Corporate Social Responsibility For Indigenous Communities: Importance Of Land Utilization And Environmental Sustainability

Understanding Indigenous People and Their Connection with the Environment

It is the responsibility of the company to consider land utilization among the indigenous communities in the country, how its operations impact the environmental sustainability and respect the indigenous communities’ cultures. How can the corporate social responsibility (CSR) sector influence the company’s relationship with these factors, mainly the principles of indigenous communities, relationship with land and environmental sustainability.

It is important for the company to first identify the community it operates around and, in our case, the indigenous Australian happen to be the company’s immediate community. Indigenous Australians are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, descended from groups that existed in Australia and surrounding islands before British colonization. It is important to recognize the connection the community has to the environment and the different factors the indigenous people have gone through and still managed to uphold their land value as well as their rich culture (Womble et al., 2018). These are different aspects of the indigenous people that are broadly recognized by the government as well as the other communities. Indigenous people have dedicated their culture in ensuring that the environment sustainability is upheld hence the activities that occur within the community treat this with major respect (Gilberthorpe, & Hilson, 2016). Over the years these values have been challenged by different threats and challenges. Some of these threats include the colonization. During the western invasion by the colonialist, the indigenous community suffered a lot due to the invasion of there lands and the degrading values carried out by the colonizers. The indigenous people have been termed as the most extraordinary managers of land for over the past 40,000 years without them having exploited the lands or having interfered with the state of the natural resources of the lands they dwell (Womble et al., 2018). They have managed to retain the state of their natural capital. This is inclusive of the fresh waters, stock of productive soil, forest, clean air, the ocean as well as the other renew able sources.

The community has faced significant amount of challenges as seen in the introduction of the brief. The colonizers for instance grabbed most of their land and relocated them due to their access to gun power among other resources such as the large trained armies (Womble et al., 2018). This affected most of the indigenous communities and ended up losing their lands. The colonizers failed to value the lands and other natural capitals that were highly valued by the indigenous people (Robinson et al., 2016). This is because the core purpose of the colonizers was basically to exhaust these resources for their own gains with less care the impact this had on the indigenous people in these areas. And by the time the colonizers were leaving a well-established government had already been established in the country and damage had been done. But over the years the indigenous people have managed to retain this state of their land but the changes and the evolution and the growth of the country has significantly impacted their lives. For instance, the economic status of the indigenous people has been highly affected. Their levels of education are not that high in respect to the current times hence getting jobs among other opportunities that would help them grow economically has been difficult the government has managed to engage the communities in different program with the aim too help the elevate their economic status (Robinson et al., 2016). Through this these communities have had to get exposed to industrial growth and some of the industrialization processes have found their way into some of the indigenous community lands and this has been a major concern for the communities and the government. The communities have also been found to be some of the less educated people in the country hence the ability of the community to defend themselves against such industrial colonization again has been a major concern. The government has had to promote different approaches to help the indigenous community among there educative policies that have targeted these communities (Womble et al., 2018). Due to the productive nature of their lands, most of the industries have tried to capitalize on such venues over the year but have had close to no concern to the environmental sustainability or ethical regards towards these communities.

Impact of Historical and Current Issues on the Indigenous Community

It is evident that the transition of the community forms the colonization period to the current position has been hectic for the community. This has touched on the community’s natural resources, economic status and their social status (Paton, & Johnston, 2017). As already identified, the indigenous communities have had a rough experience from the policies and the legislations that have favored industrialization with less concern to the environmental sustainability as compared to the current level of concern. It is important to realize that if the legislations or the policies were first passed failed to consider the indigenous communities and their respect for land. The industrialization process or failed to ethically addresses these communities or simply failed to bond with the community cultures hence affecting the communities believes and cultures. These changes less impacted the indigenous community economic social status since the communities had a rough experience in relation to their low educational background. This made it hard for this industrial revolution to involve the communities hence leaving them in a harder position which was the depletion of the environmental sustainability and the socioeconomic poor growth (Kolk, 2016).

The constant emphasis on environmental sustainability move by the companies and as a result of the degradation of the planet has raised the issue and most of the companies have engaged in different measures to ensure that the damage can be controlled hence helping improve the environmental sustainability especially in communities sch as the indigenous communities (Ross, Sherman,  Snodgrass, Delcore, & Sherman, 2016). This has seen to it that the communities interest has and are being addressed by the different companies that have invested in these areas. For instance, such as this company which carries out multiple activates around the community. Most of the company operations affect the environment hence an intensive research on how to control such emissions from the company and help control the environmental sustainability will significantly impact the culture and the social economic status of these communities (Paton, & Johnston, 2017). This will also grow the company’s ethical stand in relation to the indigenous community relation with the company. This is a brief consideration of the community, its background information as well as the company influence on the community, there culture and their life style. It is also important to realize the effort the government has played in establishing policies in favor of the indigenous communities and their cultures.

Role of Companies in Ensuring Environmental Sustainability and Ethical Relationship

As identified in the background information, the company having multiple machineries that normally utilize lubricants in such huge volume, there has been case that have led to the destruction of the environmental sustainability. It is the responsibility of the company to ensure that this is not the case and to formulate different approaches that promote environmental sustainability. The other major issue of concern is on the ethical relationship with communities. Most of the companies that develop in the indigenous community fail to approach these communities ethically due to multiple reasons. Research by (Millon, 2015) shows that this has been attributed to by the community’s socioeconomic status of the community. This has made it easy for the communities for fail to appreciate the community cultures such as their respect for land. Most of the companies have developed different structure on these lands and violated the cultures of these communities but little attention has been awarded too the communities. It is the responsibility of the company to carry out its operations in a manner that does not affect the environmental sustainability. This means that the company has to invest in machineries that re environmentally friendly. This is the same case in relation to the lubricants used by the company. Development in environmentally friendly lubricants has significantly impacted the lubricant markets and has help improve the environmental sustainability. This touches on the slight change in the company expense sector but this will be totally justifiable due to the positive impact this will have on the environment. The community can also be involved in this transition to help them see the company’s determination in preserving the environment (Crane, & Matten, 2016). The company also needs to embrace the CSR sector that should be put in place the is responsible for the environmental sustainability and the community development plans by the company. This will also help focus in rebuilding the communities social economic state of the community (Millon, 2015). The CSR is also responsible for the establishment of an ethical relationship with the indigenous community such as the utilization of different ethical theories to improve the relationship of the community and the company (Visser, & Tolhurst, 2017). The theory of doing the right thing for instance, the company is to engage in educative programs for instance so as it may educate the community, in return they can mange t get the experience required for employment and to help elevate the communities socioeconomic status the company could probably give employment opportunities to the community members. The company will help elevate the education sector of the community as well not only there social economic sector (Ens et al., 2015). Education will significantly advance the communities understanding of the industrial change and they will be in a position to significantly protect their culture as well as there land. It is possible for the community to effectively promote environmental sustainability with the right knowledge. The company can emphasis on this and utilize this to gain a better image for the company in the community and the society.

Importance of CSR for Indigenous Community Development

From the brief it is possible to come up with an elaborate recommendation for the company that will significantly impact the indigenous community life as well as their culture. This is the integration of an elaborate CSR. This is the arm of the company that will be designed to specifically integrate environmental sustainability among the company operations. The sector is to be identified as an independent body within the company that will help address the indigenous communities. With this in mind the company is to priorities some of the most crucial matters for the indigenous people such a there value for land. The CSR should strategies hoe the company should help the community improve the quality and the value f the land. This involves the engagement into land development research that are fueled by the company (Millon, 2015). Also the sector is to address the education sector of the community, from the background it is evident that the communities educational background has been affected due to the educational gap between the indigenous communities and the other Australians (Briskman, 2014). This can involve educational programs where the communities are either taught the simple educational task. This gives them an educational background hence helping them secure employment which is very important incase the communities are to elevate there social economic status. The company can then offer the community members employment in the company and elevate the communities poverty challenge that has significantly undermined the population.

References:

Briskman, L. (2014). Social work with indigenous communities: A human rights approach, 11, 28-76.

Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.

Ens, E. J., Pert, P., Clarke, P. A., Budden, M., Clubb, L., Doran, B., … & Locke, J. (2015). Indigenous biocultural knowledge in ecosystem science and management: review and insight from Australia. Biological Conservation, 181, 133-149.

Gilberthorpe, E., & Hilson, G. (Eds.). (2016). Natural resource extraction and indigenous livelihoods: Development challenges in an era of globalization. Routledge.

Kolk, A. (2016). The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 23-34.

Millon, D. (2015). Corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Australian Review on Indigenous Communities and Globalization. Routledge.

Paton, D., & Johnston, D. (2017). Disaster resilience: an integrated approach. Charles C Thomas Publisher.

Robinson, C. J., Renwick, A. R., May, T., Gerrard, E., Foley, R., Battaglia, M., … & Walker, D. (2016). Indigenous benefits and carbon offset schemes: An Australian case study. Environmental Science & Policy, 56, 129-134.

Ross, A., Sherman, K. P., Snodgrass, J. G., Delcore, H. D., & Sherman, R. (2016). Indigenous peoples and the collaborative stewardship of nature: knowledge binds and institutional conflicts. Routledge.

Visser, W., & Tolhurst, N. (2017). The world guide to CSR: A country-by-country analysis of corporate sustainability and responsibility. Routledge.

Womble, P., Perrone, D., Jasechko, S., Nelson, R. L., Szeptycki, L. F., Anderson, R. T., & Gorelick, S. M. (2018). Indigenous communities, groundwater opportunities. Science, 361(6401), 453-455.