Search

The increasing number of claims filed by Indigenous peoples against pollution caused by extractive industries makes the challenge of factualizing and measuring the damage caused in their territories necessary. In Peru, the Kukama Kukamiria people are among the most affected by the various spills from the North Peruvian Pipeline since its construction, one of the most well-known occurred in the lower Marañón River in 2014. This paper is about the efforts and limitations involved in aligning the Kukama Kukamiria's experiences with the criteria and frameworks for measuring damage and compensation amid the toxic environment and the complicated time and space of late capitalism. Based on ethnographic research and considering the judicial processes, the analysis found that compensation became a tool of dispute in which incommensurable Indigenous worlds emerged to claim for their incommensurability to exist. But in the Peruvian neoliberal and extractive context, compensation also became a technique for governing Indigenous lives and natures in a way that excludes those worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an environmental accounting system in Peru that will improve the sustainability reporting of Peruvian corporations and have a positive impact on all the stakeholders (communities, stockholders, government, NGOs, etc.). This new environmental accounting system will allow companies to properly quantify and report environmental issues and have a more integral assessment and analysis of all the variables which affect their triple bottom line. Moreover, environmental issues in Peru will be partially solved when companies adhere to accurate measurement rules, timely submission of data, and fulfillment of government regulations. The principle behind the proposal is that accurate measurement, calculation and reporting on pollution levels will improve the ways companies address environmental and social issues, as well as enhance their financial results. This paper focuses on companies of the mining, gas and oil sectors, since they are arguably some of the main contributors to Peru's GDP, as well as some of the nation's largest polluters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the cases of Perú and Ghana, this paper examines overlaps between the extraction of minerals, oil and gas on the one hand, and river basins, agricultural land use, and protected areas on the other hand. In particular the paper considers how far such overlaps can be revealed and analyzed on the basis of (relatively) accessible and affordable data, without having to use more expensive data generated by remote sensing or fieldwork. We use concessions as our indicator of the presence of extractive industry activity, focusing on both mineral and hydrocarbon concessions, and areas of exploration and of active resource exploitation. High portions of agricultural land use in both countries are located within areas that are subject to mineral or hydrocarbon concessions (38% in Perú, 39% in Ghana), predominantly within areas in which exploration activities are permitted or occurring (36% in Perú, 35% in Ghana). While overlaps between concessions and areas protected for conservation were much smaller (10% for Perú, 2% for Ghana), concessions overlapped with a larger portion of titled indigenous communities in Perú (35%). These findings help visualize the geographies of uncertainty and risk that the expansion of extractive industry creates for populations dependent on agriculture, land, water and other resources in areas affected by concessions. The visualizations – and the evidence of quite different degrees of overlap, depending on the type of resource in question – suggest the relative strength of different modes of land and resource governance in the face of extractive industry. Notwithstanding their well-documented fragilities, institutions for habitat conservation seem to have been better able to resist pressures on them from the extractive sector than do those for regulating water resources, agricultural land and indigenous communities which appear far less able to moderate the expansion of resource extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the past is constructed and mobilized within contemporary Peruvian mining politics. Beginning with an exploration of tensions existing within the mining industry's relationship to its history, I analyze how mining proponents have sought to both naturalize today's mining expansion by locating it within a national history of extraction, while also working to break free from certain negative aspects of the industry's past. The paper then examines how the past is remembered and invoked within the context of on-the-ground struggles at a large-scale gold mine in the region of Ancash. I address the contradictory ways in which local history is constructed in these struggles and document how memories of past experiences with mining inform how area residents understand and critique the 'new' mining economy. This paper underscores the need to understand the complicated, selective, and often-contradictory ways in which the past is made present in extractive industry conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of a weak approach to sustainability, this paper evaluates whether the revenues earned on copper mining have translated into better educational, health, and roadway infrastructure in Peru's extractive zones, both at the district- and departmentwide level, between 2004 and 2013. The results reveal that the infrastructure in places that are home to the extractive industries has indeed improved to a greater degree than in other locations, but only on a small order of magnitude. This weak effect is tied to the State's shaky vision of sustainability and the fact that the regionalization process in Peru is still under way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper develops the fields of social market economy regarding the constitutional protection of the healthy and balanced environment. It also raises the challenges of public and private investment in relation to extractive industries located in Peru. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It varied the number of works dealing with this topic and generally confusion is caused by the number of systems and the arbitrary use of the names tliajt are identified, which has caused describing under the same name different systems or the same system various labels. Therefore in this paper we reduce the theme of the original domain to the next question: Who originally owned mineral deposits? Without pretend clarify the picture explaining each of the systems because it would lead to an investigation of historical character that is not our goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the process of involuntary population resettlement related to the relocation and rehabilitation of people, families, groups or communities displaced physically and / or socio-economic, who are located in strategic areas where a project of mining investment is required to be executed. Therefore, in the absence of a regulatory framework for this process in our national law, this paper develops international guidelines established by the World Bank and the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB, through the Operational Policy OP-710 and Operational Policy OP 4.12, respectively; which have been considered by mining companies in order to establish a framework for population resettlement, necessary for the execution of their projects. In this regard, according to a review of the provisions proposed by the Draft Law on promotion and facilitation of resettlement of populations in areas of influence of large mining projects; and those established by Law 29869, Law of population resettlement living in very high unmitigatable risk areas, it is determined that it is necessary to establish a regulatory framework in this regard and that any legislative proposal should have as its main objective the protection of individual rights and groups of the population affected by physical and/ or socio-economic displacement as well as generating positive impacts through sustainable development programs, so as to generate and promote the obtainment of a social license from the population where mining companies operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary What is the relationship between formal participatory structures and the onset and evolution of popular mobilization? Under what conditions does mobilization bring about policy and even institutional change? This article examines mining conflict—and in particular the project approval stage, when mobilization is most likely to interrupt extraction—in Peru. Utilizing a path-dependent framework, the paper finds that very limited spaces for community participation in the environmental impact assessment process in fact have prompted and transformed popular mobilization in extractive zones, leading to outside scrutiny and the stalling of major projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the institutionalization of social participation under the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) model being implemented in the Chancay-Lambayeque watershed. First, it describes the biophysical and social conditions in the basin, then the evolution of national and local water institutions, from the Agrarian Reform to further decentralization and economic liberalization. Emphasizing the influence of the agricultural and mining sectors in these processes, four participatory mechanisms of the IWRM model are studied. The conclusions highlight: 1) the limited capacity of the central state to integrate a management model in which agricultural use is widely prevailing, and 2) the political challenge of promoting social participation in a context of conflict with the mining sector over the quality of the resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to think about the dynamics between social labour relationships and the religious believes in Peruvian mining on the basis of anthropological analysis of data collected among Julcani miners (Huancavelica) and Canta artisanal miners (Sierra of Lima) . Julcani miners are observed in two different socioeconomic contexts, one of modernization and technological development, and another of mine closure. Canta artisanal miners are also observed in two different periods, one before and the other after the installation in the zone of a mineral trade company. It can be stated that the apparition of «evil» believes in miner's religious system corresponds to the expansion and intensification of capitalist labour relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes changes in community governance in the context of negotiations with a mining company. We focus on three issues: the role played by the community government on the regulation of community resources and territory, the diverse and complex interests that emerge in the presence of mining activity; and, the community as a political institution confronting external pressures over its land. We develop a study case focusing on the negotiation process between the Michiquillay peasant community and Anglo American Mining Company in Cajamarca, Peru. This information was obtained doing fieldwork in the community in 2009. In our analysis we observe that changes on community resources regulation, its uses and valorization, as well as changes on the balance of power between economic and political actors, have created a greater level of complexity in the community, creating new levels of community decision and spaces for disputing resources' control. At the same time, new inter communal conflicts emerge and fragmentation of community lands increases. In this context the community as an institution plays a central role in the negotiation process over access productive resource and the distribution of financial capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with Viceroy Toledo's governing plan and the modern concepts of development. It is a review of Viceroy Toledo's plan genesis from 1568's Junta Magna, the Toledo's trip over the Andes and the final establishment of his two main economic policy pillars: the mita and the technological process --using mercury for extracting silver from the ore--. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volume of human and economic as well as material resources put into action by the mining industry in rural spaces has given this industry the most powerful force to the diffusion of the industrial society in the traditional rural societies. The mobilized human resources include all levels, from high qualified executives to unqualified labor with low schooling level. The economic resources are of different types and are reflected in the circulation of goods, salaries, the changes in consumption patterns, and incomes received by the local governments. The direct/ indirect mobility of the material resources leads to the building of service's infrastructure, the appearance of new urban centers and industrial plants at the most backward places of Peru, where poverty and State absence are dominant characteristics. Taking into account the cultural realms of the rural societies in the high mountains of Peru, where most of the mining operations are located, and given the variety of resources mobilized by the mining operations, we may identify interacting cultural, economic, social and environmental spaces that define a complex relationship between man and his geographical settings. This paper offers a geographical approach, both from physical and cultural points of view, through descriptive models. The objective is to recognize some underlying dynamic components attached to each space directed to the management of the local and industrial development. This study is based on a research carried out during 2005 in a medium size mine in the Central Andes of Peru, above 4.200 meters of altitude, in the Huancavelica region. The social realm is made of traditional peasant communities, Quechua speakers who live in extreme socio-economic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A freelance photography assignment took me to the remote mountain highlands of Peru in 1999, where, in addition to covering the brutal working conditions to which children and their parents are exposed in the mines, I learned about the myths and legends that permeate the lives of the miners. In sharing the myths and the lives of the inhabitants of the place, however, I must account for my role as an observer with a camera. In this paper I aim to provide a brief introduction to the culture, the myths and legends of the mining populations of the highlands as they were conveyed to me. I discuss some of the ethical concerns of using a camera to capture and convey child labour in the highlands and the ethics of photographic and humanitarian interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining companies are under public scrutiny for their impacts on society. Previous studies have discussed aspects of the drivers of social conflicts and the factors that lead communities to grant or withdraw SLO; however, no previous research has attempted to bring together the range of conflicts in a single paper. The purpose of this research was to identify the factors that influence the main drivers of social conflict and how these factors must be aligned to help a company earn SLO instead of losing it. This qualitative research consisted of a case study analysis of two mining companies that operate in Peru and also included insights drawn from in-depth interviews and the emerging literature on SLO. The findings indicated that there were different factors for each driver of social conflict and that a company's strategic actions with regard to these factors could help it either earn or lose SLO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mining and energy industries, toxic chemical spills have occurred while transporting hazardous chemicals such as cyanide and mercury to mines in several countries including Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Australia, Taiwan and the United States.¹ Typically, a mine operator will retain an independent contractor to minimise the liability for chemical spills and to disassociate itself from controversial spills.² This article analyses the administrative, criminal and civil liability of a gold mine operator in Peru, for the mercury spill of an independent trucking company, and provides some recommendations on how best to manage a difficult situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]