Indigenous people versus Extractive Industries

One of the main impediments for indigenous people development is the activity of mining industries and trans-national companies. This burning issue was discussed during the plenary Session and was soon afterwards the focus of a short informal workshop opened by Joji Cariño from the Indigenous Peoples' International Center for Policy Research and Education.

This workshop tried in the first place to overview the latest developments related to this topic, like the Kimberley declaration of Indigenous Peoples to the World Summit on Sustainable Development or the prospect on the World Bank initiative named: "Extractive Industries Review". As Mme Joji Cariño stated, this is a very important normative step that will help to formalize the dialogue. That will happen once the World Bank will have delivered its final report next December.

During the talks, the partnership forged by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) was discussed at-length. This partnership further denied the right on the land to local communities which were unable to defend themselves (since they lacked means and judicial resources). Indigenous people relayed this concern in Johannesburg on September 2002.

Ms. Joji Cariño raised this important question about indigenous people and their ability to change the course of action taken concurrently by government and mining-industries and gave the floor to different representatives of local communities in order to compare cases and find common strategies. Mr. Windel Bolinget, secretary-general of the Cordillera Peoples' Alliance explained the social and environmental damages related to the Lepanto Company (LCMCo) Gold extracting activities in the Philippines. The Victoria Gold Project started in 1996 has not received any environmental license yet and foreign banks such as the American Import-Export Bank are still financing and sustaining their activity.

The discussion was brought to an end by listing ideas of different courses of action and strategies such as the need to integrate and find out the names of the people responsible for the funding of the extractive industries and access accurate data that could serve as a baseline and independent database.

By: John Auran-Clapot and Jérôme Gygax

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