From prior consultation to free, informed and prior consent: Indigenous rights practice and the extractive sector in Latin America

New research projectTitle: Extracting justice? Exploring the role of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), consultations and compensation payments related to socio-environmental conflicts in Latin America Partners: Noragric, University of Stockholm, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, University of north Carolina at Chapel Hill, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Proceso de comunidades negros - PCN (Colombia), CIESAS-Mexico, Observatorio de conflictos ambientales – UTPL (Ecuador).

Coordinated at the Department for international Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Science (Noragric)Project coordinator: Esben LeifsenFunded by the Norwegian Research CouncilDuration: 2014 - 2017

Prior consultation and FPIC – free, prior and informed consent

collective rights to self-determination and development rights of indigenous and tribal peoples (LA: indigenous peoples, afrodescendant groups and rural based communities)

cultural differencesright to decide priorities for developmentspecial measures – consultation and participation

Prior consultation and FPIC

ILO Covention 169 on indigenous and tribal rights

UNDRIP: UN Declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples

Ratification of ILO 169 Convention / acceptance of UNDRIP

• secures democratic participation?

• enables influence on vital decision-making processes?

• facilitates peoples’ self-determination and self-governance concerning natural resource uses?

Politics of FPIC

recognition

redistribution

representation

Expanding extractive sector and affected indigenous territories

Expanding extractive sector and affected indigenous territories

“The extractive industries are in full ascension and have been growing exponentially for more than 50 years in terms of output, investment, profits and size and extent of projects. (..) Although the financial crisis of 2008 and the reduction of demand from the emerging economies and overcapacity within the industry have slowed down commodity production (..), oil, gas and minerals remain the indispensable ingredients of the global economy as it is today” (Policy Department of the Directorate-General for external policies of the European Parliament )

Expanding extractive sector and affected indigenous territories

“Indigenous peoples the world over are affected by the economic activities of governments, private companies and others when they take place on their ancestral lands. Indigenous peoples’ territories contain significant deposits of minerals, oil and gas and this has made them attractive to the extractive industries and to the governments which see them as areas suitable for foreign investment and income generating exports.” (Policy Department of the Directorate-General for external policies of the European Parliament )

UN Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

• South American countries possess some of the world’s most extensive mineral reserves and are among the largest producers globally.

• In 2011, the continent had the second largest oil-reserves (20%) of any region (after the Middle East), and hydrocarbon exports constituted in 2010 41% of the total of Colombia and Bolivia’s exports, and 55% of Ecuador’s total exports.

Expanding extractive sector and affected indigenous territories

Overlap: areas consessioned to hydrocarbon and mineral exploration and extraction and areas inhabited by indigenous peoples, afrodescendant groups and peasant communities

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Implementation of FPIC 1

taming, transforming, resolving of conflicts

Implementation of FPIC 1

taming, transforming, resolving of conflicts

‘good practices’‘just treatment’ ‘responsible resource extraction’

Implementation of FPIC 2

Social justice; addressing, resisting extractive expansion

Implementation of FPIC 2

Social justice; addressing, resisting extractive expansion

Self governance

Free, Prior and Informed Consent:

Critical Challenges and Effects in

this ‘social minefield’

Viviane Weitzner, PhDcCultural Diversity, Ethnicity and Power

Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (DF – México)

• Free, Prior and informed consent (FPIC) – Minimum standard• UNDRIP 2007/Conv 169 OIT

• Goes well beyond ‘Prior Consultation’• Strong hope for FPIC as a:

• Mechanism to guarantee self-determination• A right to help facilitate implementation of ‘life plans’, the ‘good

life’ (Buen Vivir), or ‘development with Identity’

Problem

• BUT, Its a SOCIAL MINEFIELD– a field of dispute based on contentious grounds • Brings together diverse sectors, with diverse

world views, with diverse interests and goals; diverse POWERS

Problema

CONFLICT

Domination Effect

Equal Balance of Power

Lack of Balanceof power

Indigenous Peoples/Afros

Companies

State

Source: Weitzner (2002, 2011)

Equal PowerBalance

Lack of Balance of Power

Indigenous Peoples/Afros

Companies

State

Key Challenge:Emancipation Effect

Source: Weitzner (2002, 2011)