Autonomous organizations key to solve Peru mining conflicts – official

Most mining related social protests in Peru do not oppose projects generally, but certain aspects of development, an official told the Perumin event.

“Only 10% of the mining conflicts are in opposition to the projects – they don’t want mining in the area. But 90% of problems arise during project development. Some are resolved by dialog and others take more time,” Rolando Luque, an official at the ombudsman’s office, told a panel on social conflict.

Worryingly, he said, while 68 mining conflicts are registered currently, compared to the record 80 in 2013, they are becoming more violent.

In the last five years, 24 were resolved but 85 arose. Luque highlighted that public concerns are more economic than ideological, but Peru lacks a coordinating mechanism to solve problems across regions.

Agreements often fall apart because of high turnover of specialized officials. The territorial governance unit, which oversees decentralization, dialog and national agreements, has seen 10 leaders and 14 social management secretaries since its creation five years ago. “That is disconcerting for the populations. Confidence, once damaged, has to be continually renewed,” Luque said.

A short-term solution could start with creating an integrated information system. The current approach, however, “is that a deputy minister believes one can resolve conflicts within the [area] of their attributions and looks with suspicion at the information of the other ministries and institutions. Without a multi-institutional approach, it will not be achieved,” Luque said.

It is also key to reactivate a broad mining agenda – the mining law, concessions, environmental remediation and canon distribution – and make the 2030 mining plan, created by multiple stakeholders, and sustainability part of public management and the budget.

The ombudsman’s office had requested funds from the economy and finance ministry for the creation of an agreement compliance monitoring unit but did not get a response. “It is a transparency issue. The government can have its monitoring mechanism; but an autonomous constitutional body is required to review that the agreements are fulfilled,” according to Luque.

Handling social conflicts will also help competitiveness. Peru has fallen to the bottom of the Mining Competitiveness Index, which, prepared by Macroconsult and the Institute of Mining Engineers, was presented at Perumin.

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