed in producing goods like the latest electronic gadgets. The essential question is ‘Do I need to upgrade this mobile phone or could I make an environmentally friendly decision instead?’

‘Digging At Our Conscience’ consists of ten case studies, plus two overviews on the so called ‘mining giants’ of Canada and Australia. There are also articles on ‘A Rights Based Approach to Mining’, ‘The Rights of Nature’, ‘Mindfulness’ and a Conclusion, which invites every reader to take concrete action in the light of what s/he has just read.

Betty shared that the Toolkit project was made possible with a grant from Trocaire, the Irish Development agency that provides humanitarian support in over 20 developing countries. An important element of Trocaire’s advocacy work is that it raises awareness about the root causes of poverty and inequality. Betty introduced Mr. Eamonn Meehan, CEO of Trocaire and invited him to launch our FWN Toolkit.

In launching the Mining Toolkit Eamonn shared that he had read ‘Digging At Our Conscience’  from cover to cover the previous day. He said in addition to it being a most attractive and user-friendly book, it is a ‘fantastic resource’ which could be used widely by Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Educational institutions, teachers and any group that is interested in learning more about the important issues raised in the Toolkit.

Eamonn reflected from his own experience the reality of what is stated in our resource. Last year when he was in South Sudan, he saw the heartbreaking consequences of unlicensed logging, which was removing acres of virgin forest on a daily basis. These massive logs were then shipped off to China to be made into furniture. Eamonn went on to speak of the power imbalance between an indigenous community and a mining giant, which made them particularly vulnerable to human rights abuse. And he challenged each of us, when he shared he was conscious his personal ‘footprint’ on Earth, is equivalent to that of 88 Eritreans!

Eamonn then shared that the gift of indigenous people is their strong identification and sense of oneness with the land and the environment, a reality highlighted in Pope Francis’ encyclical, ‘Laudato Si’, that he believes is ‘a wonderful and timely gift to our world’. Francis calls us to live in harmony with the natural world, understanding the importance of mutuality and sustainability, which is critically important if we are to prevent further climate change. Eamonn told us that he was at a conference in the Vatican recently where he heard Naomi Klein speak. She is a world renowned filmmaker known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization and of corporate capitalism. Naomi used the quote: ‘Change is inevitable, but justice is not’!

Eamonn highlighted the importance of supporting local communities through networking with other groups like NGOs at national and international level. Doing this will help to protect the rights of local communities and the land on which they are living. He concluded the official launch of ‘Digging At Our Conscience’ stating that he was going to share the Toolkit with a number of the department heads in Trocaire. He then thanked each member of the FWN group, for their hard work and professional dedication in producing such a valuable resource.

Michael O’Sullivan, JPIC Coordinator for the Columban Fathers, gave the vote of thanks to Eamonn, after which Michael invited everyone to enjoy each other’s company whilst sampling the tasty refreshments available in the dining room.

Messages to: Denise Boyle fmdm - Mercy Global Action
Betty Lacey - Researcher Mercy Global Action