Por: Marcela Aliaga Chahud, Social Data.

In the context of extractive industries, adopting the ESG approach (integration of environmental, social, and governance criteria into business practices) entails implementing measures that minimize environmental impacts, protect human rights, and promote the economic and social development of local communities. By considering these aspects, companies can build trust-based relationships with communities and key stakeholders while enhancing their long-term performance. A central part of this challenge is the preventive and transformative management of social conflict risks, in order to avoid their escalation into violent expressions and the breakdown of institutional mechanisms for addressing them, which ultimately results in economic, reputational, health, and safety impacts, among others. 

This study proposes a methodology for developing a social conflict risk heat map, designed as both an early-warning and preventive management tool. At the same time, it helps to identify the concomitant factors that increase the likelihood of social conflicts linked to business practices as well as to the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the context.

To build this heat map, a social conflict risk index was developed that incorporates 13 variables (7 internal, related to company performance, and 6 external, related to the context). For the external variables, a database was created using official information, while the values for the internal variables were estimated based on the expertise of professionals in the mining sector. The complete database was modeled in a business intelligence tool that operates across departmental, provincial, district, and community levels, graphically highlighting the territories with the highest social conflict risks and allowing users to explore the variables associated with the index.