Indigenous Peoples, Resource Extraction and Sustainable Development: An Ethical Approach
February 1, 2005
David A. Lertzman and Harrie Vredenburg Journal of Business Ethics 56: 239–254, 2005.
Abstract: Resource extraction companies worldwide
are involved with Indigenous peoples. Historically these
interactions have been antagonistic, yet there is a growing
public expectation for improved ethical performance of
resource industries to engage with Indigenous peoples.
(Crawley and Sinclair, Journal of Business Ethics 45, 361–373
(2003)) proposed an ethical model for human resource
practices with Indigenous peoples in Australian mining
companies. This paper expands on this work by re-framing
the discussion within the context of sustainable development,
extending it to Canada, and generalizing to other
resource industries. We argue that it is unethical to sacrifice
the viability of Indigenous cultures for industrial resource
extraction; it is ethical to engage with indigenous peoples in
a manner consistent with their wishes and needs as they
perceive them. We apply these ideas to a case study in the
coastal temperate rainforest of Clayoquot Sound, British
Columbia, Canada. In this case a scientific panel comprised
of Nuu-Chah-Nulth elders, forest scientists and management
professionals, achieved full consensus on developing
sustainable forest practice standards by drawing equally on
Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and Western
science in the context of one of the most heated and protracted
environmental conflicts in Canadian history. The
resulting sustainable forest practice standards were later
adopted by leading forestry firms operating on the coast.
Our analysis of this scientific panel’s success provides the
basis for advancing an ethical approach to sustainable
development with Indigenous peoples. This ethical approach
is applicable to companies working in natural resource
industries where the territories of Indigenous
peoples are involved.
