NGOs, the extractive industries and community development : the case of NGO labor in Peru

Oswaldo Molina Campodonico, James Loveday L.

Producción científica: Documento de trabajo

Resumen

The history of Ilo – a city located in the southern part of Peru, is marked by the work of extractive industries, namely fishing and mining, and their effects on the local society. In fact, Ilo is an intermediate city that was born as a consequence of the migration of unemployed and underemployed middle-age men searching for work in these industries. However, through time, these economic activities have had negative environmental effects, mainly affecting (i) water availability for agricultural and domestic purposes; (ii) air pollution derived from the Ilo copper smelter; and (iii) river basin pollution derived from the copper lixiviation process at the Cuajone and Toquepala mines, located in the city proximities. This case study considers the process through which civil society, guided by the developmental NGO Labor, became a real influence in the environmental attitude and corporate social responsibility of the Southern Peru Copper Corporation (SPCC) – one of the main copper producers in the world. One of the high points of this story happened in 1992, when Labor and Ilo’s municipality won a lawsuit against SPCC at the II International Water Tribunal in Amsterdam. This event, having exposed SPCC’s negative environmental impact to an international forum, produced a turning point in its social responsibility behavior. Afterwards, the mining company started a coordinated plan led by the Peruvian Government to accomplish a set of environmental standards to reduce its air and water pollution
Idioma originalInglés
Lugar de publicaciónLondon
Número de páginas5
EstadoPublicada - ago. 2006

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