Keeping up with the flow: Using multiple water strategies to earn social license to operate in the Peruvian mining industry

Abstract

Water has become one of the main causes of social conflict in the mining industry because, due to the scarcity of water, community members and mining companies see one another as competitors for water. To address these concerns, mining companies have formulated strategies to improve their projects in terms of water consumption. The objective of this research is to determine the strategies that companies use to gain social license to operate regarding three different facets of water-centric decision making: water source, water role, and water stewardship. With this end in mind, qualitative case studies and multiple sources of information have been curated and analyzed. The results indicate that to improve the level of social license to operate, the company may use multiple water sources, assign multiple roles for water (in terms of usage), and incorporate multiple social actors into the water stewardship plan.