Land and Livelihoods: NGOs, Conflict, and Extraction in Peru

Abstract

Examining the events that occurred over a decade ago in Tambogrande, Piura - notable for its successful community-led revolt against a large mining corporation - allows for retrospection on Oxfam America’s past efforts engaging with mining conflicts. This report advocates for rethinking the rhetoric of success surrounding the Tambogrande conflict, and suggests how Oxfam America might change their approach to engagement in mining conflicts. In Tintaya, Cusco, we can analyze the triumphs and challenges in an ongoing case of conflict and apply those lessons to similar cases in both Peru and internationally. Specifically, we examine conditions leading to a successful Dialogue Table process. Finally, we analyze conditions in Madre de Dios to explore the new frontier of mining conflict, centered on the growing issue of informal, artisanal, and small-scale mining. As this is an area Oxfam America has not yet broached, we introduce the issues surrounding informal, illegal, artisanal, and small-scale mining to provide a foundation upon which Oxfam America could begin to approach this complex issue. In summation, our recommendations emphasize sustainability, relationship building, knowledge production and dissemination, transparency, and education.