Event review: Navigating extractivism and socio-environmental conflict

In March 2025, we co-hosted the event Navigating Extractivism and Socio-Environmental Conflict in Peru and Latin America, along with The Global Governance Institute and Peru Support Group.

Students from across the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences have produced a summary of the event as well as podcasts interviewing the speakers, Beatriz Merino, former Ombudsman of Peru, and Carlos Alza, former Deputy Ombudsman of Peru.

The students involved were Megan Aldridge (UCL Geography), Anna Stricevic (UCL Political Science), and Elizabeth Eilers, Cassia Jefferson, and Jack Phillips (all UCL Institute of the Americas).

Podcasts

Listen to the interview with Beatriz Merino

Listen to the interview with Carlos Alza

Event summary

On 18 March 2025, UCL’s Global Governance Institute, Institute of the Americas and the Peru Support Group co-hosted an event to discuss extractivism and socio-environmental conflicts in Peru. The event featured guests Beatriz Merino, former Ombudsman of Peru, and Carlos Alza, Former Deputy Ombudsman of Peru; both of whom shared first hand insights into their personal experiences navigating these issues while in office.

The event consisted of a private roundtable attended by various stakeholders and professionals working in or researching topics relating to extractivism in Latin America, including UCL academics, think tank members, and private industry employees. Following the roundtable, Merino and Alza participated in a panel open to the public to discuss their experiences and receive question and comment from attendants.

The Peruvian Ombudsman’s office was founded in 1996 as an independent branch of the state to defend the fundamental rights of the countries’ citizens. Increasingly, the office’s work has been predominated by working to resolve disputes related to extractivist projects such as critical minerals mining. Today, Peru ranks among the top eight mineral producing countries in the world, with mining representing 57% of its export value. As projects expand within the nation, disputes between mining companies and local communities affected by development projects have increased, heightening the importance of ensuring such projects can operate peacefully and while upholding the civil, economic and social rights of surrounding communities.

Alza, who worked in the office under its first Defensora, Jorge Santistevan de Noriega, highlighted the role Merino played when she took over the role to place more emphasis on the protection of economic and social rights. Merino also brought her own professional experience as a corporate lawyer and politician to the office, enabling her to understand the perspectives of both citizens and corporations involved in extractivist conflicts and develop the office’s institutional apparatus.

Key themes discussed in the event included the role of the Ombudsman’s office, how the office developed during Merino’s tenure in response to Peru’s increasingly extractivist economy, the developing threat of organised crime and illegal gold mining to the rights and safety of Peruvian citizens, and the impact of Peru’s new NGO law passed earlier this year under Dina Boluarte’s administration. The law prevents CSOs from taking legal action against the state- raising concerns that this may severely hinder these organisations’ efforts to protect citizens’ rights. Alza and Merino emphasised the importance of facilitating dialogue as early as possible between mining companies, citizens and the state to avoid escalation into violence, which fundamentally hinders the chances of successful negotiation processes.

Critical minerals such as lithium and copper – over 60% and 40% of which are found in Latin America - have become increasingly sought after globally to sure up manufacturing and technology supply chains. Merino’s and Alza’s insights

highlighted the importance of ensuring global demand does not obscure the rights of citizens in areas where development projects occur, particularly those from indigenous and lower socioeconomic backgrounds - whom Merino indicated had been sidelined in the 100-year history of the Peruvian state prior to her tenure.

Beatriz Merino

Dr. Beatriz Merino is a transformative leader in Latin American politics, championing human rights, institutional reform, and democratic leadership. In 2003, she was elected as the first woman to become Prime Minister of Peru – and the first female prime minister in all of Latin America. Born in Peru, Merino studied law at the National University of San Marcos, before becoming the first Peruvian woman to graduate from Harvard Law School and later continuing her studies at the London School of Economics. Her legislative career spans service as a Senator and Congresswoman throughout the 1990s, where she led influential committees focused on gender equity, environmental policy, and social development.

Between 2005 and 2011, Merino served as Peru’s National Ombudsman (Defensora del Pueblo), where she became a pivotal figure in navigating socio-environmental conflicts such as the 2009 Bagua crisis, one of the most significant Indigenous uprisings in recent history. A fierce advocate for constitutional rights, Merino championed protections for Indigenous and Afro-Peruvian communities while strengthening democratic oversight and transparency. Beyond Peru, Merino is internationally respected for her leadership on gender equity, having directed the Women’s Leadership Programme – now the Gender Equality and Development Unit – at the Inter-American Development Bank. In this episode, captured at UCL’s event ‘Navigating Extractivism and Socio-Environmental Conflict in Peru and Latin America’, Merino joins Megan Aldridge, Anna Stricevic and Elizabeth Eilers to reflect on her tenure as Peru’s National Ombudsman, sharing powerful insights from her work defending human rights and championing sustainable development across Peru and the wider Latin American region.

Carlos Alza

Carlos Alza brings a decade of experience working in Peru’s Ombudsman Office, serving from 1998 to 2008 as National Deputy Ombudsman for Public Utilities and Environment, First Deputy Ombudsman and Chief Counsel. His work – focusing on government transparency, conflict resolution, and the protection of vulnerable communities, particularly in the context of extractivism – helped to build Peru’s Ombudsman Office into a nationally and internationally respected human rights institution.

Links

• Original event listing
• UCL Global Governance Institute
• Peru Support Group