2
community, social and cultural dynamics, and local and
regional environmental attitudes and concerns (Wajid et
al., 2022).
To address local acceptance and sustainability of min-
eral exploration and mining, the AGEMERA project has
conducted extensive public opinion questionnaire surveys
in Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Zambia, following a
similar pilot survey in Finland. The survey has investigated
social sustainability issues and general attitudes towards
mineral exploration and mining effects.
In addition to the questionnaire survey, the AGEMERA
project has developed university courses called “European
Critical Raw Materials for the Green and Digital Transition
(ECRMs)’’, which aim to raise awareness of CRMs and
their importance in everyday life among future scientists
and engineers. Furthermore, the project has invested con-
siderable effort into planning, organising, and conducting
several public awareness events, seminars, and workshops
on CRMs in several European countries. These initiatives
seek to clarify how these critical materials affect day-to-day
existence, the viability of associated projects, the environ-
ment, and the processes related to mine closure.
The goals of the paper can be classified into three the-
matic sections:
• Give a thorough rundown of the actions to imple-
ment questionnaire surveys in the four case study
regions – Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Zambia.
In addition, the key figures of the collected public
opinion data have been analysed.
• Discuss and evaluate the results and lessons learned
from creating and executing the “European Critical
Raw Materials for the Green and Digital Transition
(ECRMs)” university courses.
• The last objective is to highlight the workshops, sem-
inars, and public events on critical minerals and met-
als that were organised, scheduled and carried out
within the project. This section emphasises the main
points discussed, such as target audiences and goals.
METHODOLOGY
Questionnaire Survey Implementation
Multi-nation questionnaire surveys of local people have
been planned and conducted to create a Geographic
Information Systems (GIS)-based map of potential social,
environmental, and economic vulnerability related to min-
ing and exploration activities in the case study areas of
Estonia, Finland, Germany, Poland, and Zambia. To reach
the goal, several actions and timelines have been planned
and followed (Figure 1).
First, a questionnaire was created integrating Public
Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS),
including general and map-based questions, and tested
in Finland’s case study area. After that, specific case
study regions were selected from each of the four nations
(Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Zambia), with a privacy
policy designed to ensure the protection of the data pro-
vided by the responders. Following the questionnaire and
privacy policy submission to the Maptionnaire platform, a
large-scale online distribution campaign has been under-
taken to contact locals and collect their insightful feedback
from each country’s case study area.
Besides the general questionnaire, Public Participation
GIS (PPGIS) has been incorporated into the map-based
survey questions as part of the project’s questionnaire
approach. To make it easier for the responders, mineral
potential maps were pre-added or marked on the map
for each case study area in the questionnaire survey, for
example, shown in Figure 2. It has allowed the question-
naire survey respondents to map important sites or regions
Figure 1. Timeline for open-access Soft-GIS database-based
map creation (Islam, 2024)
Figure 2. Mineral potential area with turquoise colour in the
case study sites of Germany and Poland (Islam, 2024)
community, social and cultural dynamics, and local and
regional environmental attitudes and concerns (Wajid et
al., 2022).
To address local acceptance and sustainability of min-
eral exploration and mining, the AGEMERA project has
conducted extensive public opinion questionnaire surveys
in Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Zambia, following a
similar pilot survey in Finland. The survey has investigated
social sustainability issues and general attitudes towards
mineral exploration and mining effects.
In addition to the questionnaire survey, the AGEMERA
project has developed university courses called “European
Critical Raw Materials for the Green and Digital Transition
(ECRMs)’’, which aim to raise awareness of CRMs and
their importance in everyday life among future scientists
and engineers. Furthermore, the project has invested con-
siderable effort into planning, organising, and conducting
several public awareness events, seminars, and workshops
on CRMs in several European countries. These initiatives
seek to clarify how these critical materials affect day-to-day
existence, the viability of associated projects, the environ-
ment, and the processes related to mine closure.
The goals of the paper can be classified into three the-
matic sections:
• Give a thorough rundown of the actions to imple-
ment questionnaire surveys in the four case study
regions – Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Zambia.
In addition, the key figures of the collected public
opinion data have been analysed.
• Discuss and evaluate the results and lessons learned
from creating and executing the “European Critical
Raw Materials for the Green and Digital Transition
(ECRMs)” university courses.
• The last objective is to highlight the workshops, sem-
inars, and public events on critical minerals and met-
als that were organised, scheduled and carried out
within the project. This section emphasises the main
points discussed, such as target audiences and goals.
METHODOLOGY
Questionnaire Survey Implementation
Multi-nation questionnaire surveys of local people have
been planned and conducted to create a Geographic
Information Systems (GIS)-based map of potential social,
environmental, and economic vulnerability related to min-
ing and exploration activities in the case study areas of
Estonia, Finland, Germany, Poland, and Zambia. To reach
the goal, several actions and timelines have been planned
and followed (Figure 1).
First, a questionnaire was created integrating Public
Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS),
including general and map-based questions, and tested
in Finland’s case study area. After that, specific case
study regions were selected from each of the four nations
(Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Zambia), with a privacy
policy designed to ensure the protection of the data pro-
vided by the responders. Following the questionnaire and
privacy policy submission to the Maptionnaire platform, a
large-scale online distribution campaign has been under-
taken to contact locals and collect their insightful feedback
from each country’s case study area.
Besides the general questionnaire, Public Participation
GIS (PPGIS) has been incorporated into the map-based
survey questions as part of the project’s questionnaire
approach. To make it easier for the responders, mineral
potential maps were pre-added or marked on the map
for each case study area in the questionnaire survey, for
example, shown in Figure 2. It has allowed the question-
naire survey respondents to map important sites or regions
Figure 1. Timeline for open-access Soft-GIS database-based
map creation (Islam, 2024)
Figure 2. Mineral potential area with turquoise colour in the
case study sites of Germany and Poland (Islam, 2024)