Right to Know, Right to Decide Q & A
Why has Oxfam started a new, separate campaign on oil, gas, and mining?
Oxfam and the No Dirty Gold campaign have had great success since the campaign launch in 2004. Oxfam’s new campaign is an opportunity to build on that success and focus on one of the Golden Rules we’ve been advocating for all along—mining and oil companies must obtain the FPIC of affected communities before beginning projects. We also want to build on the progress we’ve made as a key member of the global Publish What You Pay campaign, which calls for extractive industries to have revenue transparency. The new campaign unifies both of these objectives.
“Right to Know, Right to Decide”—what does that mean?
“Right to Know, Right to Decide” represents the idea that relevant information about the impacts and benefits of these industries must be publicly disclosed in a timely and meaningful way and that mining and oil companies must obtain the FPIC of affected communities before beginning projects.
Communities that will be affected by mining and oil projects have the “Right to Know” how projects will affect them and how money generated for the government will be used. Will costs for communities outweigh the planned benefits? Will people be forced to relocate? Will there be real jobs for locals? Where will the money come from for site cleanup? And will there be enough to cover those costs? How much are the companies that operate these projects paying to national and local governments in taxes and other payments? What are the terms of the contracts on which these payments are based? These are just a few examples of the types of questions that community members need to have the opportunity to ask and that should be answered by mining and oil companies in an open and easily accessible manner.
Once communities have the information they need, they must have the “Right to Decide”—that is, to decide whether or not to provide consent for a project that impacts their land, people, and opportunities for sustaining their economic livelihoods.
Aren’t people better off when these types of projects move in? There was nothing there before; they are so poor—at least now they can get jobs.
Many extractive industries projects sell communities on the promise of new jobs. Unfortunately, most projects fail to deliver. The number of people employed by the mining industry has fallen steadily in the past few decades to one percent of the global workforce. A similar trend has taken place in the oil industry. A significant portion of this reduction in jobs is due to technological advances in both sectors. These advances mean mining and oil development can go on in places where it never has before. Unfortunately, many of these places are rural and populated by communities with agrarian skills that have difficulty taking advantage of the technical jobs at a modern mine or oil project.
Operations at modern mines and oil projects can begin and end in fewer than 10 years, so communities must be prepared for sites to close. Too often reclamation funding or bonding is insufficient for the clean up of an extractive industries project site. If the community has lost jobs due to the projects’ closure, contamination of land and water resources presents a further challenge to potential livelihoods.
Why should companies open their books to these countries? Companies build health clinics and schools—they leave things better than they found them.
It is in the companies’ best interests to be transparent and show precisely how much they are contributing to government revenues. Philanthropic projects supported by companies represent a drop in the bucket compared to the need. Companies can demonstrate their true commitment to development in countries where they operate by providing civil society in those countries the information necessary to hold their governments’ accountable.
Given rising oil/gas prices and increased competition for these resources, shouldn’t we be encouraging US companies to explore for oil in different parts of the world?
Oil companies are already exploring and operating in new areas in developing regions, including West Africa, the Peruvian Amazon, and Southeast Asia. For example, 24 new oil licenses were given out for the Peruvian Amazon last year—70 percent of that area is now licensed for oil or gas exploration. Given the weakness of government oversight in many of these countries, it is even more important that oil and mining companies be transparent.
What is the Right to Know, Right to Decide campaign looking to do? How can I help?
The Right to Know, Right to Decide campaign is working to promote full respect for the right of communities to prior consent to all extractive industries projects and full disclosure by oil and mining companies of their revenue payments and contracts. In the short term, you can help by contacting your member of Congress and asking him or her to support revenue transparency legislation. You can also stay in touch with the campaign at www.oxfamamerica.org/rights-resources, as we will be providing a variety of opportunities for you to take actions directed at individual companies.
Who is Oxfam working with in countries where oil and mining are issues? How can you know for sure what’s really happening when you are Boston/DC-based?
We work closely with our regional offices in El Salvador, Peru, Senegal, and Cambodia and with local organizations in each of the regions covered by these offices. Our regional program officers are actively engaged with civil society movements, and they, along with our partner organizations, help ensure the campaign is contributing to lasting change where it matters most.
So, if mining and oil won’t work for poor communities—or if poor communities say no to mining/oil—what will work?
It’s not impossible for oil and mining to be a source of development for communities—if the right conditions are present. In most situations in which communities are opposed to oil or mining operations, it’s because they want to protect the livelihoods they already have, such as agriculture. In such situations, governments should take steps to increase the productivity of these livelihoods.