Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

214 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
of a project partnership between BP Russia and the Batani
Fund on micro-credits, with a total of 14 grants made between
2006-2008, and a 100 percent repayment rate. These credits
allowed the indigenous peoples to take advantage of their
traditional natural resources in order develop new business
projects. 22
A case study that is often positively cited is the negotiation
that took place between Inco, and the local Innu and Inuit
people over the huge Voisey’s Bay nickel mine in Canada.
The Inuit and the Innu made it clear that they had long-term
rights and interests that needed to be respected. The Voisey’s
Bay agreements were possible because the main parties all
had a measure of power. The Innu and Inuit organizations
won recognition, at least to the extent that they had some
important authority over the lands involved. Their consent
was needed. Therefore, their interests had to be taken seriously
and they had to be included in deliberations and negotiations
that helped define the project. As such, they were
able to reach beyond agreements on benefit sharing, to insist
on a sustainability-centered environmental assessment of the
project which was in line with indigenous thinking. This set
a national precedent in sustainability-based decision criteria,
which obliged the proponent to meet a considerably higher
test than usual in environmental assessments. (Although as
noted in the cases study on the Goro Nickel project in Kanaky/
New Caledonia, it did not necessarily set a precedent in Inco’s
dealings beyond Canada.) 23
Finally, it is worth considering that there are a vast
number of standards, protocols and voluntary principles
that could be applicable to any extractive project. As can be
seen from the Framework for Responsible Mining, these
include—beyond those already mentioned in the report—
the likes of the Kimberly Process on diamonds, the Global
Compact, the International Cyanide Management Code,
the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, the
Global Sullivan Principles of Corporate Social Responsibility,
the Global Reporting Initiative, and UN Convention Against
Corruption. 24 Most are voluntary, with a mixed record with
regard to accountability, monitoring or consequences for fail-