Ban on Metals Mining

El Salvador

Photo by Christopher William Adach (CC BY-SA 2.0)

In March 2017, the national legislature of El Salvador voted unanimously to ban all metals mining– the first such ban ever enacted on the national level. The ban was implemented in response to grassroots and religious groups across the country forming a coalition to educate the public and policymakers about the hazardous impacts of mining on soil and water health. After “countless marches, protests, petitions, testimonies, reports on the impact of mining, and study trips and delegations”, a corporate legal challenge to a temporary version of the moratorium was tossed out, and the legislative ban in its current form was born. It’s an exciting and uplifting tale, the entirety of which can be read in this article from Ethics & International Affairs: ‘Historic Wins for Democracy and Rights in El Salvador’.