Category: Stakeholder

The Aral Sea desiccation is a textbook example of the anthropocene. Children around the world learn about this ecological disaster in schools. The consequences of the desiccation are well-known the world over: the destruction of a fishing industry that sustained local communities for hundreds of years, the appearance of salt-laden dust storms, the spread of fertilizers and pesticides heavily used in the cotton industry over hundreds of kilometers around the sea, soil salinization, and the detrimental effects on the health of local populations.… Read More

A Judgment in South Africa

Sometimes, one’s studies and the developments of the “real world” come together in surprising ways. As I make the very last adjustments to my paper on the engagement of mining corporations with the indigenous right to “free, prior and informed consent”, a South African court ruling makes headlines around the world.… Read More

Recently, I came across an interesting article entitled, “The Key role of indigenous people in global climate change efforts”. This article discusses the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) climate talks that took place in December in Poland.… Read More

In this world of technology, most of us possess electronic gadgets. But how often do we stop to think about the mineral components that were obtained to manufacture our laptop or smartphone?… Read More

The UN Forum on Business and Human Rights

From 26-28^thof November 2018, the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights was held in Geneva. The Forum is the world’s largest annual gathering on business and human rights with more than 2,000 participants from government, business, community groups and civil society, law firms, investor organizations, UN bodies, national human rights institutions, trade unions, academia and the media [1].… Read More

While writing about the ‘indigenous people’, one can easily fall into the trap of romanticisation and homogenisation. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues describes the indigenous people as “the holders of unique languages, knowledge systems and beliefs and possess invaluable knowledge of practices for the sustainable management of natural resources”.… Read More

This movie is about the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon platform and the oil spill that happened in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. The whole movie revolves around the events occurred before the explosion and around the moment of the explosion itself, which is good because it gives the spectator an idea of how the oil industry works and of how the different actors relate to each other.… Read More

“The Dongria Kondh tribe inspired millions when they won a ‘David and Goliath’ battle against mining giant Vedanta” (Survival International)

Huge mining production sites are set up and operated by a large corporation on a global scale.… Read More

“Where there is indigenous land, there is wealth underneath it.” – Jair Bolsonaro

President elect Bolsonaro in Brazil has promised to roll back environmental protections and indigenous rights in order to harvest the natural resources within the Amazon.… Read More