Seeking Justice in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining

Date & Time
Jun 18, 2026 | 14.00 - 15.30

Participants
Chair: Mara Pusic, Environmental Law Institute (United States)
Dengiyefa Angalapu, Niger Delta University (Nigeria)
Allison Furniss, Carleton University (Canada)
Barbara Magalhaes Teixeira, Lund University (Sweden)

This panel explores the complex dynamics and governance structures existing within artisanal and small-scale extractive operations. An examination of how care ethics can challenge gender structures and power dynamics—while also at times reproducing or disrupting violence—illuminates the need to more critically embed care ethics into environmental peacebuilding practice. The panel further engages the nuanced implications of formalization in small-scale mining and the role of illegal or informal extractors. While formalization can compound women’s exclusion, evidence suggests that gender-sensitive approaches—supported by legal inclusion, government will, and broader societal shifts—can promote more equitable participation. Within the context of African oil refinement operations, informal actors, operating under constraint, are reimagining environmental care through adaptive practices that reduce emissions and waste. Together, these insights point toward the need for more nuanced, inclusive governance approaches that recognize informal actors as participants in sustainability, while addressing the gendered and structural inequalities embedded within extractive systems.

Where is Care in Environmental Peacebuilding? Analyzing Gendered Dynamics of Care in Anti-Extractivism

Barbara Magalhães Teixeira, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, (Sweden)

The Impacts of ASM Formalization on Women: A Comparison between DRC and Rwanda

Allison Furniss, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

The Green in the Black Market: How Informal Extractors Reimagine Environmental Responsibility

Dengiyefa Angalapu, Niger Delta University (Nigeria)