Claiming prior consultation, monitoring environmental impact: counterwork by the use of formal instruments of participatory governance in Ecuador’s emerging mining sector

This article explores Southern Saami reindeer herders’ experiences and contestations over state consultation and corporate dialogue during a conflict over the Øyfjellet wind energy project in Norway. Informed by a committed research approach and juxtaposition with findings from Indigenous peoples' territorial struggles in Latin-America, the article provides critical perspectives on governance practices in a Nordic-Saami green colonial context. The research draws on ethnography from a consultation meeting between Jillen Njaarke, the impacted reindeer herding community, and state authorities, as well as diverse written material. The study suggests that the state- and corporate-led “dialogues” displaced the root cause of the conflict, revealed epistemic miscommunication, and perpetuated relations of domination which limited emancipatory effects for Jillen Njaarke. The premises and discourses underpinning the “dialogues” further reproduced racist notions which devalue ancestral Saami reindeer herding knowledges, practices, and landscape relations. These findings challenge dialogue as prescription of good governance and conflict resolution in a context where democracy and compliance with Indigenous peoples’ rights are perceived as high.

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Understanding why impact assessment fails; a case study of theory and practice from Wafi-Golpu, Papua New Guinea

Roche

Brueckner

Walim

et al. 2021

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

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Claiming prior consultation, monitoring environmental impact: counterwork by the use of formal instruments of participatory governance in Ecuador’s emerging mining sector

Cited by 18 publications

References 1 publication

Corporate Social Responsibility and the Extractive Industries in the Ecuadorian Amazon: Indigenous Rights and the Environment

Corporate Social Responsibility and the Extractive Industries in the Ecuadorian Amazon: Indigenous Rights and the Environment

“You Can Kill Us with Dialogue:” Critical Perspectives on Wind Energy Development in a Nordic-Saami Green Colonial Context

Understanding why impact assessment fails; a case study of theory and practice from Wafi-Golpu, Papua New Guinea

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