Read about the new EGP Technical Community, an upcoming webinar on forest conservation and mining, a workshop to increase transparency in DR Congo, and much more.
A newsletter about responsible mining from the Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)
Welcome to a webinar about mining and forest conservation
EGP welcomes you to the webinar: “Mining, Forest Conservation and Sustainable Choices – the case of Zambia”. As mining expands across Zambia, forests and other ecological sensitive areas are feeling the pressure. How can the much-needed economic development and environmental protection move forward together?
The webinar will be in English and held on Zoom on Thursday 12 February at 2 pm (GMT+1). You will receive the Zoom link to the meeting after registration.
Artisanal Small-Scale Mining (ASM) for gold in Nigeria. Photo: Pontus Westrin
EGP launches new forum for mining governance technocrats
The EGP Technical Community is a new forum for people working with technical aspects of mining governance. Seminars are held once a month with the idea that technocrats from different countries can come together to share knowledge and discuss common challenges.
The first seminar took place in January and it was about environmental and social effects of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM). It proved to be a very fruitful meeting with many interesting discussions. About 45 people participated, representing Kenya, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Liberia and Ethiopia, among other countries.
The next seminar for the EGP Technical Community will be on mine closure and include real examples of water management strategies with case studies from both Sweden and Spain. It is being held on 26 February at 3 PM (CET). If you want to participate, please send an email to egp@swedishepa.se.
Participants at the regional workshop in Likasi, DR Congo. Photo Arthur Kaniki
Workshop for civil society organisations to increase transparency in DR Congo
To strengthen citizens’ ability to analyze and monitor mining companies’ environmental and social management plans, a capacity-building workshop for civil society actors in the provinces of Haut Katanga and Lualaba was organised in the city of Likasi in December 2025. The workshop supported participants in developing a roadmap for citizen led analysis aimed at increasing transparency in the mining sector in southern DR Congo.
Representatives from 30 different organizations took part, and the discussions generated strong engagement and concrete ideas for enhanced community monitoring.
The second phase of EGP took place during the five-year period 2020-2024. The main achievements and key lessons learned from that time have been compiled in a new abbreviated report. The report includes insights from each of the ten countries and also a section about the way forward, explaining how the learnings from the second phase informed the current EGP Phase 3.
Regional training on environmental monitoring in Peru. Photo: Johan Kruger
Free e-learning courses about women in mining
The “WIM Success Lab” is a practical e-learning programme designed to strengthen and support Women in Mining organizations worldwide. It consists of 15 free courses which are open to everyone and available in English, French and Spanish. The programme includes four different modules focusing on governance, leadership, technical knowledge and finance.
The WIM Success Lab is delivered by International Women in Mining (IWiM), a global not-for-profit organisation pursuing gender equality and promoting women's voices, access to opportunities and leadership in mining.
EGP also offers a micro-course on the Fundamentals of Gender Equality and Mining Governance. It only takes 2-3 hours to complete and focuses on ways to address systematic exclusion of women from the mining industry.
UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo speaking at UNEA-7. Photo: Michael Kibuku
EGP engages in discussions on responsible mining at UNEA-7
As part of its global strategy, EGP engaged in several events at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) held in December 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya.
UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo spoke at a leadership dialogue on Critical Energy Transition Minerals (CETM). The Administrator's remarks higlighted the close collaboration between UNDP and Swedish EPA including EGP work in Ecuador and Mongolia.
UNDP also represented EGP at a side event hosted by UNEP and Colombia on Responsible, just and resilient environmentally sustainable management of minerals and metals.
The Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) focuses on responsible mining for a green and just transition. The long-term objective is to minimize negative environmental and social impacts from mining. EGP is a joint initiative of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SwEPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
