Understanding the Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility in Communities: The Case of the Tintaya Copper Mine Dialogues in Peru

Environmental conflicts around resource extraction in the developing world disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities. In South America, indigenous peoples are among the most affected by the socially and environmentally destructive impacts of oil, gas, and mining. In that context, what are the most effective corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSER) strategies that improve planning and participation for the sustainable development of poor communities affected by resource extraction?

In December 2004, regional, national, and international NGOs and local authorities from Tintaya (Peru) signed a historical agreement with the mining company, BHP Billiton, after a three-year consultative dialogue process, the Dialogue Table, praising their commitment to sustainable development in nearby indigenous communities affected by the Tintaya copper mine. Furthermore, for the first time in Latin America, through a parallel agreement signed in September 2003, the Framework Agreement, BHP agreed to contribute 3% of its annual revenues before taxes and royalties to the development of the Espinar province where Tintaya is located. In the context of an increased role of private transnational mining operations and the environmental and socio-economic impacts of extractive industries in South America, the sustainable development opportunities in Tintaya are unique. Furthermore, unlike many situations where parties do not come together, the Dialogue Table was touted as a model of participatory process and held up as an example of how consensus can be reached among diverse stakeholders.

However, a few months later, in May 2005, 2,000 indigenous peoples attacked the Tintaya Copper Mine and destroyed several BHP facilities and properties, protesting against the company. Almost two years after, the situation in Tintaya is still tense and rumors of a new protests and mine occupation are spreading throughout the Province. Why does a carefully planned and monitored corporate social and environmental responsibility effort get challenged by violent protests and regular threats of renewed protests, despite the support and advocacy of NGOs, apparent goodwill from the companyï¿1½2s executives, and calls for participation of community members?

Current literature on consensus building does not help understand why the dialogue processes ended in violent protests despite apparent constant efforts from stakeholders at the discussion tables to include community concerns in the discussion and represent community members adequately. Furthermore, recent articles on corporate social and environmental responsibility have been critical of corporationsï¿1½2 efforts to improve standards without giving enough attention to the most vulnerable populations in the places where they operate and to the broader issues of poverty reduction and regional development. In the Tintaya case, BHP-Billiton apparently promised to dedicate resources to a sustainable development fund for communities close to the mine, but two-thousand people still rebelled. Therefore, it is important to understand what the CSR initiative ï¿1½2missedï¿1½2 in Tintaya, what were protesters expecting from the company, and what they are still hoping to obtain.

This research project is based on fourteen semi-structured interviews conducted in January 2007 with inhabitants from communities around Tintaya and who participated in the protests and two focus groups with other protesters. Seventeen informal conversational interviews of direct or indirect observers of the protests have also been conducted, including representatives from national and international NGOs who work on issues related to mining, members of the same communities as the protesters, but who did not rebel, and representatives from the mining industry.

The broader purpose of this project in Tintaya is to understand what some of the pitfalls of the initiative sponsored by BHP-Billiton were in terms of addressing community concerns. Understanding perceptions of marginalization and dynamics of CESR approaches will contribute to designing new ways to develop more equitable processes in planning and participation for sustainable development of communities impacted by resource extraction of transnational corporations.