What is Benefit Sharing? Respecting Indigenous Rights and Addressing Inequities in Arctic Resource Projects

Abstract

International standards refer to Indigenous peoples’ right to benefit from resource development, participate in decision-making and determine priorities in development planning that directly affects them. While good practice exists in benefit sharing, Indigenous peoples still lack opportunities for a meaningful role in strategic planning. In his role as UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya identified a ‘preferred model’ of resource development in which Indigenous peoples have greater control over planning decisions and project implementation, and consequently a more meaningful share of the benefits of resource development. This paper explores the requirements of international standards and guidance alongside different models of benefit sharing in practice by extractive industries in Arctic and sub-Arctic contexts. It is based primarily on desk-based analysis of international hard and soft law and industry standards, while also drawing on ethnographic field research in Russia and Norway. It highlights good practice within mainstream development scenarios and identifies models of benefit sharing that represent a greater degree of Indigenous participation and control. It concludes that there is a need to consider benefit sharing within an overall paradigm that allows greater space for Indigenous voices in decision making, including at the strategic planning stage.

Leading practices for resource benefit sharing and development for and with Indigenous communities

“…Preferential procurement policies can also be made more effective by incentivising companies to not only operate as single entities in a region, but to collaborate regionally. [67]).…”

Benefit Sharing in the Arctic: A Systematic View

“…It is inherently difficult to classify and systematize these diverse practices. However, a growing volume of studies of benefit sharing in Arctic communities provides an opportunity to reflect and synthesize our knowledge on these arrangements or benefit sharing regimes [8,[20][21][22][26][27][28]. This paper describes these regimes in respect to principles, models, mechanisms, and scales/targets of benefit sharing in order to provide more systematic and focused, yet nuanced, insights about benefit sharing in the Arctic.…”

“…Although companies often commit to benefit sharing in their corporate policies, the implementation varies significantly. The development in areas where companies and indigenous people co-exist typically falls into the extractivist model, in which actors, external to the local/indigenous communities, make major decisions about using land and natural resources [8,9]. This leads to failure in delivering fair and equitable benefit sharing arrangements.…”

Globalizing Extraction and Indigenous Rights in the Russian Arctic: The Enduring Role of the State in Natural Resource Governance

“…This article uses the concept of governance generating networks (GGN) to understand how extractive industries may be governed by multiple actors operating across different scales [32][33][34][35][36]. The GGN in this study is the oil production network, including companies, investment banks, equity partners, international and local offices, as well as state agencies at different levels and civil society actors (NGOs and Indigenous peoples' associations).…”