Natural Resource Extraction and Indigenous Livelihoods: Development Challenges in an Era of Globalization

This book provides an extended analysis of how resource extraction projects stimulate social, cultural and economic change in indigenous communities. Through a range of case studies, including open cast mining, artisanal mining, logging, deforestation, oil extraction and industrial fishing, the contributors explore the challenges highlighted in global debates on sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and climate change. The case studies are used to assess whether and how development processes might compete and conflict with the market objectives of multinational corporations and the organizational and moral principles of indigenous communities. Emphasizing the perspectives of directly-affected parties, the authors identify common patterns in the way in which extraction projects are conceptualized, implemented and perceived. The book provides a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the human environments where resource extraction takes place and its consequent impacts on local livelihoods. Its in-depth case studies underscore the need for increased social accountability in the planning and development of natural resource extraction projects.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures, Tables and Box, Notes on Contributors, Introduction, 1. Indigenous Employment, Training and Retention: Successes and Challenges at Red Dog Mine, 2. Mining in Aboriginal Australia: Economic Impacts, Sustainable Livelihoods and Cultural Difference at Century Mine, Northwest Queensland, 3. Reciprocity in the Canadian Dene Diamond Mining Economy, 4. The Money Rain Phenomenon: Papua New Guinea Oil and the Resource Curse, 5. Fisheries in Coastal India: Extraction, Livelihoods and a Way of Life, 6. Negotiable Differences? Conflicts over Mining and Development in South East Ecuador, 7. Corporate Social Responsibility in Oil-Rich Sub-Saharan Africa: Conceptualizing the Challenges, 8. Land, Oil and Indigenous People in the Russian North: A Case Study of the Oil Pipeline and Evenki in Aldan, 9. Timber Extraction in Solomon Islands: Too Much, Too Fast; Too Little, Too Late, 10. What Local People Want with Forests: Ideologies and Attitudes in Papua New Guinea, 11. Conservation, Extraction and Corruption: Is Sustainable Forest Management Possible in Romania?, 12. Preserving Forests and Protecting Livelihoods: The Challenge of REDD Governance, 13. Fair Trade Mineral Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Some Critical Reflections, Afterword, Index

About the Author :
Emma Gilberthorpe is Lecturer in Anthropology and International Development at the University of East Anglia, UK and Gavin Hilson is Professor and Chair of Sustainability in Business at the University of Surrey Business School, UK.

Review :
’Read this book if you want to understand the sundry consequences commercial resource extraction typically bring to indigenous livelihoods. Across a variety of regions and resources in both developed and developing countries, the authors find resilient indigenous cultures that are narrowly viewed as barriers to development by governments and corporations. The focus on host communities is this book’s unique contribution.’ Scott Pegg, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), USA ’This is an essential book on a long-neglected topic. Both scholars and policymakers should read it closely.’ Michael Ross, University of California, Los Angeles, USA