Chapter 18 From the implementation gap to Indigenous empowerment : Prior consultation in Latin America

Abstract

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book deals with an important conceptual question: how useful is the “implementation gap” as an approach to understanding Indigenous rights? It describes the active participation of Indigenous organisations in multilateral negotiations over the creation of international documents – particularly the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – but their somewhat limited impact on the scope of participation, consultation, and consent in the texts finally adopted by States. The book shows that Environmental Impact Assessments – which should in theory help to protect Indigenous Peoples’ interests – in fact account for many deficiencies in consultations over the extraction of natural resources in Bolivia, given that they fail to identify all impacts and reflect the government’s pro-extraction bias.