Enhancing Industry Environmental Stewardship Through Human Rights and Ethics

The following case study explores the negative impacts of a Coca-Cola beverage plant in Plachimada, India and, in light of the impacts on the human right to water, provides guiding questions for future risks should the company reopen or move the plant. The factory, located in a rain shadow area prone to drought, has caused problems for the surrounding communities owing to its water-intensive industrial processes. Ground-water extraction has disrupted water supply for neighboring communities that rely on the same water source, and wastewater production has threatened the environment with hazardous and dangerous chemicals, exacerbated by the fact that the beverage plant marketed the waste by-product as viable fertilizer.

Lithium mining activities in Chile’s Salar de Atacama region cause severe environmental and hydrosocial effects for the Atacameno indigenous communities. Key issues in this study include mining activities’ high consumption of water that may threaten local cultural water sources in the area, Chile’s Water Code that privileges commercial water use for mining over other uses, and the loss of water rights for indigenous peoples and rural communities.

The Lower Sesan II (LS2) dam, opened in 2018, is the largest dam ever built in Cambodia and is located near the convergence of three rivers that significantly contribute to the overall Mekong Basin streamflow and sediment movement. The initial filling of the dam led to the flooding of seven upstream villages that ultimately displaced a predicted 1,059 households from areas of great cultural and historical importance. Erratic river flow fluctuations due to dam operations and the homogenization of streamflow every year also impacted migratory fish populations and other downstream subsistence means and continue to threaten downstream environments of spiritual and cultural importance. Other key issues include a lack of prioritization on the government’s part of downstream community needs, inadequate compensation for any of the impacted communities, and limited-to-no community consent or involvement in decision-making processes.

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A series of dam infrastructure projects, especially the Gibe III dam completed in 2015, are severely affecting some 500,000 people along the Omo River and Lake Turkana in Ethiopia. Key issues include the severe environmental impacts on the river and river-reliant wildlife, the subsequent upheaval of the communities’ agro-pastoralist and fishing livelihoods, State intimidation to comply with the development and in some cases State-sponsored forcible displacement, and high likelihood of inter-community and State-community conflict over the expected environmental and social impacts to the area.

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The following report describes the Noyyal River Valley in the Tamil Nadu state in 2011. The valley was (and remains) a key hub for cotton knitwear production. During the time of focus, dyeing and finishing industries released a substantial amount of untreated wastewater and effluent into the Noyyal River, contaminating surface water, groundwater, and soil in the region. The contaminated river endangered the livelihoods of local people, fishermen, and farmers who relied on it for domestic use and irrigation. Governance failures around pollution control largely stemmed from weak local institutions that had the right to enforce regulation but could not control the powerful industry to change behavior. Groundwater extraction presented a more complicated governance system with conflicting legal interpretations of groundwater rights.

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The following case study explores the human rights risks and considerations associated with the installment of the Lower Churchill Dam in the Province of Labrador and Newfoundland. The analysis of this case is unique in that the project took place in a high-governance context and already included several mitigating measures to minimize potential environmental and social effects. Yet, the project still received enormous pushback from the community and may not have fully addressed the issue of potential methylmercury poisoning of the Churchill River, a key concern that still has the potential to impact the way of life of the local Inuit populations downstream of the dam.

Our case study is currently in progress! Stay tuned as we dedicate ourselves to developing this insightful case study. We're curating valuable information to share with you.

Our case study is currently in progress! Stay tuned as we dedicate ourselves to developing this insightful case study. We're curating valuable information to share with you.

Our case study is currently in progress! Stay tuned as we dedicate ourselves to developing this insightful case study. We're curating valuable information to share with you.