Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

136 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
with Indigenous Peoples Law in August 2011. Although it
does not talk specifically of “consent,” the Law makes it mandatory
to seek the opinions of affected indigenous communities.
It is in effect creating binding legislation to implement
Colombia’s ratification of ILO Convention 169. 7 If the law was
intended to douse the conflicts over resources on indigenous
land, it has not been a runaway success. Aside from the violent
protests around the Conga project (covered in Chapter 1.1),
around 500 Shuar people set up a blockade in October 2011
to stop Canadian mining firm Talisman Energy from exploring
in their ancestral lands in the northern Amazon over concerns
of contamination. At the same time as these protests, the
Peruvian state was proposing new regulations governing the
extractive industries in the so-called “untouchable” reserves
of indigenous peoples in isolation. This was to allow access to
such reserves if there is “a real public need.” Although there
are attempts at mitigating the negative effects of this, it is clear
that provisions to both “protect” and “exploit” the lands of
indigenous peoples are being pursued simultaneously. 8
Another Latin American example of this schizophrenic attitude
is the State of Bolivia, which has a large and historically
poor indigenous minority, as well as an economy focused on
the extractive industries. Under the country’s first indigenous
President, Evo Morales, there have been huge strides to champion
the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment on
the international stage, including the drafting of a Universal
Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth. Yet, given the reliance
of the state on exploiting its natural resources, there have
been complaints from indigenous organizations that attempts
at land titling are happening too slowly and that the government
has used “dishonest and corrupt prior consultation
methods” on some projects. Major concerns are being raised
about oil extraction in the Isoboro Sécure National Park and
Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS), which—thanks to concerted
advocacy—has recently been declared an ecological reserve
that is of “fundamental interest to the nation.” 9
As the case study in this chapter shows (see box: Australia—
After the Mabo Decision), in Australia there have been big
advances with regard to indigenous land rights issues after
the famous Mabo court case, including the 1993 Native Title