(102-11) Our proposal for operational feasibility is based on the early management of real or potential impacts that the operation may have on our neighbors’ lives and nature. Through a participatory exercise and analysis with different areas of our Company, we therefore identify the main risks and impacts we will face in the execution of our operational projects.
In materializing our value proposition in territorial management with a preventive approach, we also integrate the results of evaluations of the impact of our management, monitoring the plans made and constantly communicating them to our stakeholders.
(103-3) In 2020 we continued to implement our value commitment with the early territorial management strategy, creating sustainable conditions and a balance between our operations -or future operational projects- and community dynamics.
Some of the main components of this pillar of the Comprehensive Management of the Social Environment are highlighted below:
GeoPark has designed a tool for Social Environment Risk Analysis that allows the identification and quantitative weighting of situations that could potentially impact neighbors and nature, as well as for developing different operations. This exercise allowed us to:
We implement the good practice of risk analysis permanently and rigorously, with the participation of the whole organization. In 2020 we held 18 social environment risk analysis processes, of which 17 were in Colombia and one was in Ecuador.
From the Social Environment Risk Analysis, we define early management plans that allow us to ensure the social and environmental responsibility of our operational projects, reducing the impacts and risks to the environment and maximizing the benefits of our presence in the territories we operate in.
Our early management plans focus on ensuring informed conversations with stakeholders, to generate formal and informal two-way communication channels that prioritize relevant issues for all involved.
Internal and external audiences participate in this process, which recognizes and validates the importance of authorities and neighbors in the areas of operation to guarantee the viability and sustainability of GeoPark activities in the countries we work in.
These plans include monitoring and managing our neighbors’ disagreements and expectations, which are identified through our relationships in the territory, to prevent these early warnings from affecting our operations.
In 2020 we reduced the possibility of social conflict through timely, early management of 47 alerts that mainly resulted from expectations of contracting goods and services, disagreements with the prioritization mechanisms of local labor through the Public Employment Service, and recruitment expectations.
Early warning management
We use Cuéntame to register and manage all the requests and complaints made by our stakeholders in the territories we operate in. It incorporates a human rights approach and the value promise of being recognized as the neighbor and partner of choice.
In Colombia in 2020 we received and handled 521 requests and complaints flexibly, quickly and in close contact with neighbors, giving formal responses to those concerned. We resolved 92% of requests and complaints received during the year.
