Shared Social License: Mining and Conservation in the Peruvian Andes

Abstract

Over the last two decades financial relationships between conservation and extraction have become conspicuously close. Both sectors unabashedly publicized these business deals as a form of greening extraction and marketizing conservation. This essay uses a case study in Perú to propose a tentative theory of how this seemingly incompatible but very profitable union unfolds on the ground. The development of fictitious commodities in nature for each sector is examined and the labor theory of value is combined with the labor of persuasive work to expose a fundamental shared need in both sectors: in Perú's contemporary political and economic context extractive and conservation actors increasingly must persuade landowners-usually indigenous communities-to allow for specific forms of capital to flow through their territory. In some cases this need to secure the "social license" is shared across sectors and the labor to secure the license can be undertaken together. Resumen: Durante las dos últimas décadas las relaciones financieras entre la conservación y la extracción se han vuelto notablemente estrecha. Ambos sectores descaradamente divulgan sus acuerdos mutuales como una forma de ecologización de extracción y mercantilización de la conservación. Este ensayo utiliza un estudio de caso en Perú para proponer una teoría tentativa de cómo esta unión, aparentemente incompatible pero muy rentable, se revela. El desarrollo de mercancías ficticias en la naturaleza de cada sector se examina y la teoría del valor-trabajo se combina con el labor de persuasión para exponer una necesidad compartida fundamental entre ambos sectores: en el contexto político y económico del Perú contemporáneo, cada vez más actores extractivas y de conservación se necesita persuadir propietarios de tierras-por lo general las comunidades indígenas-para permitir formas específicas de capital fluir a través de su territorio. En algunos casos esta necesidad de asegurar la "licencia social" es compartida en los dos sectores y la mano de obra para obtener la licencia se puede emprender juntos.

Fixing extraction through conservation: On crises, fixes and the production of shared value and threat

“…The spatial overlap between these two sectors has led some researchers to further consider complementarities between these extractive and conservation activities (Büscher and Davidov, 2013; Norris, 2017; Seagle, 2012, 2013). Their research argues that the mandate and motivation of both the conservation and extractive sectors has become more congruent as a result of the neoliberalisation of conservation: Both sectors now work to transform nature into commodities for exchange, whether such commodities are nuggets of gold or wilderness getaways (Mendoza et al., 2017: 5).…”

“…We assess what such cooperation achieves for both sectors and conclude by reflecting on some of the broader implications of this trend. Existing neoliberal nature literature has examined complementarities between natural resource extraction and biodiversity conservation, demonstrating that extraction and conservation activities increasingly occur in the same spaces and make use of similar logics, strategies and technologies (Büscher and Davidov, 2013; Norris, 2017; Seagle, 2012). We suggest that we are witnessing an intensifying and deepening of relationships between extractive companies and conservation organisations that warrant closer scrutiny.…”

“…The spatial overlap between these two sectors has led some researchers to challenge the assumption that natural resource extraction and biodiversity conservation are fundamentally incompatible projects Davidov, 2013, 2015;Norris, 2017;Seagle, 2012;. This research has revealed that the dichotomy between these two sectors is imagined rather than real.…”

“…It follows that both sectors would find themselves expanding into the same landscapes in search of surface or subsurface natural resources. With this in mind, it is also unsurprising that both sectors make use of similar logics, strategies and technologies to enclose land and to assign value to nature (Busher and Davidov, 2013; Seagle, 2012;Norris, 2017). In summary, existing research convincingly shows that there is a remarkable degree of similarity between two sectors that are commonly portrayed as being at odds.…”

Is social licence “going rogue”?

“…Social licence, or the “social licence to operate” (SLO), has quickly established itself alongside other corporate social responsibility frameworks, which aim to demonstrate a company's commitment to sustainable economic development (Prno, ; Prno & Slocombe, ). Not surprisingly, social licence has also generated significant interest among policy makers and academics, including geographers (Duncan et al., ; Norris, ; Overduin & Moore, ), writing and researching the relationship between resource extraction, communities, and sustainable development.…”