A few extracts relevant to mining from the recently published United Nations Development Group Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, February 2008.
Private companies are increasingly undertaking economic activities on indigenous peoples’ lands. In many cases, these activities, and in particular extractive industry activities such as mining and logging have negative impacts on indigenous peoples and their lands. They may erode indigenous livelihoods and traditional subsistence means, cultural practices and entail land dispossession as well as the relocation of indigenous communities. Often, the same industries contribute to increasing social problems among indigenous peoples living within the boundaries of the industry activities. Indigenous peoples have the right to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and to determine priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands, territories and natural resources.
- The exploitation of resources on indigenous peoples’ lands should be permitted only with their full consultation, participation and, free, prior and informed consent.
- Indigenous peoples shall not be relocated without their free and prior informed consent. In the case of forced relocation, fair and acceptable compensation and damage measures should be taken.
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Private companies should be aware of the situation of local indigenous communities and develop cultural awareness training and other cultural programmes for their employees in partnership with local indigenous communities.
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Under current international law, the responsibility to comply with consent is applicable to States, and not private companies. States have the responsibility to hold private companies accountable.
For the rest the volume is much like so many other so-called compilations of all the knowledge in the field: a terribly dry repeat of the obvious, the well-known, and the better-written-up-elsewhere stuff.
Here is a link to a glaring example more relevant to mining. Why would any company pay its staff to spend time on this? Unless they were hoping for a propaganda coup? And it is hard to envisage that happening considering how much is already written on the topic. Maybe this will be unlike so many of the rest: readable. But I doubt it.
The International Network for Acid Prevention is pleased to announce that our dream of creating a ‘Global Acid Rock Drainage Guide’ is finally well under way. The GARD Guide aims to be a world-wide reference for acid prevention and to identify Best Practice in the field of ARD. Consolidating the vast global knowledge on ARD management into a single document is not going to be an easy undertaking. In order to create a truly global guide, experts from several countries are contributing their knowledge to the development of the Guide.
Oh well, I suppose the volume will be useful if it tells us how to decide to avoid future Kemmess North debacles.
