Civil society organizations and legal and technical advisors who support communities affected by mines and other large-scale development projects have issued “A Just Alternative to Development-Forced Displacement.
Many of these projects are justified by their developers as necessary for the renewable energy transition. The climate crisis demands a rapid shift away from the current fossil fuel-based energy system, but as the UN Secretary-General has declared, it is imperative that this transition be just, people-centered and equity-driven. Development projects that forcibly displace communities who live and depend on sought-after land are incompatible with those principles.
This proposal calls for a new approach to engaging affected communities, predicated on respect for their agency and human rights, which can truly contribute to a rapid and just energy transition.
Current approaches for addressing the risks of displacement have failed affected communities. In the authors’ work supporting communities physically and economically displaced by mining, energy and other large-scale projects, we have witnessed the disruption and devastation to their lives and the ecosystems they depend on. These impacts—well documented by half a century of empirical research—include landlessness, homelessness, food insecurity, increased morbidity, marginalization and social disarticulation. Even with the best mitigation strategies, the inherently destructive nature of extractive industry projects often makes it impossible to avert harm. And even when communities have been able to access the strongest available accountability processes, we have seen how it is usually impossible to restore what was lost.
The CSOs, therefore, call on policymakers, lenders and businesses to avoid projects that cause displacement to the maximum extent possible and to invest in circular economy solutions that reduce the need for new resource extraction.
They recognize, however, that many mining and other large-scale, land intensive projects will continue to be developed in the coming years, including those required to transition to the clean energy systems the world urgently needs to avoid catastrophic climate change. This reality has motivated us to explore better approaches to community engagement than those currently applied under the predominant global standards.
International standards governing displacement and resettlement, like the “safeguards” first promulgated by the World Bank, offer important protections. Their adoption in the 1980s and 90s, and subsequent updates, which have informed the development of national policies around the world, marked progress from the historically abhorrent treatment of communities as being “in the way” of development. However, the evidence is overwhelming that these standards, and their implementation, still largely fail to prevent impoverishment and other serious harms to displaced communities.
Image: Artwork depicting forced displacement. Source: OECD.
