A/HRC/18/35 32. A number of Governments and companies highlighted the fact that a significant proportion of harmful environmental effects of extractive industry operations could be traced back to past practices that would be deemed unacceptable under current legal and extractive industry standards. For example, the Regional Association of Oil, Gas and Biofuels Sector Companies in Latin American and the Caribbean indicated that, throughout Latin America, serious environmental problems persist from the unregulated oil extraction activities that took place for more than 40 years. Similarly, the Government of Ecuador made reference to the Chevron-Texaco operations in the Amazon region, stating that the negative environmental legacy resulted from past resource exploitations that lacked regulation and control. 33. Numerous questionnaire respondents also made an explicit connection between environmental harm and the deterioration of health in local communities. Several respondents suggested that the overall health of the community had been negatively affected by water and airborne pollution. Other reports highlighted an increase in the spread of infectious disease brought about by interaction with workers or settlers immigrating into indigenous territories to work on extractive industry projects. Respondents also linked environmental degradation to the loss of traditional livelihoods, which consequently threatens food security and increases the possibility of malnutrition. 2. Social and cultural effects 34. A second major issue cited by questionnaire respondents focused on the adverse impact of extractive industry operations on indigenous peoples’ social structures and cultures, particularly when those operations result in the loss of lands and natural resources upon which indigenous communities have traditionally relied. In such cases, resource extraction can jeopardize the survival of indigenous groups as distinct cultures that are inextricably connected to the territories they have traditionally inhabited. 35. Several indigenous and non-governmental organizations reported that the forced emigration of indigenous peoples from their traditional lands – either because of the taking of those lands or environmental degradation caused by resource extraction projects – has had an overall negative impact on indigenous cultures and social structures. One nongovernmental organization dramatically described the migration process as the transition of “ecosystem people” into “ecological refugees”. One civil society respondent from India described the negative effects of the continuous reallocation of a significant number of Adivasi and other tribal peoples as a result of large-scale developments projects, particularly dams. Many of these projects provided very little or no compensation for those forced to relocate. This problem was reported to have an especially negative effect on Adivasi women, who have apparently experienced loss of social, economic and decisionmaking power when removed from their traditional territorial- and forestry-based occupations. 36. According to respondents, non-indigenous migration into indigenous territories and its related consequences also have a negative effect on indigenous social structures. Examples identified by respondents of non-indigenous migration into indigenous lands include illegal settlement by loggers or miners, the influx of non-indigenous workers and industry personnel brought in to work on specific projects, and the increased traffic into indigenous lands owing to the construction of roads and other infrastructure in previously isolated areas. For its part, the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo expressed concern regarding the alarming rates of alcoholism and prostitution previously unheard of among the indigenous peoples. In Colombia, the arrival of extractive industries in indigenous areas has reportedly triggered the infiltration of indigenous territories by drug traffickers and guerrillas, together with the militarization of those territories. 37. Indigenous organizations and leaders reported a significant deterioration in communal social cohesion and the erosion of traditional authority structures with the increase of extractive operations. Community members often take opposing positions 10