Peru shows that International Law is not effective in enforcing the Right to a Healthy Environment in Extractive contexts.
Anna Heikkinen and Aramis Castro write in the Guardian about how one of the biggest zinc mines in the world, Antamina located in Peru, is causing glaciers to melt and water to dry up. Mining can exacerbate the climate crisis in glacial areas, as dust pollution can accelerate the melting of glaciers by absorbing more heat.
The article highlights how the new zinc boom is fuelled by the surge in demand for green energy technology as zinc is used to produce batteries, solar panels and windmills. Demand for it has recently soared, especially in the wind energy sector.
Antamina produces copper, silver, lead and molybdenum, and is operated by a multinational corporation owned by the huge mining companies BHP Billiton, Glencore and Teck Resources as well as the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi.
Indeed, Guardian reports how in 2023 new and emerging threats about the transition to a greener economy, including mineral mining, were at the forefront of debate as hundreds of Indigenous chiefs, presidents, chairmen and delegates gathered at the 22nd United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Looking at the case of La Oroya, one of the most polluted cities on the planet, also located in Peru, the human-rights lawyer and researcher Jose Saldaña Cuba writes about how international environmental protections are hardly enforceable in extractive contexts. This is due to the lack of access to environmental justice and the dominance of international investment law.
The article by Saldaña Cuba states that national institutions in the global South are generally incapable of providing environmental justice because doing so would simultaneously threaten the continuity of economic activities. The case of La Oroya, therefore, is not exceptional.
Peruvian politics has recently gone through tumultuous periods, albeit never has the mineral-rich country been free from political turmoil exasperated by demands over resources set by colonialism.
The neo-colonial demands of the green transition weigh on the political system. As of 2016, Peru has been led by six different presidents, none of which saw the completion of their term, but were ousted by corruption allegations, or were pressurised to carry unconstitutional means like closing the congress.
COVID has exasperated people’s dissatisfaction in a country where poverty figures remain high. Several protests demanding lives have taken place. In an interview with Comité de Peruanxs y Peruanistas en Finlandia the peruvian activist Lourdes Huanca (fenmucarinap) laid down how the colonial foundations of racism and patriarchy intertwine with the global demands to extract Peruvian resources.
“Nobody can sell their mother. For us, the indigenous peoples, peasants, our Pachamama is our mother. That is why we want in this new constitution respect for human rights and respect for our Pachamama, as it should be.“