Social sustainability in northern mining communities: A study of the European North and Northwest Russia

• We are focused on two dimensions of social sustainability: procedural and contextual.
• In our cases procedural social sustainability refers to information and influence.
• Contextual dimension stresses dichotomy between economic development and environment.
• Mining is seen as a promoter of social sustainability, making living in remote North possible.
• Qualitative research is needed for developing sustainability indicators in mining.

Social sustainability, one of the three pillars of the sustainable development framework, presents a challenging theoretical and empirical concept to investigate. Many of the prominent debates on sustainable development focus on the challenge of managing economic and environmental issues, leaving the social side of the equation less well-defined. The article expands on the concept of social sustainability through a qualitative study of mining projects in the European North and Northwest Russia, utilizing over 80 thematic interviews in local communities.In our approach social sustainability is understood two dimensional: procedural and contextual. Procedural social sustainability refers to the planning and decision-making of the mining process during mining operations. Contextual social sustainability covers the specific features of the locality including historical experiences of extractive industries and future visions of the community. From the procedural perspective there were two general themes important for the local communities: knowledge and understanding of environmental changes caused by mining and second, the ability to be heard and have an impact on decisions about mining operation. From contextual dimension of social sustainability the main dilemma in Northern communities is between the fear and even anxiety of negative environmental impacts and viability of Northern localities generated by mining providing e.g. employment opportunities, prosperity and better service-structure.