A toolkit for communities on Impacts and Benefits Agreements
For up to date information and to download the toolkit please visit WWW.IBACOMMUNITYTOOLKIT.CA
In Canada, particularly in the north, Impacts and Benefits Agreements (IBAs) are typically negotiated between a project proponent and local community leadership where a significant project is proposed for development on an indigenous nation's traditional lands. IBAs are formal, written agreements that help to manage the social, cultural and environmental impacts associated with a development and to secure economic benefits for local communities affected by that development. Though most commonly used in mining, an IBA may also be negotiated for an oil or gas project, hydro or forestry development or even for a national park or protected area. Depending on the region, IBAs may be referred to by such names as Access Agreements or Access and Benefit Agreements.
However, there is very little publicly available information on best practices or models for negotiating IBAs, mainly due to the fact that terms of most IBAs are confidential. Although there is now a very modest amount of information in academic literature, there are currently no community-focused tools outlining best practices or advising on how to negotiate IBAs. Without such information, community negotiators are often wholly reliant on their legal advisors. As well, community members at large often feel shut out of the process. Although some IBAs are put to a community vote, there is little to benchmark or compare the negotiation process and outcome with. The confidentiality requirement, as well as other common elements such as "project support" clauses, has implications for the political power and pressure a community is able to leverage over the creation and unfolding of the project in question.
At the Gordon Foundation's first Northern Policy Forum, held in 2007 in Fort Good Hope, NWT, the need to look closely at innovations in IBAs emerged as a shared desired outcome. In discussing the broader issue of obtaining revenues from natural resource development, in particular to benefit future generations, frustration was expressed about the inaccessibility of quality information on IBAs. Participants urged the Foundation to develop an IBA "model" and toolkit for communities.
The Foundation asked Ginger Gibson, a Yellowknife-based anthropologist and mining engineer specializing in aboriginal engagement with the mining industry, to steer this process. Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh of Griffith University in Australia, a specialist on public policy, resource economics, social impact assessment and Indigenous studies who works regularly with Aboriginal communities in Canada, served as an advisor and co-author.
The process also benefited greatly from the substantive advice of community negotiators, key thinkers and decision-makers from coast to coast to coast.
The toolkit will help communities and their advisors understand the
range of possibilities in negotiation, outcomes and implementation opportunities,
as well as provide tools to better prepare for negotiation processes.
WWW.IBACOMMUNITYTOOLKIT.CA