Regulation of Extractive Industries: Community Engagement in the Arctic

Demands for high-quality, informed and influential public participation in large-scale extractive industries in the Arctic are growing, especially since the principle of FPIC for activities affecting indigenous land and resources was endorsed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 (UNDRIP), ten years ago. Questions still remain unanswered regarding what FPIC entails, how it applies when the indigenous population is a majority in their jurisdiction, whether it is a binding principle of law, in what circumstances and to what extent it is relevant to non-indigenous populations, and how it is implemented in practice. Participation of non-indigenous individuals and groups is of increasing importance, for example under the Aarhus Convention and serves as a useful benchmark against which to assess FPIC and to explore the differences, if any, that the presence of Indigenous Peoples make to the decision-making and management systems for large-scale resource projects. This anthology will deliver important and original insights on these questions, enabling governments, developers, indigenous and other local communities, international organisations and civil society organisations to improve processes for the better protection of land and resource rights.

This collection is more than a descriptive or theoretical investigation of existing standards or practices, though that naturally forms a basic foundation. Rather, it aims to go beyond an analysis of the status quo to make practical recommendations for improvements, based on both transfer of good practice between regimes and entirely new innovations.