While nations and corporations profit from mining operations around the world, local communities often bear the brunt of their impacts. In response, many communities are asserting that such operations are subject to their prior informed consent. Prior Informed Consent and Mining: Promoting the Sustainable Development of Local Communities, a newly released report from the Environmental Law Institute, guides policymakers, government officials, mining companies, and communities in understanding this concept.
“The right of affected communities to consent to mining projects is critical to promoting sustainable development, the democratic process and respect for basic human rights,” said ELI Senior Attorney Susan Bass, director of the Inter-American Program and an author of the report.
The ELI report suggests communities must be informed about proposed mining operations on a full and timely basis, and must be afforded the opportunity to approve or prohibit those operations. This process includes participating in setting the terms and conditions that address economic, social, and environmental impacts of every phase of mining activity.
With funding from the Ford Foundation, ELI and its partners, Oxfam America and Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental, identified key elements of this right: formal legal recognition; an expansive definition of the community to be consulted; the right to veto the project; and the right to participate in monitoring and enforcement.
While many of these elements are absent in the nine cases examined, recognition of mining communities as partners in decision-making is growing. Increasingly, mining companies are working with communities to obtain a social license to operate to avoid the costs of community resistance and risks to their corporate reputations.
Emil Salim of the World Bank Extractive Industries Review Secretariat endorsed the ELI report with this statement: “I hope this valuable study receives the deserved attention from decision-makers at all levels, including those within the World Bank Group, to help them achieve true poverty alleviation and sustainable development within the context of mining, oil and gas projects that they may finance in the future.”
Prior Informed Consent and Mining can be ordered online at www.elistore.org or by calling 1-800-433-5120. For more information about this publication, contact Project Director Susan Bass at 202-939-3809 or email pressrequest@eli.org.