Chapter 18 From the implementation gap to Indigenous empowerment Prior consultation in Latin America

• Main Author: Wright, Claire (auth)
• Other Authors: Tomaselli, Alexandra (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2019
• Subjects: Geography; consultation rights, FPIC, Free, Prior and Informed consent, indigenous, Indigenous communities, Indigenous consultation, indigenous prior consultation, Indigenous rights, Indigenous threats, latin america, prior consultation
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book deals with an important conceptual question: how useful is the "implementation gap" as an approach to understanding Indigenous rights? It describes the active participation of Indigenous organisations in multilateral negotiations over the creation of international documents - particularly the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - but their somewhat limited impact on the scope of participation, consultation, and consent in the texts finally adopted by States. The book shows that Environmental Impact Assessments - which should in theory help to protect Indigenous Peoples' interests - in fact account for many deficiencies in consultations over the extraction of natural resources in Bolivia, given that they fail to identify all impacts and reflect the government's pro-extraction bias.