Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

186 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
It also has a chequered past in dealing with indigenous
peoples. Indigenous organizations and support groups published
a set of case studies for the EIR, which emphasized
the impacts that extractive industries had upon indigenous
peoples. 36 The case studies included impacts on indigenous
peoples investment in Coal India Ltd’s East Parej Project in
Jharkhand, India and the Chad-Cameroon pipeline (which
the Bank eventually withdrew support from in 2008), to name
but a few. 37 Previous Bank investment included the huge iron
ore mine at the centre of Brazil’s Grande Carajas project, initiated
in 1981, which was widely criticized at the time for its
effect on the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. 38
Nothing much has changed. The IFC is actively considering
financing the huge Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine
in Mongolia, which has already come in for heavy criticism
over water issues and its treatment of local herdsmen. 39 This is
despite research, such as the November 2011 research report
by the Global Development and Environment Institute, which
found that the IFC’s $45 million loan to Goldcorp for its Marlin
mine in Guatemala was not delivering development benefits.
The report states that “local benefits are a tiny fraction of total
mine revenues and earnings, the bulk of which flow overseas
to the company and its shareholders.” The project also poses
“hazards related to cyanide and heavy metals contamination
of water,” which “will undermine agricultural livelihoods, impoverishing
local communities.” 40
There is at least more transparency with multilateral development
banks than ECAs. It will be much easier to find out
what, if any, public finance is being invested in a local project.
Having said that, it should be noted, however, that whereas
the World Bank/IFC lent approximately $1.7 billion in loans
in 2005 to oil, gas and mining, the amount of debt financing
from the main 53 banks and insurers just to mining alone came
to an average of $59 billion per year between 2000-2006. 41 So
such funding is far from assured.
The good news—if a project is “lucky” enough to have
multilateral bank funding—is that it provides a number of
allies and/or potential benefits. In terms of allies, there are
NGOs working on specifically on public financing, probably