Introduction

Indigenous peoples have historically gained little from large-scale resource development on their traditional lands and have suffered from its negative impacts on their cultures, economies and societies. In some decades indigenous groups and their allies have fought hard to change this situation: in some cases by opposing development entirely; in many others by seeking a fundamental change in the distribution of benefits and costs from resource exploitation. The increasingly global nature of funding for major industrial projects represents important factor in the trend towards corporate social responsibility. Funding typically comes from international banking consortia and international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the International Finance Corporation, the private investment arm of the World Bank. Particularly for projects in developing countries, banks and IFIs require political risk insurance for their investments, provided for example by the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency or national organisations. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.