ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the limited capacities of large corporations to predict the social impacts of their business activities on local communities, other than to broadly recognize that resource development may initiate rapid and fundamental change. It focuses on the social impacts of resource development beyond competition for revenues. Social impact assessments (SIAs) are the most commonly used tool by the extractives industry to identify the positive and negative potential social impacts of an extractive project. Social impacts includes the in-migration of people from other parts of Indonesia who have come to dominate local space, as well as limited opportunities for Papuans to elevate to senior employment positions. The earliest concerns and/or predictions regarding the social impacts of the Panguna mine related to population growth. The population growth associated with mining in West Papua resulted in greater competition for economic opportunities that were not identifiable during the initial stages of operations.
