E/CN.4/2003/90 page 5 I. THE IMPACT OF LARGE-SCALE OR MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES 6. By “major development project” should be understood a process of investment of public and/or private, national or international capital for the purpose of building or improving the physical infrastructure of a specified region, the transformation over the long run of productive activities involving changes in the use of and property rights to land, the large-scale exploitation of natural resources including subsoil resources, the building of urban centres, manufacturing and/or mining, power, extraction and refining plants, tourist developments, port facilities, military bases and similar undertakings. The purpose of such projects may vary, from furthering economic growth to flood control, generating electrical and other energy resources, improving transportation networks, promoting exports to obtain foreign exchange, creating new settlements, ensuring national security, and generating employment and income opportunities for the local population. 7. Indigenous peoples live mainly in rural environments. They have been able to maintain their community lifestyles and their traditional cultures in those areas in which they live that have been spared major upheavals resulting from rapid economic and ecological transformations. But this situation has changed rapidly over the last few decades, as national Governments, large corporations and multilateral financing agencies turn their attention to so-called undeveloped regions in order to extract natural resources, establish plantations and industrial plants, develop tourist activities, ports, communication hubs or urban centres, and build transportation networks, multipurpose dams, military bases or toxic waste dumps. When such developments occur in areas occupied by indigenous peoples, it is likely that their communities will undergo profound social and economic changes that are frequently not well understood, much less foreseen, by the authorities in charge of promoting the projects. Large-scale development projects will inevitably affect the living conditions of indigenous peoples. Sometimes the impact will be beneficial, very often it is devastating, but it is never negligible. 8. Traditionally, few Governments have taken the rights and interests of indigenous peoples into account when making plans for major development projects. As the projects mature, which may take several years depending on their characteristics, the concerns of indigenous peoples, who are seldom consulted on the matter, take a back seat to an overriding “national interest”, or to market-driven business objectives aimed at developing new economic activities, and maximizing productivity and profits. For a long time, multilateral financial institutions involved in the planning and execution of such projects appeared to go along with this approach. Hence, the social and environmental concerns expressed by many people, including indigenous communities, have not been given the necessary attention. 9. This situation is changing, as multilateral agencies, national Governments and the business community take a new interest in indigenous concerns. At the international level, the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) of the International Labour Organization stipulates that: