When we think about climate change, we normally tend to assume that investing in renewable energies represents one of the best options for our planet as a whole. It hardly ever comes to our minds that what may be good solutions for the global environment and for tackling the energetic crisis and the high prices of oil, could cause irreversible damage elsewhere.

One of these possible 'elsewhere' is Guatemala, a Central American developing country, half of whose population is of Mayan descent. Guatemalan indigenous peoples, of which 74% live in poverty and 40% in extreme poverty, consist today of 23 different linguistic ethnic groups (21 Mayan, Garifuna and Xinca).
Beginning with the Spanish Conquest, continuing with the exploitation of indigenous workers in the agro-export model, the domination of the United Fruit Company at the beginning of the XX century and the thirty-six years of internal armed conflict since 1960 that tore the country apart, indigenous peoples in Guatemala have endured a long-lasting and far-reaching process of displacement, exploitation and ultimately discrimination.
Despite the progress made under the Agreement on the Identity and Rights of the Indigenous Peoples – included in the Peace Agreements signed in 1996 to end the internal Guatemalan conflict - education and health, justice, public and private investments, basic infrastructure and other public services do not reach these populations in proportion to their demographic relevance. Illiteracy rates are high, with indigenous children living in rural areas having less than two years of education on average. In addition, indigenous communities suffer daily from various forms of discrimination and the 2005 UNDP Human Development report described the many challenges still ahead for a more inclusive and equitable society in Guatemala.

In addition to all this, Guatemalan indigenous peoples face, today, a new challenge.
Guatemala is, in fact, rapidly becoming a new Central American 'El Dorado', attracting an increasing number of different actors interested in securing the control and exploitation of natural resources such as water, land, biodiversity and soil. This new interest in local natural resources, stemming from the energy crisis and the issues of global warming, poses a direct threat for the physical, cultural and moral survival of the people that have inhabited these lands for thousands of years.

Exploitation of mines, construction of small to big hydroelectric plants for the production of clean energy to be sold outside the country, uncontrolled cutting of wood, illegal exploitation and registration of plants and other collective resources as private property rights, spreading of genetically modified crops and concentration of land tenure for the cultivation of bio fuels.

Some years ago all these words and concepts were totally alien to the basic lexicon of indigenous peoples of the Guatemalan Highlands. Recently, however, they have turned into an every day's refrain that can be heard even in the most isolated and forgotten communities in the country.
In the face of these powerful glocal processes, facilitated in the country by public policies that favour the privatisation of collective natural resources for commercial exploitation by private business, Guatemalan indigenous peoples feel threatened and once again excluded. For instance, the construction of hydroelectric plants menaces to leave many communities without water as rivers are channelled into pipes; in the worst cases, it may also compel people to displace as valleys are submerged by the basin formed by the wall. Many of these ethnic groups were internal displaced or refugees during the violence and repression of the internal war.

Guatemalan peoples express concern and want to know more about these projects and their impacts; they feel they are again losing control over the scarce natural resources that guarantee their reproduction and represent the only thing they own in this world. They ask to be consulted before any of these initiatives is authorised by the Government. They invoke ILO Convention n. 169, which recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples to be informed and participate in the decision-making process regarding the management of the territories historically under their control. This Convention was ratified by Guatemala in 1996 and is binding law in the national jurisdiction.

Over the last five years, numerous national and international private companies, among which a renowned Italian energy firm and other European and North American corporations in the mining and energetic sectors, have been wandering throughout the country. Some adopt a transparent approach and seek to involve local communities, others are less careful. Some of them hire local indigenous people known to the communities and send them to investigate the opinions of local inhabitants and leaders.

This type of penetration is having disruptive effects on the communities, as people get divided on whether to accept these projects or not. Most of the time they get no accurate information; quite often, they have no choice as concessions of exploitation have already been issued by local and national authorities. The consultation, in these cases, is merely cosmetic.

The situation is even worse when companies offer to pay compensation in exchange for the community's assent. Decisions are harder to take when money is involved as people generally lack means and basic services. Notably, however, the amounts are much lower than the value of the land or of the profits to be made from the future exploitation. In addition, people report cases of corruption and bribery of local leaders and municipal authorities.
So far, no one has proposed to share part of the profits of future exploitation with local communities or to include them in the management boards. Still, there is a great potential for the economic development of these peoples if they could be supported in exploiting the natural resources themselves. For example, instead of having a private company build a medium size hydroelectric plant, small turbines managed by local people could generate clean and cheap energy for local use and thus improve local living conditions. Any surplus could be sold to the national electric system thus making it a profitable and sustainable source of income for locals.
Communities and indigenous people's organisations are trying to deal with these new challenges by providing more information to inform local decision-making and by pushing government and business to sit down and negotiate win-win type solutions. It remains to be seen whether dialogue and respect can finally take the lead in a country where violence and oppression have historically been the common means to deal with public matters.

20.08.08

Elena Gaia

Elena Gaia works as Research Analyst at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in Geneva. She holds a Masters degree in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford and a first degree in International Relations (Honors) from the University of Torino. Prior to her current post, she worked in international development with the Italian NGO CISV, first as Projects Officer in Italy and then as Project Coordinator and Country Representative in Guatemala from 2004 to 2007.

Foto: 
http://www.guatemalaenvivo.com/images/mayalenguaje.jpg
http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_2722,00.html http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/06/29/internacional/1151599660.html