Environmental Justice and Globalization: Putting a Focus on Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Rights and Perspectives

The right to participate in matters of local importance for communities as well as for Indigenous Peoples are increasingly recognized. This article analyses the continuous existence of deterrents to environmental justice from the perspective of social leaders who have worked in the defence of environmental and Indigenous rights in Colombia, Peru and Chile. This article argues that community rights and interests are relegated as a consequence of notions of development that are solely based on economic growth. This lack of a proper balance between a market-driven vision of development with local and Indigenous perspectives of development is manifested in different obstacles to effective participation and could also be explained by post-colonial dynamics. The research identifies seven particular obstacles that environmental and Indigenous rights defenders face to make their voices and perspectives be heard, namely: a total denial to binding mechanisms for participation, lack of information and transparency surrounding projects with a significant impact to local environments, unwillingness of State actors to supervise extractive industries, lack of access to environmental justice, lack of recognition by local authorities, in particular of Indigenous representatives, deception to the agreements between mining companies and the local communities as well as bureaucratic practices and judicial persecution, stigmatization and threats to the lives of environmental and Indigenous leaders.