Indigenous Peoples and Mining Encounters: Strategies and Tactics
Indigenous Peoples and Mining Encounters: Strategies and Tactics Report
Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development
- Author(s): Theodore E. Downing,, Jerry Moles,, Ian McIntosh,, Carmen Garcia-Downing
- Published: 2002
- Publisher: International Institute for Environment and Development
- ISBN: 57
Abstract: What is the probability that indigenous peoples will persist – as cultures – as a consequence of mining encounters? What steps or procedures must be put in place so that both indigenous peoples and other stakeholders become net beneficiaries? How do we guide operations toward desired outcomes (goals) before the encounter between indigenous peoples and the mining industry? Much of the remaining unexploited ores in sufficient concentration to be attractive for modern commercial exploitation lie under indigenous lands. As pressure builds to gain access to their lands, a major sustainability and land access problem is unfolding. Mining can empower indigenous peoples, but previous encounters have stripped them of their sovereignty, their traditional wealth, and posed multiple impoverishment risks. The public has indicted the industry for tragic and unnecessary forced relocations, violations of human rights, under-compensation for damages, and lack of benefit sharing. Sustainable mining is not possible if indigenous cultures – that are the prototypes of persistent peoples on this planet - are rendered unsustainable. This report addresses the most critical sustainability in an encounter between indigenous peoples and the industry, as well as governments, financiers and non-governmental organizations. An encounter has four dimensions. The first involves perceptions and objectives - delineating who is or is not indigenous, presuppositions about one another, and desired outcomes. The second dimension involves the stakeholders’ capacities to sustain and/or resist negotiations. The third involves stakeholder tactics and/or strategies for dealing with one another. The fourth dimension consists of socio-economic and environmental risks and benefits - possible “on the ground” changes that may occur to the livelihoods and culture of project-affected peoples. A consideration of these four dimensions assists in understanding the negotiations, or lack thereof, between indigenous peoples and other stakeholders.
Notes: This report was commissioned by the MMSD project of IIED. It remains the sole responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily reflect the views of the MMSD project, Assurance Group or Sponsors Group, or those of IIED or WBCSD.” - “Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development is a project of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). The project was made possible by the support of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).