Mining contestation as an impetus for natural and cultural heritage protection

• Impetus for protection comes from mining contestation. • Exponential expansion expected in critical minerals in coming decades. • Current protected areas cover little of existing wilderness. • Mining expansion will overlap with wilderness areas. • Strategic planning and assessment needed for optimal allocation. This article provides evidence that contestation over mining helps bring attention and protective action for conservation hotspots. Drawing from the experience of several terrestrial and marine sites in Australia and globally, the case is made. Typically, formal protection comes after extractive use of wild areas, organised campaigns directed at companies and their allies, and law court actions. While contestation over mining directs attention to conservation hotspots, commercial and political decisions to allow mining may prevail with irreversible environmental damage. Globally, protected hot spots protect very little of the world's wilderness areas. Reviewing these cases helps design future conservation efforts: There is an urgent need for (1) local to global strategic plans and assessments of wilderness and cultural heritage conservation and ‘coexisting’ mineral resource development; (2) an authoritative international agency to lead negotiations and planning over the inherent trade-offs involved and to document livelihood opportunities, if any, after mining; and (3) a neowilderness movement to balance negotiations given the power of global mining companies. Mining contestation cycle as an impetus for protection.