Local and Indigenous Communities
Who are They?
Most of our operations are located in rural and remote areas of the countries in which we operate; hence, we have a broad spectrum of local and Indigenous community interests and concerns of which we need to be mindful.
Interests and Concerns
The impact our business has on local communities varies considerably depending on the location, size and nature of the operation. For example, our offshore petroleum platforms have minimal direct impact on people, whereas the existence of larger land-based minerals operations can result in changes to economies, culture, population, employment opportunities, infrastructure, and noise, dust and traffic levels. All of these have the potential to change people's lives in some way.
Results from stakeholder perception surveys regularly conducted by our operations rate local employment and business creation, support for social infrastructure and programs, a desire for improved community engagement mechanisms and improved environmental performance as the most important interests and concerns of local communities.
Dialogue
Our strategy is to engage our communities in our business where possible and establish an open communication channel where all parties feel they have the right to participate in discussions.
Our HSEC Management Standard 7 requires all operations to have systems in place to identify and work with stakeholders and to develop strategies to address their concerns and expectations. Sites are also required to record, register and address any complaints or concerns lodged by stakeholders.
Each of our operations is required to have a community relations plan, a component of which must be a formal mechanism to engage with people in their local communities. Examples of engagement methods include community consultation and engagement groups, newsletters and targeted communications, including site-based and corporate HSEC Reports.
We are continually trying to improve the processes we use to engage people to ensure that we are fully aware of their concerns and enhance our communities' understanding of the way we do business. For example:
- Our former Tintaya operation addresses its neighbours' concerns about possible environmental damage by involving community members in its environmental monitoring. Through training, they are gaining a better understanding of the mining operation and our environmental procedures, and they are assisting the operation to ensure the mine maintains its environmental integrity. Read more: Community Case Studies>Community Consultation and Engagement
- Our Trinidad petroleum operation engages the residents of Toco, the closest community to our offshore facilities, in shoreline response basic training to equip them with the necessary skills to help safeguard their environment in the event of an oil spill. Read more: Community Case Studies>Disaster Relief
Stakeholder perception surveys are tools that provide us with a valuable insight into how key stakeholders view us. The surveys are conducted by some of our operations and provide a greater understanding of community priorities and concerns and a means to track performance against one of our Charter success measures – that 'communities in which we operate value our citizenship'.
As with society in general, we are sensitive to loss of culture and heritage and work with local communities in preserving traditional culture in areas around the world where we operate.
Examples of the types of projects underway include:
- The Petroleum Pilbara LNG project is undertaking an extensive heritage study of the region in which the gas plant is likely to be built, providing local indigenous people with archaeological field skills and recording valuable information for a Western Australian heritage database. Read more: Community Case Studies>Cultural Heritage
- The Naonayaoitit Traditional Knowledge Project at EKATI Diamond Mine in Canada has developed a geographic iInformation system (GIS) database that contains the ecological knowledge of the local Inuit from an area encompassing some 720,000 square kilometres of Artic tundra. Read more: Environment Case Studies>Environmental Management.
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