ID: 1576
Presenting Author: Sandy Worden
Session: 582 - Implementing Indigenous Free, Prior, Informed Consent in Impact Assessments
Status: pending
ILIAs extend concepts of usable knowledge beyond the confines of mainstream IA approaches and beyond the values of hierarchical and market-driven modes of governance.
A boundary object is a set of work arrangements that is used to explain the nature of cooperative work in the absence of consensus. Conceptualising impact assessment (IA) as a boundary object highlights the collision between the different worlds of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and the importance of Indigenous-led impact assessments (ILIAs) in providing coherence in relation to the impacts of industrial development. ILIA reports are improving the depth and breadth of information available for project decision-making. Drawing on three examples of ILIAs undertaken in Sweden, Canada and Australia, I find that ILIAs extend concepts of usable knowledge beyond the confines of mainstream IA approaches and beyond the values of hierarchical and market-driven modes of governance. Indigenous peoples are using their own methods and processes to conduct their own assessments of major projects that reflect their priorities and laws. They are doing so within a structure that is recognised, understood and used by regulators and proponents. ILIAs have the potential to play an important role in settler state governance systems in addition to their contribution to the self-determination of Indigenous peoples. They can push governance systems into becoming “shared spaces” that enable deliberation and negotiation between different worldviews, where multiple rationalities coexist, and tensions and power dynamics between governance actors are acknowledged. Much remains to be done, however, in broadening recognition of the value of ILIAs among regulators and proponents.
Sandy’s research explores the interface between governance actors at subnational levels and how they seek to enhance the benefits from industrial development and avoid its adverse impacts.