“Oil, gas and mining companies are increasingly aware of the need to secure and maintain a ‘social licence to operate’. Implementing a project without the support and trust of local communities can lead to operational delays, financial costs and litigation; even project closure, violence and loss of life. Increasingly, good practice leaders are going beyond legal requirements and striving to achieve more meaningful levels of community engagement as a way to avoid these risks. Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is an indigenous peoples’ right established in international conventions, notably the ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (1989), in soft law, notably the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), and, in a few cases, in national law (in Peru, Australia, and the Philippines). FPIC is a requirement to engage in dialogue with communities and come to an agreement on when and where to carry out activities that may have a significant impact on local people and the environment, and the nature of related compensation and benefits packages.