Contested Consultations in the Extractive Industries
Rights, Processes, and Tensions
Published on 29. September 2025
290 pages
978-1-040-43735-3 (ISBN)
Description
This volume examines how communities, companies, and governments contest and contribute to the evolution of norms, rules and decision-making procedures that govern stakeholder consultation in the extractive industries.
In recent years international organisations, governments and companies around the world have dramatically reformed the regime that governs consultations with community stakeholders about proposed extractive projects. However, the characteristics of this consultation regime are often contested, with diverse stakeholders seeking to defend their interests by drawing on different authoritative interpretations of the rules, norms and decision-making procedures that govern stakeholder consultation. Contestation over the meaning, governance and practice of stakeholder consultation is the central thread that ties this book together. Within this overarching concern, the volume takes a global and comparative perspective that examines the complexity of these intersecting and overlapping consultation requirements, with a particular focus on Indigenous Peoples, using cases from the Global North and Global South, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, The Central African Republic, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Iceland, Ghana, Greenland, Guyana, Norway, and Peru. The book highlights the tensions associated with the application of this contested regime and identifies possible solutions from best practices around the world. From a theoretical perspective the book unpacks the maze of overlapping consultation requirements and practices that highlights the normative disagreements between key stakeholders and the overlapping rules and procedures that govern the implementation of consultation. A unique contribution of this collection is the commentary from practitioners, who reflect on the same issues addressed by the academic contributors, but based on their own vast practical experience.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars researching public participation and stakeholder consultation in the extractive industries as well as natural resource governance and sustainable development more broadly.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
In recent years international organisations, governments and companies around the world have dramatically reformed the regime that governs consultations with community stakeholders about proposed extractive projects. However, the characteristics of this consultation regime are often contested, with diverse stakeholders seeking to defend their interests by drawing on different authoritative interpretations of the rules, norms and decision-making procedures that govern stakeholder consultation. Contestation over the meaning, governance and practice of stakeholder consultation is the central thread that ties this book together. Within this overarching concern, the volume takes a global and comparative perspective that examines the complexity of these intersecting and overlapping consultation requirements, with a particular focus on Indigenous Peoples, using cases from the Global North and Global South, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, The Central African Republic, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Iceland, Ghana, Greenland, Guyana, Norway, and Peru. The book highlights the tensions associated with the application of this contested regime and identifies possible solutions from best practices around the world. From a theoretical perspective the book unpacks the maze of overlapping consultation requirements and practices that highlights the normative disagreements between key stakeholders and the overlapping rules and procedures that govern the implementation of consultation. A unique contribution of this collection is the commentary from practitioners, who reflect on the same issues addressed by the academic contributors, but based on their own vast practical experience.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars researching public participation and stakeholder consultation in the extractive industries as well as natural resource governance and sustainable development more broadly.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
2 Tables, black and white; 9 Line drawings, black and white; 9 Illustrations, black and white
File size
1,29 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-43735-3 (9781040437353)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Paul A. Haslam | Nathan Andrews | Karin Buhmann
Contested Consultations in the Extractive Industries
Rights, Processes, and Tensions
Book
09/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€208.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Paul A. Haslam is Professor of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Nathan Andrews is Associate Professor of Political Science at McMaster University, Canada.
Karin Buhmann is Professor in Business and Human Rights at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
Ibironke T. Odumosu-Ayanu is Professor and Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Mark C.J. Stoddart is Professor of Sociology at Memorial University, Canada.
Nathan Andrews is Associate Professor of Political Science at McMaster University, Canada.
Karin Buhmann is Professor in Business and Human Rights at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
Ibironke T. Odumosu-Ayanu is Professor and Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Mark C.J. Stoddart is Professor of Sociology at Memorial University, Canada.
Content
INTRODUCTION: 1. Contested stakeholder consultations in global comparative perspective PART 1: UNDERSTANDING CONTESTATION 2. Consultation, Indigenous peoples and the extractive industries 3. Sustainable mining for whom? Agential Constructivist perspectives on global mining sector consultation regimes in Africa 4. Civil society and extractive company-community relations in Canada and Norway PART 2: THE CONSTESTED MEANINGS OF CONSULTATION 5. From consultation to consent: A potentially complex transition in the Indigenous rights context, and analogous implications for stakeholder consultation 6. Agreements, consultation, and consent in extractive projects 7. Rights-based approach to consultation with Indigenous Peoples in natural resource extraction 8. Indigenous governance, gender, and engagement with rights-holders: Lessons from Canada through environmental human rights PART 3: CONSULT HOW? PROCESSES FOR MEANINGFUL CONSULTATION 9. Meaningful engagement of affected people and communities: Exploring tensions between formal requirements and lived experiences of public participation in impact assessments 10. Public consultation in emergency situations: Lessons from decommissioning mine tailings dams in Minas Gerais, Brazil. 11. Stakeholder engagement and company-community relations in Ghana: Consultation practices, legal pluralism, and discontents 12. Impact assessment and responsible business guidance tools in the extractive sector: implications for engagement in Canada PART 4: PRACTITIONER INSIGHTS 13. Meaningful stakeholder engagement and The Canadian Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise (CORE): Guided by principles 14. An early example of engagement and consultation in the industry setting the stage for improved social performance today 15. An early example of engagement and consultation in the industry setting the stage for improved social performance today 16. Consultation as an exercise in democracy that produces a win-win understanding across the territory 17. Challenges to the protection of consultation in Latin America: The role of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 18. Globally recognized sustainability standard raising the bar for the mining sector worldwide 19. Between flaws, setbacks, and timid progress: Findings after 25 years of mining-related consultations CONCLUSION 20. Beyond contested stakeholder consultation regimes: A regime in flux
