39 121. The Inter-American 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 combined with their demographic weakness.216 For that reason, the IACHR has highlighted the connection between the potential negative effects of certain development plans and projects in indigenous or tribal territories, as well as of natural resource exploration and exploitation concessions, and potential violations of multiple individual and collective human rights.217 122. The IACHR has also considered that the environmental damage that can be caused by natural resource exploration or exploitation concessions exacerbates the violations of communal property rights, rendering the violating authorities internationally liable.218 In this regard, the IACHR has reiterated that it “acknowledges the importance of economic development for the prosperity of the populations of this Hemisphere.”219 “[A]t the same time, development activities must be accompanied by appropriate and effective measures to ensure that they do not proceed at the expense of the fundamental rights of persons who may be particularly and negatively affected, including indigenous communities and the environment upon which they depend for their physical, cultural and spiritual well-being.”220 (i)(a) Established by law, necessary, proportional, and legitimate 123. Similarly, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has established that in the event of restrictions or limitations on the exercise of the indigenous peoples’ property rights over …Continuation Indigenous Communities of the Toledo District (Belize), October 12, 2004, para. 142; 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; 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. 216 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, paras. 33-35. 217 For example, these 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, para. 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 projects to extract mining, timber, or oil 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. 218 IACHR, Report No. 40/04, Case 12.053, Maya Indigenous Communities of the Toledo District (Belize), October 12, 2004, paragraph 148. 219 IACHR, Report No. 40/04, Case 12.053, Maya Indigenous Communities of the Toledo District (Belize), October 12, 2004, paragraph 150. 220 IACHR, Report No. 40/04, Case 12.053, Maya Indigenous Communities of the Toledo District (Belize), October 12, 2004, paragraph 150.