64 Commission’s pronouncements regarding the close link between indigenous peoples’ right to territory and their effective and peaceable possession, along with other rights protected by the Convention. 249. In light of the foregoing considerations, the Commission concludes that the State of Honduras violated Article 21 of the American Convention, in conjunction with Articles 1.1 and 2 of the same instrument, to the detriment of the Garífuna Community of Triunfo de la Cruz and its members. 3. Right to prior, free, and informed consultation of the Community of Triunfo de la Cruz and its members regarding decisions affecting their ancestral territory and natural resources 250. The IACHR and the inter-American Court have elaborated on the content and scope of Article 21 of the Convention, in connection with the right of indigenous peoples to use and enjoy their territory, by interpreting the previsions of said Article progressively, in such a way as to permit the enjoyment and exercise of the rights recognized by the State in other treaties, such as the ILO Convention No. 169. Through that Convention and developments in regulations and case law, international law has endowed the duty to engage in prior consultations with the indigenous peoples regarding situations that affect their territory with specific content. 251. In this regard, the Commission has asserted the duty of States to consult indigenous peoples regarding any activity or economic project that affects their lands and natural resources, including cases in which the State seeks to exploit mineral resources. The right to consultation comprises the positive duty of States to provide suitable and effective mechanisms for obtaining prior, free, and informed consent in accordance with the customs and traditions of the indigenous peoples before undertaking activities that may adversely affect their interests or their rights to their lands, territory or natural resources.318 252. The Commission has applied these principles in different contexts, including in connection with infrastructure or development mega projects, such as highways, canals, dams, ports, and similar projects, as well as to concessions for the exploration or exploitation of natural resources in ancestral lands that may have an especially profound effect on indigenous peoples by endangering their territories and ecosystems located therein, particularly when the ecological fragility of their territories is 319 combined with their demographic weakness. For that reason, the IACHR has pointed to the connection between the negative effects of development and investment plans and projects in indigenous or tribal territories, as well as of natural resource exploration and exploitation concessions, and violations of 320 multiple and individual and collective human rights. It has also concluded that the environmental 318 See inter alia IACHR, Report on Ecuador 1997 Conclusions of Chapter IX. Human Rights issues of special relevance to the indigenous inhabitants of the country and Conclusions of Chapter VIII; IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia, Chapter X, 1999. Recommendation No. 4.; IACHR, Final Merits Report N° 75/02, Case 11.140, Mary and Carrie Dann (United States), Annual Report of the IACHR 2002, paragraph 140; IACHR, Final Merits Report No. 40/04, Case 12.053. Maya Indigenous Communities of the Toledo District (Belize), October 12, 2004, paragraph 142. Belize ratified Convention No. 169 in 1991; IACHR, Access to Justice and Social Inclusion: The Road Towards Strengthening Democracy In Bolivia. Chapter IV, Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Peasant Communities, paragraph 248. Bolivia ratified Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organization in 1991; IACHR, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Rights Over Their Ancestral Lands and Natural Resources. Norms and Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc.56/09, December 30, 2009, Chapter IX. 319 IACHR, Third Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.102, Doc. 9 rev. 1, February 26, 1999, paragraphs 33-35. 320 For example, they have concluded that the right to live in dignity is violated when development projects cause environmental pollution and harmful effects on basic subsistence activities, affecting the health of the indigenous and tribal peoples in the territories where those projects are carried out. [IACHR, Access to Justice and Social Inclusion: The Road Towards Strengthening Democracy In Bolivia. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 34, June 28, 2007, paragraph 250]. In particular, mention was made of “adverse effects on health and production systems; changes in domestic migration patterns; a decline in the quantity and quality of water sources; impoverishment of soils for farming; a reduction in fishing, animal life, plant life, and biodiversity in general, and disruption of the balance that forms the basis of ethnic and cultural reproduction.” These constitute violations of the human rights of the indigenous peoples living in the places where mining, timber, and oil projects are conducted. [IACHR, Follow-up report - Access to Justice and Social Inclusion: The Road Towards Strengthening Democracy In Bolivia. Doc. OEA/Ser/L/V/II.135, Doc. 40, August 7, 2009, paragraph 158].