Africa: Global Mining Companies Improve Policies On Community Consent, While Oil and Gas Lag

press release

As conflicts with local communities are a problem for oil, gas and mining companies around the world, a new report from international relief and development organization Oxfam finds that the number of mining companies with commitments to "Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)" has almost tripled since 2012. While positive, this trend masks a number of weaknesses related to protecting the rights of local communities and indigenous people near large-scale projects.

The 2015 Community Consent Index examined policies regarding community rights and community engagement of 38 oil, gas, and mining companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Anglo American, CNOOC, Petrobras, BHP Billiton, RioTinto, Total, Vale, and BG Group, among others. The Index found that extractive industry companies are increasingly seeing the relevance of FPIC to their operations, but the oil and gas sector is lagging and companies are struggling to implement FPIC as clearly defined by international bodies and law.

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