In Colombia, biofuels displacing whole communities

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Activists attempt to block Barrick Gold mine in Andes

Permits have been issued that enable Barrick to start constructing a mine at 4,000 ft in the Andes at Pascua Lama, straddling Chilean-Argentine border.

 

The open-pit gold mine is still subject to two water-related approvals, but senior politicians on both sides of the border have made clear that they expect the project now to go ahead.

 

Activists claim that because the mine's various approvals have been obtained in piecemeal fashion, it has not been possible for the approval process to assess the environmental impact of the mine as a whole. The biggest concern appears to be about the impact on water quality.

 

On 14 May, around 100 activists campaigned outside the Ministry of Mines in the Chilean capital demanding a moratorium on further mining.

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Swine flu as market externality

TriplePundit argues sustainable agriculture will remain a dream so long as the cost of concentrated animal feedlot operations (CAFO) is externalized.

 

The point is:

 

"The externalities of a business like a CAFO include the air and water pollution, public health problems associated not just with their industrial waste but also in antibiotic resistance, obesity caused by meats laden with chemicals and grown in conditions that produce weight in the fastest manner possible, and other health problems arising from their unhealthy products. And, of course, creating an environment in which disease like the swine flu can flourish, mutate, and multiply."

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Analysis: Oil over water - Peru's dilemma

The Peruvian Supreme Court last month ruled that oil exploration in the Cordillera Escalera should be suspended pending environmental review.

 

The decision, which cited the human right to drinkable water, halted exploration by a consortium in which Canada's Talisman Energy holds the largest (40%) stake, and Spain's Repsol and the Brazilian state company Petrobras have a 30% share each.

 

This BBC article analyses what is at stake while the oil exploration is now being reviewed by the central government: not just the region's supply of clean water, but biodiversity and the sustainability of Peru's path of development.

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A lesson in respecting your customers

The Responsible Marketing Blog highlights an example by an Argentinian bank of responsible communication involving a transgendered person.

 

There. Was that so difficult?

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New survey of human rights impact assessment tools

Companies still getting to grips with their human rights responsibilities may find useful a new survey by Aim for Human Rights comparing HRIA tools.

The “Guide to Corporate Human Rights Impact Assessment Tools� provides an overview of the tools corporations and managers can use to implement human rights norms within their business practices and policies.

The guide describes both the history of HRIA tools and the theory underlying them, before summarizing a selection of existing tools and suggesting criteria for selecting the right tool.

The report also examines what a company can do by way of follow up after having undertaken an HRIA.

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Pharma Futures project releases emerging markets report

The third report of the multistakeholder Pharma Futures project provides drugmakers with guidance on responsible approaches in emerging markets.

The report was drafted in consultation with the pharmaceutical industry, investors, global health experts and social entrepreneurs.

The PF3 report's conclusions include:

"Investors need clearer signals from the pharmaceutical industry about emerging market opportunities, the business models they require, and the investments they need.

Pharmaceutical companies' business models need to adapt from those developed for western markets with robust health infrastructures to models that account for the distribution and pricing realities of emerging markets.

Improved communication, between companies and investors, and between the industry, governments, global health experts and local communities will be the key to success."

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Unprecedented review of mining company relations issued

In an industry first, mining company Newmont today published an independently prepared report on its community relations policies and procedures.

A team of consultants, academic researchers and lawyers undertook the research and prepared the report, overseen by an advisory board comprising NGO representatives, activist investors (who had submitted the shareholder resolution demanding the report to begin with), academics, and a community representative.

According to the Newmont press release, the study involved:

"The CRR process involved:

Interviews with more than 250 local community members, non-governmental organizations and other external stakeholders in five countries;

Interviews with more than 100 company personnel at the site, regional and corporate levels;

Examination of company policies, standards, procedures, and training programs;

Detailed analyses of Newmont sites, including Ahafo (Ghana), Yanacocha (Peru), Martha (New Zealand), Carlin (Nevada), Batu Hijau and Minahasa (Indonesia); and,

Country-level analyses of relationships and contexts."

The report and associated documents are available online. Clearly Newmont has some way to go in closing the gap between head office pronouncement and on-the-ground reality. Specifically they need to focus on:

"* Enhancing consistency of engagement with local communities;
* Building capacity to manage and resolve conflict and address grievances; and,
* Developing consistent global policies, standards and programs to better guide the Company's actions."

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New human rights lawsuit follows the money

Three Ecadorian villagers are suing not just Copper Mesa Mining Corporation (CMMC), but the stock exchange that helped the company raise money.

The cause of action alleged is that "company directors and the TMX Group [the Toronto Stock Exchange] have not done enough to reduce the risk of harm being faced by farmers and community leaders in Intag who have faced violent threats and attacks for opposition to a large open-pit copper mine in their pristine cloud forests."

The allegations date back to 2006 when the company was called Ascendant Copper:

"In early December 2006, over 50 heavily armed security guards, mostly ex-soldiers, were hired to reach company concessions and set up camp. Local residents had been tipped off and gathered along the narrow dirt road that the company-hired trucks would have to pass. When they arrived, Ramírez and others tried to urge the armed men to turn around. But instead, the security agents sprayed tear gas into their faces from only a metre away and fired their weapons into the air, injuring one man, also a plaintiff in the case.

When the residents didn't back down, the guards finally retreated.

The incident was caught on film by a European student researching the controversy and is retold as part of the recent film Under Rich Earth by director Malcolm Rogge that debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It has also been denounced in a complaint to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission."

The original incident can be viewed on the embedded video. The preceding parts of the video can be accessed on the YouTube site, and show the peaceful nature of the villagers' blockade up to the point the security forces opened fire.

What makes the suit particularly interesting is the intention of Murray Klippenstein, the plaintiff's lawyer, to use the case to highlight the difficulty of pinning down corporate accountability across global businesses:

"Copper Mesa whose headquarters in Colorado, "has connections to some nine different legal jurisdictions, making it difficult to identify which jurisdiction is the proper one in which to hold the corporation accountable," says the legal summary of the case.

The former website of Copper Mesa (then Ascendant Copper) acknowledged that its corporate structure makes suing directors difficult: "All of the directors of Ascendant and substantially all of their assets and those of Ascendant are located outside of Canada. It may not be possible for purchasers of securities being qualified for distribution under this prospectus to effect service of process within Canada upon directors who reside outside of Canada..." "

This is why, according to The Tyee news report, the legal action is focusing on decisions taken in Canada at the time of the listing.

The TMX Group that runs the exchange regards the complaint as entirely without merit, according to the report.

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Cadbury's goes for fairtrade mark

Cadbury's is to obtain fairtrade certification for its Dairy Milk chocolate bar in what is viewed as a major step forward for the fairtrade movement.

Certification will be sought for Dairy Milk bars sold in Britain and Ireland. The move will double the amount of cocoa being bought from developing world smallholders under the fairtrade scheme.

According to The Guardian, the move will convert fairtrade from a niche to "a mainstream ethical benchmark, bearing the sustainability kitemark on 15% of chocolate sold in Britain. Cadbury's chief executive, Todd Stitzer, said he plans to convert the group's other chocolate brands to Fairtrade "as soon as we can do it". Dairy Milk is the first mainstream chocolate bar to be sold with a commitment to pay cocoa suppliers the "Fairtrade premium" of $150 (£105) a tonne above market prices. When the bars go on sale this summer the value of Fairtrade chocolate sales in Britain will leap from £45m to £225m. Cadbury's pledge to buy 10,000 tonnes of cocoa under Fairtrade terms will triple certified sales from Ghana.

Fairtrade terms require buyers to commit to a minimum price of $1,600 a tonne. For more than two years the open market price has been climbing and yesterday reached $2,213. This is the longest period prices have stayed above the guarantee price and the International Cocoa Organisation yesterday predicted a third year of "production deficit". This makes a Fairtrade commitment more affordable than in previous years. Stitzer nevertheless insisted Cadbury was committed to Fairtrade for the long term, regardless of price movements."

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