Examples of coupled human and environmental systems from the extractive industry and hydropower sector interfaces

Abstract

Large-scale corporate projects, particularly those in extractive industries or hydropower development, have a history from early in the twentieth century of creating negative environmental, social, and health impacts on communities proximal to their operations. In many instances, especially for hydropower projects, the forced resettlement of entire communities was a feature in which local cultures and core human rights were severely impacted. These projects triggered an activist opposition that progressively expanded and became influential at both the host community level and with multilateral financial institutions. In parallel to, and spurred by, this activism, a shift occurred in 1969 with the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act in the United States, which required Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for certain types of industrial and infrastructure projects. Over the last four decades, there has been a global movement to develop a formal legal/regulatory EIA process for large industrial and infrastructure projects. In addition, social, health, and human rights impact assessments, with associated mitigation plans, were sequentially initiated and have increasingly influenced project design and relations among companies, host governments, and locally impacted communities. Often, beneficial community-level social, economic, and health programs have voluntarily been put in place by companies. These flagship programs can serve as benchmarks for community-corporategovernment partnerships in the future. Here, we present examples of such positive phenomena and also focus attention on a myriad of challenges that still lie ahead.impact assessment | community health | corporate social responsibility

Malaria in Gold Miners in the Guianas and the Amazon: Current Knowledge and Challenges

“…Legal exploitation is more industrial. The proportion of these two mining statuses varies greatly from one country to the other (Table 1) [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…Selfmedication is also very frequent in Suriname [44] and in Guyana [37], where the quality of antimalarials (in public, private, and informal sectors) is substandard [45,46]. Brazilian*** 200,000 in small-scale mining [6] 194,370 11% * 6 to 7.4% of malaria cases [8,9] Colombia * ** 80% of gold production mined or sold illegally [10] Colombian*** 182,000 (legal and illegal) [6] 54,102 57% ** 89% of malaria cases from mining regions [5] French Guiana * *** 10 times more than legal mining [11] Brazilian*** French* Surinamese* 10,000 [11] 597 14% *** Prevalence of Plasmodium spp. by PCR in gold miners = 22% (from 4 to 48% depending on the region) [11,12] Guyana *** Socioeconomic crisis in Venezuela led to a deterioration of health facilities with shortages experienced in 88% of the hospitals.…”

Human–environment interactions in population and ecosystem health

“…Analogous to the conflict between governing states over shared resources highlighted by Barrett (16), conflicts similarly arise between corporations and communities, as illuminated by Castro et al with case studies from extractive industries and hydropower development. Castro et al (18) also highlight a particularly vexing long-standing issue: the problem of obtaining unbiased environmental, social, and health impact assessments for corporate projects where the results of the assessments influence decisions on whether or not a project is to move forward. Furthermore, follow-up impact assessments, confirming or overriding the impact predictions, are also needed to form a basis for corporate accountability once project implementation is underway.…”

“…In a contrasting example of unsuccessful incentive structures, Walsh and Mena (23) examine how policies surrounding ecotourism within the iconic haven of the Galapagos have been heavily weighted toward supporting the growth of tourism, benefiting the local economy at the expense of environmental decay. Reforming incentive structures simultaneously to promote human well-being and alleviate inequalities across and within nations, both in the near and longer-term, has the potential to resolve the conflicts described in the Galapagos by Walsh and Mena (23), in the extractive industries by Castro et al (18), and in Japanese whaling practices by Mangel (17).…”

The Role of the Private Sector in Supporting Malaria Control in Resource Development Settings

“…Today, significant investments in environmental and health impact assessments that assist in devising site-specific risk management plans imbue a sense of corporate responsibility in industrial sectors to support environmental, health, education, and socioeconomic programs in the communities that they directly and indirectly impact [ 12 , 13 ]. Depending on location and circumstances, coverage should extend to protection from VBDs, and include community engagement and social outreach, greater health awareness, and expanded vector control activities in order to mitigate the potential negative aspects of development in the area [ 14 , 15 ].…”