Section 3: Getting informed about the project
Getting fully informed about a project that may affect our traditional territory can be a challenge, especially if the
type of project is new to our community. A number of barriers need to be overcome. They include:
•
The fact that governments or companies often do not give full information;
•
The information they do share is usually not balanced and talks more about positive benefits than things that
could go wrong;
•
Difficulty finding out more about a project because of communication barriers, like the absence of
newspapers, phones and Internet in many Amerindian communities in Guyana;
•
Limited time to consider information about the project;
•
Making sense of very technical or complicated information;
•
Being excluded from environmental and social impact assessments;
•
And many others.
But our communities can break down these barriers and get better informed.
Steps that we can take are described in this guide and in the guides on impact assessment and negotiating impact
benefit agreements that go with it. We should read them until we are familiar with all three! They talk about:
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Knowing more about the project proponent or the people we will be negotiating with. The proponents take
the time to find out about us; we should do the same, especially when it comes to learning more about how
they have dealt with other communities in the past!
•
Learning about the stages of a project and its impacts;
•
Getting involved;
•
Knowing where to go for information;
•
Managing all the information we get — there can be thousands of pages!
•
Getting advice from experts and allies, like the APA, the Forest Peoples Programme and The North-South
Institute;
•
And making sense of it all!
A practical guide for Indigenous Peoples in Guyana
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