Bureau of International Labor Affairs

• It’s now more of a marketing term, used to give mass adventure-tourism packages a more “responsible” sheen.
• A recent case on the eviction of 16 villages on Rempang Island, Indonesia to build a solar panel factory and “eco-city” illustrates this.
• Our motivation was to explore the relationship between business schools and the behaviour of multinational corporations toward indigenous peoples and their land rights.

Maraey: a “sustainable” hotel complex in a biological reserve

• The project is being led by the Spanish firm Cetya, commercialised locally as IDB do Brasil.
• While billed as “development with an environmental conscience”, the project would include three luxury hotels with a total of 1,100 rooms.
• The site being targeted is a narrow strip of coastal wetlands in a biological reserve, established in 1984, 41 kilometres south of Rio de Janeiro.

Divide and conquer?

• Corruption is a frequent problem and legal battles pit municipalities, state governments against national courts, and even divide indigenous families.
• Izquierdo claimed that as part of the agreement, the municipality agreed that it would “look for a public area that would guarantee the permanent establishment of the village”.
• Members discovered the extent of the local government’s involvement and the advanced state of the project only when the bulldozers arrived to clear the land.

Virtue signalling through collective messaging

• However, there will also be mall and an 18-hole golf course, and 150,000 to 300,000 tourists are projected to visit annually.
• Bolstered by the work of a sophisticated PR and marketing firm, Maraey has mobilised a rallying message and woven its story to garner collective support – or at least create the illusion of it.
• Using the hashtags such as #JuntosPorMaraey, #VivaMaraey and #TogetherForMaraey, the project has promoted, with increasing intensity, its supposed local support and commitment to sustainability.
• Maraey’s promoters even proclaim that the project, despite its size and density, will help preserve fauna and flora.
• Coverage in Spain’s El País, on France 24 and other international sources has laid bare the tensions behind the Maraey project.

Native lands are not just a habitat

• The significance of the Amazon rainforest and Atlantic coastal forest for indigenous peoples such as the Guarani Mbyá goes far beyond a simple habitat.
• The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation has recently called for greater scrutiny on non-climate-related reporting, in particular societal and social issues.
• For multinationals, however, the temptation will always be there to find ways to minimise risks and continue business as usual.

Michelle Mielly est membre de Grenoble Ecole de Management.