BALANCING THE SCALES

This report by Natural Justice examines the use of community protocols as tools for indigenous peoples and local communities to manage their rights and engage with extractive industries. Based on action research in Argentina, India, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, the document analyzes how these protocols help communities articulate their values, secure free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and address power imbalances with governments and corporations.

• Community protocols can effectively reduce power imbalances by preparing communities to engage with external parties through legal empowerment training and the articulation of their own development priorities.
• In Zimbabwe, the protocol process enabled the Marange community to negotiate 'no-go areas' for mining to protect sacred sites and ancestral graves, and led to the replacement of a government-imposed local leader with one chosen through traditional processes.
• The Argentinian process resulted in the public protocol document "Kachi Yupi: Tracks in the Salt," which was recognized by the Argentinian National Ombudsman in May 2016, recommending that authorities respect the FPIC process it defines.
• The protocol process in Kenya led to the creation of 'Save Lamu,' a community-based organization that has used the protocol's evidence to file a 2012 High Court petition regarding the environmental and cultural impacts of a proposed mega-port.
• In India, the protocol process faced significant challenges due to internal tribal tensions between the Munda and Paudibhuyan, demonstrating that simply bringing different groups together can sometimes exacerbate divisions if not handled with extreme care.
• Early engagement is generally more effective, as seen in Argentina where the process began during the exploration phase, allowing the community to develop its position with less external pressure compared to Kenya or India.
• Legal empowerment is a consistent outcome across all pilot processes, enabling communities to use national laws to demand compensation or access resources, such as Munda and Paudibhuyan members in India claiming compensation for elephant-caused damage.
• The success of a community protocol is heavily dependent on local partners and community ownership; objectives imposed by external facilitators, as occurred in the first phase of the India project, can lead to a lack of investment and ownership.
• Developing a comprehensive public protocol document is a resource-intensive, multi-year endeavor; the fastest process in the study (Argentina) took approximately 21 months to complete.

APA

Makagon, J., von Braun, J., Cocchiaro, G., & James, S. (2016). BALANCING THE SCALES. Natural Justice. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Balancing_the_Scales.pdf

Chicago

Makagon, Jael, Johanna von Braun, Gino Cocchiaro, and Stella James. BALANCING THE SCALES. Natural Justice, 2016. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Balancing_the_Scales.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Makagon |first1=Jael |last2=von Braun |first2=Johanna |last3=Cocchiaro |first3=Gino |last4=James |first4=Stella |title=BALANCING THE SCALES |publisher=Natural Justice |date=December 2016 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Balancing_the_Scales.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{makagon2016balancing, author = {Makagon, Jael and von Braun, Johanna and Cocchiaro, Gino and James, Stella}, title = {{BALANCING THE SCALES}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2016}, month = dec, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Balancing_the_Scales.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }