Global demand for coal, oil, and gas, as well as metals, minerals, and timber and other extractives are driving massive growth in mining operations across the globe and especially in the Global South. These operations are commonly linked to land grabs, human health impacts, massive contamination of water resources, and human rights abuses against environmental defenders. CIEL works with communities and coalitions across the globe to ensure that affected communities have access to the information they need, can meaningfully participate in the decision-making process around the project, and have access to justice in the event that the project violates their rights. Through our work in various coalitions, we have concentrated our efforts on slowing the expansion of metal mining in the Americas. We work at many levels by: holding the international funding for destructive mines accountable for investments that violate rights, supporting community initiatives to assert, defend, and mobilize to protect their right to self-determination, supporting home and host state efforts at legislative reform to protect rights of affected communities, amplifying community voices and exposes violations in international media, and directly targeting the companies themselves through shareholder actions and legal complaints at the international level.
