Global impacts of extractive and industrial development projects on Indigenous Peoples’ lifeways, lands, and rights

Arnim Scheidel; Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares; …; Juan Liu; Joan Martínez-Alier et al.

Corresponding author: Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, e-mail: alvaro.fernandez-llamazares@helsinki.fi

Science Advances, Vol 9, Issue 23, Jun 2023

To what extent do extractive and industrial development pressures affect Indigenous Peoples’ lifeways, lands, and rights globally? We analyze 3081 environmental conflicts over development projects to quantify Indigenous Peoples’ exposure to 11 reported social-environmental impacts jeopardizing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples are affected in at least 34% of all documented environmental conflicts worldwide. More than three-fourths of these conflicts are caused by mining, fossil fuels, dam projects, and the agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and livestock (AFFL) sector. Landscape loss (56% of cases), livelihood loss (52%), and land dispossession (50%) are reported to occur globally most often and are significantly more frequent in the AFFL sector. The resulting burdens jeopardize Indigenous rights and impede the realization of global environmental justice.

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To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade9557