Why academics should study the supply chains of individual corporations

Although fields such as industrial ecology have advanced our understanding of how cleaner technologies, recycling, and lifestyle changes can reduce the impacts of production and consumption on people and planet, environmental deterioration and social injustices stubbornly persist. New strategies are needed to achieve change in an era of increasing urgency. This paper proposes that academics study the supply chains of individual corporations and link them to environmental and social impacts in geographically specific areas. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have used this approach successfully, issuing reports about corporate activity related to deforestation, sweatshops, and other issues of social concern. But academics, by and large, have studied generic products, industries, and sectors. To verify this, after reviewing approximately 11,000 studies on supply chains, we identified just 27 academic papers that focused on individual corporations. These were primarily by NGOs and social scientists, with no studies by industrial ecologists meeting our review criteria. To uncover corporate supply chains, researchers used two distinct methodological approaches: in situ (interviews, surveys, and surveillance) and ex situ (trade data, document analysis, and maps). In this paper, we explain why and how academics should study the supply chains of individual corporations. This is done by combining approaches from industrial ecology, with those from geography, sociology, and other social sciences to develop a political‐industrial ecology of supply chains. This both physically links actual product flows with their environmental impacts, and explores how they affect justice, equity, and welfare. The work we propose offers clear collaborative linkages with NGOs, industry, and the media.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152949/1/jiec12932_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152949/2/jiec12932.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152949/3/jiec12932-sup-0001-SuppInfoS1.pd

Assessing impacts of mining:Recent contributions from GIS and remote sensing

Mining produces several environmental, social, and economic impacts which can be analysed spatially using remote sensing (RS) and geographical information systems (GIS). This paper provides an overview of recent studies using these techniques to assess mining impacts on water, land, and society. It also highlights the geographic complexities of these impacts via mining case studies, and discusses spatial research methods, data sources, and limitations. Despite noted simplifications, risks, and uncertainties of mapping the impacts of mining, the cases included in our overview illustrate that there are clearly beneficial applications. At a local level, these include environmental and socioeconomic risk assessments, disaster mitigation, and adjudication on mine-related conflicts. At a regional level, spatial analyses can support cumulative and strategic impact assessments. At a global level, spatial analyses can reveal industry-wide land use trends, and provide key land use data for comparative analyses of mining impacts between commodities, locations, and mine configurations. The degree to which such benefits are realised will likely depend on the resources afforded to what is a growing field of study

Human rights, Indigenous peoples and the concept of Free, Prior and Informed Consent

The human right to self-determination is enacted in various international treaties and conventions. In order to facilitate self-determination, it is necessary to provide Indigenous peoples with opportunities to participate in decision-making and project development. The obligation for governments and companies to engage impacted communities is recognized in international law, especially with the principle of ‘Free, Prior and Informed Consent’, which is outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and in the International Labour Organization Convention 169. The encounter between human rights, Indigenous peoples and mining and other extractive industries is discussed, especially as it is has played out in Brazil. We recommend that companies should fully endorse and respect these internationally recognized human rights, including self-determination, even where not required by national or local legislation. We also discuss the relationship between Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Impacts and Benefits Agreements