New extractivism, foreign investment and inclusive development: reclaiming participatory gender equality in Perú

ABSTRACT

The paper evaluates the effectiveness of citizen participation in environmental management, specifically, in relation to the process of evaluation of environmental impact assessment studies of large-scale mining projects in Peru. It is analysed if these mechanisms are equally inclusive of female and male voices; identifies the barriers that women face in these deliberative spaces and assess what the government is doing to reduce gender based exclusions. The paper argues that, although according to Peruvian environmental and mining law, participatory spaces are aimed to include citizens’ voices; they end up reinforcing domination and control as they mainly operate to facilitate a rapid expedition of environmental licenses in mining projects rather than truly foster spaces of dialogue, consensus and political inclusion. For the most part, such mechanisms have also been blind to the gendered impacts of extractivism.

KEYWORDS:

• New extractivism
• inclusive development
• participation
• gender equality
• Peru

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Since the adoption of the first UN-Human Development Report in 1990, the human development approach has received more international attention, in terms of representing a framework which influences national policy development.

2 To date, Latin America has been the preferred destination for foreign direct investment in the extractive sector worldwide. The flow of mining investments, for instance, grew 400% during the 1990s (De Echave, 2007).

3 This is exemplified in use of the term ‘inclusive development,’ in the case of Peru and Ecuador, or the ‘mining locomotive to exit poverty,’ in Colombia.

4 See for example, the report ‘Driving Inclusive Economic Growth: The Role of the Private Sector in International Development’; Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (Nov 2012) [online] http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Committee/411/FAAE/Reports/RP5732913/faaerp06/faaerp06-e.pdf (Last visited May 7, 2015).

5 See, for example, ‘Presidente Correa considera a minería como una de las claves para superar pobreza en ecuador’ Online http://www.ecuadorinmediato.com/index.php?module=Noticias&func=news_user_view&id=2818794762.

6 See, Perú: Human rights defender Máxima Acuña criminalized by unsubstantiated criminal prosecution for land invasion. Online: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ca9ac44.html.

7 See the third party submission from the Asociación de Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente – Puno and Carlos López in Bear Creek Mining Corporation v. Peru (ICSID Case No. ARB/14/21) 9 May 2016. Online: https://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/italaw7517.pdf.

8 In Peru, the regulatory mechanisms enabling citizen participation in the environmental management of extractive projects include Law 28611, the General Law of Environment, Supreme Decree 028-2008-EM, and Ministerial Resolution 304-2008-MEM/DM. These legal instruments establish the possibility of holding public hearings, dialogue roundtables, participatory workshops, guided visits to project areas, and presentation of written contributions or observations to the competent environmental assessment authority.

9 National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights 2021–2025, approved by Supreme Decree No. 009-2021-JUS published on June 11th, 2021.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Areli Valencia

Areli Valencia holds a Ph.D. in Law and Society from the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, Canada. She is currently Assistant Professor at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. Researcher at the Institute for Human Development of Latin America at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (IDHAL – PUCP). Dr. Valencia brings 20 years of professional experience to the areas of human rights, international development, gender and environmental justice with a regional focus on South America. She has produced research on the human rights impacts of extractive-led development in vulnerable populations, most notably, indigenous peoples and peasant women in countries such as Peru and Ecuador. She is the author of the book Human rights trade-offs in times of economic growth: The long-term capability impacts of extractive-led development (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).