Consultation and Public Participation

You have just arrived in a developing country to begin exploring for oil or gas. Your contract with the national government allows 30 months to complete an ambitious exploration program.

Your environmental consultant tells you that your area includes 15 small villages located in a remote area and inhabited by an ethnic minority group. Before allowing environmental studies in their territory to proceed, the consultant says, village leaders want to discuss your proposed exploration and development program.

More and more companies are finding themselves in a similar situation. Consider these recent trends:

Over the past decade, major international institutions such as the International Finance Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, African Development Bank and United Nations Development Program have adopted guidelines and policies that encourage consultation and public participation in a broad range of economic and social projects.

Since 1989, International Labor Organization Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples has guaranteed ethnic minorities in many countries the right to determine how their traditional territories are used.

Some of the world’s largest private banks have begun to adopt the “Equator Principles,” which require projects they finance to meet the IFC’s standards for environmental and social performance.

The Terra Group helps its clients to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of public consultation and participation at all stages of project design and implementation. Drawing on wide experience in the U.S., Canada and abroad, TG consultants develop a consultation strategy designed to build public support for your activities. By working with local specialists and international experts, we can also help you “sell” this approach to reluctant officials, joint venture partners and colleagues who may be concerned about project delay or other unwelcome side-effects.

The Terra Group has designed and implemented consultation and public participation programs for:

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (Peru)

ARCO (Ecuador)

BP (Bolivia)

Chevron (Mexico)

Government of Chile, National Environmental Council

GTZ (German Technical Assistance Agency, Chile)

Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)