•
Plans to protect against environmental, social and other impacts, and plans saying how Indigenous Peoples
will be involved in monitoring the impacts of the project;
•
Jobs, training and other benefits for Indigenous Peoples;
•
Guarantees on access to land and resources for our hunting and other livelihood activities;
•
Royalty payments and different models to manage cash;
•
Compensation for lost spaces or restrictions on livelihoods;
•
Ongoing communication and implementation plans, such as the creation of a committee of community and
company officials, and set meetings at regular times;
•
Mechanisms to resolve disputes or problems that might come up;
•
Review periods and how changes can be made if they are needed; and
•
Legal conditions.
We must have the agreement reviewed by our own freely chosen lawyer or expert before it is signed. If our
community agrees, we should make sure the changes he or she recommends are included. After that, we cannot
let the company change it again; however, sometimes this does happen, so we have to make sure we read the
final agreement very closely before we sign it! In one case in Guyana, the mining company did not include the
improvements that the lawyer had said should be included — but some members of the community didn’t find
this out until after they had signed it! Although the cost of hiring a lawyer can be intimidating, remember that in
that case the community was able to insist that the exploration company give them money for a lawyer before they
would consider signing. We can do the same!
4.2a Legalising agreements
Once an agreement has been reached, it needs to be legalised. To legalise an agreement, we get it signed by the
legitimate representatives of all parties, including the project proponent and our community leaders. In Guyana
we can also add weight to an agreement by getting it endorsed by a notary in Georgetown. Verbal agreements or
handshakes are no longer enough!
If the terms of an agreement go beyond national law, we may need to take more steps to get it formally registered as
a legal contract. An example is if an agreement recognises our customary rights over land and natural resources. We
should get legal advice on how this is done in Guyana.
The aim is to end up with a mutually agreed upon and binding contract that can be enforced through the national
courts if it is not respected.
4.3 Monitoring implementation and compliance
Once we have an agreement, it is the responsibility of both parties to uphold the agreed upon conditions. To check
that this is happening, we need to regularly monitor how the agreement is being “implemented,” or acted on, and if
the company is acting according to the terms of the agreement.
There are three main ways of monitoring:
28
•
Creating a joint monitoring team made up of trusted representatives from both our community and the
government or company. The main agreement should include a condition that this team will be created, and
it should be clear that monitoring will respect Indigenous traditional knowledge;
•
An independent, third party monitor (someone who is not connected to the proponent or the government)
Free, Prior and Informed Consent