Extraction, Development Indigenous Community Sustainability Symposium

Chair: Charles Passi, Meriam Traditional Owner, and Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Queensland

In this panel discussion different speakers emphasised the limitations of recognition of native title in Australia, and the Chilean speakers emphasised the problems with legal recognition of indigenous rights in Chile (Indigenous Law). Stronger recognition of indigenous rights to manage resources in the contemporary world would be a step toward beginning to address social and environmental injustices. In the case of both Australia and Chile, speakers asserted that a range of new approaches is sorely needed and new responses to the realities of Indigenous peoples lives must be found.

Advances and Goals of the Peoples Council and the Agreement with Rockwood Lithium Mine

Ana Ramos, President of the Council of Atacameño Peoples, Chile

Outline of the ways in which the Atacamanian Peoples Council seeks to support the Indigenous Communities of the Salar de Atacama area. Discussion of the important aspects of the legal agreement between the Peoples Council and the Lithium Company, Rockwood, for equity in the mine, environmental monitoring, capacity building workshops and professional services. The presentation considered the challenges for the Peoples Council in the coming years.

Myuma: From Roadworks to Rangers and Spinifex

Colin Saltmere, Managing Director, Myuma Group, Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation

The Myuma Group, owned by Indjalandji and Dhidhanu traditional owners, integrates four areas of social enterprise. The discussion examined the ways in which social enterprise is facilitated through partnerships between indigenous business and extractive industries, and some of the limitations on indigenous business for indigenous businesses.

CSRM (UQ) and Working with CODELCO in Chile Sara MacKenzie Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining.

(no slides available)

Historical Background to Stradbroke Island and a Detailed Description of the Brutal Imposition of Colonial Rule

Dale and Pekeri Ruska (Goorumpul Goorie owner and One Mile Residents Aboriginal Corporation, Stradbroke Island)

This presentation outlined the history of colonial rule and its impacts on original peoples of Stradbroke Island, leading up to a discussion of the way in which the authors understood mining and other extractive developments on country.

The Beginning of the Transition to a Fully Commoditised End: Indigenous People and Mining Projects in the Northern Borderland of Chile

Dante Choque-Cáseres (PhD, University of Sydney & Centre for Intercultural and Indigenous Research, Chile)

In the far north of Chile, there are moves to further privatise scarce water resources and allow mining in National Parks. Given low human and infrastructural development in the region, the pressure on indigenous and other community groups to allow these processes means that people are convinced by the need for employment.

Balancing Cultural Law for Managing Graves and the Pressures of Development for Housing, Mining and Tourism in Mapoon

Mary Jean Sutton (Virtus Heritage), Dianne Nicholls Pitt (Tjungundji elder and member of the Old Mapoon Aboriginal Corporation) & Simon Pearce (GHD Consultants)

Traditional Owners from Mapoon and Cultural heritage researchers and consultants outlined the ways in which the landscape in Cape York Peninsula may be understood to hold cultural and human remains, and the project to look after the landscape. How these materials are found is a complex process that must rely on non-invasive archaeological methods. The threats to the remains include pressure from mining interests.

Collaboration and the Will for Refusal: the Problems of Participation in Development and Academic Knowledge Production

Piergiorgio Di Giminiani (Pontifica Universidad Catolica & CIIR, Chile)

A key question of the symposium was the question of collaboration between academic scholars and indigenous thinkers, and this presentation raised key questions about collaborations. A case study of Mapuche farmers refusing land claims processes was used as an example of how collaborations with indigenous groups initiated by academic researchers must be flexible, critical and inclusive.

Cultural Heritage Protection as Means of Territorial Defence: between Private Interests and the Chilean State

Fernanda Kalazich (Universidad Catolica del Norte, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology & CIIR)

The presentation explores the ways in which the protection of Cultural Heritage under the National Monuments Act in Chile may also safeguard indigenous territories by registering sites, declaring ‘typical zones’ and identifying historical monuments. It also identifies a range of limitations of heritage processes for territorial protection.

“Picking Sides”: Social Research Amidst Community Conflict: the Case of Pascua Lama

Nigel Wight PhD candidate Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, UQ

There has been increasing environmental activism in Chile in response to large-scale projects. HydroAysen, Agrosuper in Freirina, Pascua Lama and Dominga are the rallying points of Chilean environmental protest, as diverse local, national and international organisations form networks and sustain environmental awareness campaigns. For social researchers, divisions between environmentalists and Indigenous groups can present challenges when conducting fieldwork. Establishing connections with one key actor group may exclude the researcher from accessing other actor groups holding opposing positions. In searching for a deeper understanding of social complexity, the researcher may limit the possibility of broadening knowledge in the process. Based on fieldwork in Huasco Valley (Pascua Lama) this presentation explores the dilemmas for academics when social research requires ‘choosing sides’.

‘Invisible Irrigation and Social Production: Braiding Science with Indigenous Knowledge

Bofedal, Andean high altitude wetlands, Manuel Prieto, Geographer, Universidad Catolica del Norte and CIIR and Karina Yager Anthropologist, Stony Brook University, New York.

Through a mixed methods approach of ecological survey, community participatory mapping and discussions with Indigenous groups, the researchers are able to show that long term indigenous management of wetlands show they are creators of pasture in the Andean highlands, and not simply “users” of the landscape. The authors argued that the ways in which Andean highland pasture had been understood previously needed to be rethought. The implication is that the histories of indigenous management are impacted by extraction industries but also conservation plans that might limit the ability of people to manage territory and water.

Chair: Prof. Paul Memmott Director of the Aboriginal Environments Research Collaborative, The University of Queensland

(no slides available)

‘Double Problem of Participation’ in Mining Impact Social Consultations: The Ancestral Community of Piene

Judith Cruz & Oriana Mora (Atacameño Indigenous Community of Peine)

The final discussion session was opened by Judith Cruz and Oriana Mora from the Indigenous Community of Peine. Judith spoke about Peine as ancestral town and the current situation where there are seven different mining operations thirsty for water, creating a range of impacts on their daily lives. Oriana spoke about the ‘double problem of participation’ in mining impact consultations; that limited the way in which they might participate in consultation and if they participated, tied them to particular development outcomes.

Extractive Industries in Central Australia

Sarah Holcombe & Roger Barnes Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining

To finish, Sarah Holcombe and Rodger Barnes, both from CSRM, with long experience of the context of extractive industries in Central Australia, spoke about the ways in which communities were responding to the context of extraction within the confines of the land rights and native title legal frameworks and processes.

Charles Passi Meriam Traditional Owner, and Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Queensland

Charles Passi spoke about ‘country’ in the Torres Strait Islands, urged us to think about the ways that the indigenous concept of land is always interrelated with people, responsibility and compromise.

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