Challenging the Routine in Peru's Hydrocarbon Sector – the Potential of Prior Consultations, Indigenous Mobilizations, and Conflicts for Change

Peru's first case of prior consultation in the extractive sector concerns the country's most important oil block located in the Northern Amazon. Even though the formal process has not yet officially begun, local indigenous federations have already formed a potent opposition, trying to dictate the terms for conducting consultations in the first place. This means that in an area without much state structure, indigenous peoples were able to use the consultation’s announcement to make their own claims heard.

The goal of this presentation is to analyze the preparatory phase to this first prior consultation using the contentious politics approach (Tilly and Tarrow 2007). How did political opportunity structures as well as the abilities to mobilize and build alliances enable indigenous peoples to successfully influence the political agenda and shape the consultation process? Moreover, how can these factors also be effective in shaping consultation outcomes and might they in the long run help to change the non-participative routine in the extractive sector and resolve socio-environmental conflicts?

These questions will be addressed by first taking a closer look at the case described above. In an attempt to generalize some of the findings the presentation will end by taking a brief look at 26 new consultations in the Amazon Area. Those were announced by Peru's state oil company Perúpetro and are currently scheduled for winter 2013.