Human rights due diligence in Block 57

At Repsol Exploration Peru we develop our operations in accordance with the Human Rights policy and our relationship with the communities.

Social management in Block 57

Block 57 has indigenous communities from the lower Urubamba region, mostly of the Matsigenka, Kakintes, Yines, and Ashaninka ethnic groups, as its area of influence.

For the operation phase, we're moving towards sustainable coexistence, which is based on reputation and sustainability in the eyes of employees, contractors, communities, and other strategic stakeholders as a result of an effective performance and relationship with them. To accomplish this mission, we have several strategic pillars:

Impact, risk, and opportunity management

Social investment

Community monitoring

Negotiation

1. Impact, risk, and opportunity management

In accordance with the Human Rights Due Diligence process and in compliance with the company's commitments, a Social Baseline and a Human Rights Impact Study were conducted in 2022.

They were carried out with the support of independent external experts who worked in the field with the participation of the communities and supported the empowerment of legitimately recognized authorities. In this way, it was the communities themselves who identified the impacts and the necessary mitigation measures.

We had the support of Mashiguenga and Ashaninka indigenous leaders in charge of applying the surveys, conducting interviews with community leaders and chiefs, discussion groups, and traditional authorities. The study gathers the opinions expressed by the people interviewed, as well as from the indigenous communities' collective imaginary and worldview reflected in their discourse. This information was contrasted with focus groups in discussions and meetings in the communities of Nuevo Mundo, Porotobango, Kitepampani, Shivankoreni, Camisea, and Carpintero Kiriguetty with leaders and members of these communities.

The main social impacts were related to ILO Convention 169, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

Negative impacts:

The right to develop strategies for the use of land and territory.
The right to not be discriminated against because of one's indigenous background.
The right to a healthy environment.
The right to conserve and protect the environment.

Positive impacts:

The right to adequate economic conditions.
The right to decent work.
The right to freely develop their abilities and to be trained on the job.

The communities proposed mitigation measures for negative impacts and empowerment measures for positive impacts. The actions being carried out by Repsol Peru E&P to implement the mitigation measures proposed by the communities are aligned with the rest of the Social Management pillars.

The main actions related to the Impacts, Risks, and Opportunities Management pillar are the following:

Repsol Complaints and Claims Program

It consists of a communication channel and early warning tool for stakeholders to express their claims, complaints, and concerns in a timely manner, freely, in their native language, and without fear of retaliation, in order to promote a culture of dialogue and good relations.

This tool has been designed in collaboration with the communities, who validated the process, made the necessary corrections to the text in Machiguenka, and made proposals for illustrations. In this way, the tool is designed with an intercultural approach emphasizing its dissemination, availability, and accessibility for all people in the communities.

Community relations

Frequent informative meetings are held with authorities and the population where information is shared, doubts are answered, and suggestions are considered to improve social management processes. Follow-up is done on commitments with the communities, thus reinforcing trust with them and allowing us to have an active and strategic presence.

2. Social investment

We provide the communities in the area of influence of Block 57 with social investment tools that allow them to implement development project proposals in accordance with their priorities. Within this framework, projects have been implemented that have been chosen by the communities themselves at the Communal Assembly level, which seek to contribute to improve the access of indigenous communities to adequate housing and basic services in order to make progress in closing social gaps.

Some of the projects that have been carried out with the communities are:

Housing

Construction of housing in the Nuevo Mundo and Kitepampani communities

Water systems

Improvement of water systems in the Shivankoreni and Sensa communities

Satellite Internet

Satellite Internet provided to Ashaninka communities

Example of social investment in the Tambo River District

We support the entrepreneurial projects of native communities and an example of this has been the Río Tambo Chocolates project. In the Tambo River district, Province of Junín, during the Abandonment stage of the Mapi and Mashira exploratory fields, Repsol contributes to the development of the Ashaninka Kemito Sankori Cooperative, and its Río Tambo brand, through the indigenous organization, the Central Asháninka del Río Tambo (CART), which represents the great Asháninka Nation.

Currently, Río Tambo Chocolates, made with a focus on respect for the environment, social, cultural, and fair trade by the Asháninka Kemito Sankori Cooperative, are sold at Repsol service stations in Peru. This way, we provide visibility for their exposure and progress. On the other hand, we promote Río Tambo products by acquiring their products for corporate gifts, given the high quality of their products.

This contributes to achieving the objective of the more than 220 Ashaninka families, belonging to 16 native communities in the Tambo River basin, who are part of the Kemito Sankori cooperative. The objectives for all of them are clear: to achieve economic autonomy and safeguard their culture.

Raíces de Sanación: Medicina Tradicional del Bajo Urubamba (Healing Roots: Traditional Medicine from the Lower Urubamba) book

One of the aspects that we work on through our Human Rights Policy is the contribution to ensuring that the communities where we operate do not lose their own cultural traditions due to external influences. With this objective in mind, Repsol Peru has collaborated with the Human Rights area to produce the book Raíces de Sanación: Medicina Tradicional del Bajo Urubamba (Healing Roots: Traditional Medicine from the Lower Urubamba), which compiles ancestral knowledge about natural resources and how to use them for the benefit of health.

With the publication of "Raices de Sanación", Repsol Peru once again highlights the Company's commitment to preserving and respecting the cultural traditions that have contributed, for centuries, to the protection of the environment and the well-being of the communities of the Lower Urubamba.

3. Community monitoring

The operation of Block 57 has participatory community monitoring teams as established in the Sagari and Kinteroni Project Environmental Impact Study: Environmental and Community Monitoring Team for the Lower Urubamba sector (EMMAC), Yori River Environmental and Community Monitoring Team (EMACRY), and Kinteroni Monitoring and Public Oversight Team (PROMOVICK). These teams represent 14 communities in the Lower Urubamba area of influence.

They are the eyes of the communities in the operation to ensure compliance with action plans derived from impacts and to promote socio-environmental protection, generating environmental citizenship in their territories.

Currently, there is an agreement in force with Peru Petro (State Company of Private Law of the Energy and Mines Sector) that has the objective of promoting investment in Hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation activities. This agreement unites the efforts of the state, communities, and the private sector to protect and care for the environment by strengthening the capacities of local leaders, generating environmental awareness, and promoting community organization. To date, the following advances have been made:

community monitors

trained in public management and hydrocarbons.

community monitors

trained in environmental monitoring.

community monitors

trained in office automation.

4. Negotiation

We have a Negotiation Roadmap aligned with the best practices and standards for a transparent, respectful, and fair negotiation for the company, communities, and organizations.

We have overcome cultural barriers by adapting formats and documents necessary to implement Due Diligence in Block 57, adapting them to the social reality of the communities and organizations; prioritizing Sustainable Coexistence with our neighbors, respecting their rights and worldview. To this end, we have implemented:

Adaptation of internal questionnaires. A specific one was created for the native indigenous communities of Block 57 in order to achieve a better understanding of its content and purpose.
New Compliance Contract Clauses. Adapted to the awareness and understanding of native indigenous communities and organizations, to be used in the agreements and contracts to be established with them.

This way, we recognize the needs of the company and respond by integrating the cultural diversity, awareness, and environment of our neighbors, doing what is necessary to achieve their understanding and acceptance of conducting due diligence measures, through respect and best practices. This also minimizes the risk of misunderstandings and potential conflicts due to cultural issues. This behavior reinforces Repsol's commitment to human rights in the area of community relations. It is also a way of anticipating the challenges of tomorrow by creating sustainable initiatives.