Growing FORAM Network Maps Activities on Raw Materials

Brussels, 9 June 2017 The FORAM project is currently mapping existing international activities, actions and initiatives related to raw materials globally. Actors involved in a multi-stakeholder EU or global activity (such as an Initiative, Project, Forum, Consortium or Community) related to raw materials are invited to participate and share information about their activities.

The mapping can be done online, contact details will not be shared on the website.

In the meantime the FORAM network, which investigates the feasiblity for setting up a World Forum on Raw Materials, keeps growing. The EU-Latin America Dialogue on Raw Materials, held in Buenos Aires, May 8-9, was attended by over 50 high-level delegates from Latin American countries, the European Commission, Geological Surveys, international organisations, and European projects. It was the last of a series of conferences in the frame of the EU-Latin America Policy Dialogue on Raw Materials, after the ones held in Lima, Peru (2014), Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (2015) and Santiago, Chile (2016). The dialogue has focused on cooperation in investment, technology, research and innovation and exchange of good practices on good governance between the two sides of the Atlantic.

At this occasion the Secretary General of FORAM consortium partner EuroGeoSurveys (EGS), Luca Demicheli, gave a speech on “Towards a World Forum on Raw Materials” and participants discussed the FORAM project and its future developments. In particular, Demicheli invited the participants not yet involved to become partners of the FORAM Stakeholders Network. The speech raised much attention, and the European Commission sent the information for joining the Network to all participants.

The project was this week also discussed in Vienna at the MinFuture workshop. This EC-funded project aims to develop a methodology for physical accounting and modelling of materials flow information. Shahrzad Manoochehri (WRF) and Susan van den Brink (UNU) presented the mapping excercise on behalf of the FORAM consortium.

Partners in the MinFuture project are Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Project leader), BIO Intelligence Service (Deloitte), British Geological Survey, Charles University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Ecologic Institute, Geological Survey of Norway, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Science and MinPol.

FORAM progress will furthermore be presented and discussed at the upcoming World Resources Forum 2017, to be held October 24-26 in Geneva, and during the second Raw Materials Week, organised by the European Commission in Brussels, 6-10 November 2017.

A FORAM pilot event will be organised in June 2018, venue to be confirmed.

Watch here a “fast interview” with Luca Demicheli (EGS) and Bas de Leeuw, World Resources Forum (WRF) Managing Director, on the characteristics and goals of the project.

FORAM advances the idea for a World Forum on Raw Materials

The FORAM project was launched in Brussels during the first Raw Materials Week, organized by the European Commission. To date it is the largest collaborative effort to improve worldwide cooperation on securing access, promoting innovation and fostering sustainable mining, recycling and use of raw materials. Apart from key stakeholders from governments, research and industry in Europe the project brings together partners from Japan, the USA, and other G20 countries, as well as key countries active in the mining and other raw materials sectors. Find all information on the project website. 

Write to info@wrforum.org for more information.

The FORAM project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 730127