Peruvian Justice Minister Juan Jiménez’s appearance before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights last week marked the latest challenge to President Ollanta Humala’s strategy of marrying mining-based growth with social development.
Jiménez faced the commission Saturday to dispute a law proposed last year by local organizations concerned about environmental impacts from the $4.8 billion Conga gold and copper mine. Later this week, the country’s Constitutional Tribunal will also consider the constitutionality of a decision by the president of Cajamarca province, where the Conga mine is located, to declare the project “unviable.” Local communities argue that the mine will empty several alpine lakes, causing immense environmental damage and depleting water sources.
The standoff over Conga is arguably the most contentious of Peru’s mining conflicts and representative of a national debate about resource exploitation. The dispute has halted mining activities in Cajamarca for more than four months and forced the Peruvian government to commission a new environmental impact assessment by international experts. The results of the study are due in early April, but the recent decision by Newmont Mining, Conga’s majority owner, to cut 6,000 jobs at the mine is an indication of the economic impact of mining disputes on the local community.
Peru is now undoubtedly a mining country. It is the world’s second-largest producer of copper, silver and zinc and the sixth-largest producer of gold. Mining comprises almost 60 percent of the country’s exports. Humala, elected on a platform of social change, has made no secret of his desire to use mining as a tool to reduce poverty and inequality in Peru.
And yet mining is also at the root of more than 100 social conflicts across the country. Local communities and civil society groups cite a lack of community consultation, environmental degradation and the impact of mining on already scarce resources, in particular water, for the widespread discontent.
While Humala firmly believes that all Peruvians should benefit from the country’s natural resource wealth, making that goal a reality is more difficult than it seems. Many of the mining disputes have been inherited from previous administrations, and the underlying distrust among government, the private sector and civil society remains a significant hurdle to building support for mining projects.
Complete article available at World Politics Review.
