Amandla

This discussion paper, published by WWF in association with Oxfam, aims to contribute to the evolving debate on the links between resource scarcity and international development. It focuses on the issues of equity and ‘fair shares’ for poor people and poor countries in the context of limits to resources such as land, water, food, oil and carbon space. The need to advocate for ‘fair shares’ of these resources will become increasingly central to international development.

Mapping out this new development agenda will involve unpacking some highly political questions. What definition of ‘fairness’ is most appropriate? Is it enough to ensure people’s basic needs are met, or is a more egalitarian approach needed that tries to reduce inequality in access to resources? Does it make sense to think about equity of access to a particular resource (carbon permits, for example) or is it more helpful to think about overall wealth or income distribution and the entitlement to resources of all kinds that this carries with it?

Key recommendations from the report:

Some tentative recommendations for what aid donors, campaigning organizations and think tanks can do to take forward a new development agenda include:

• Invest in improving the data: current systems to survey resource scarcity have major gaps and are poorly integrated across both issues and levels of governance.
• Recognize that resource scarcity will become central to advisers in the areas of governance, economics, social development and conflict – and should be incorporated into training and professional development.
• Understand how scarcity shapes politics in poor countries: donors and NGOs need to understand how scarcity impacts on the wider political economy context and relates to urban–rural tensions, political parties, spending decisions, civil society dynamics, the politics of ethnic groups, and so on.
• Start developing policy options now: as impacts of scarcity and climate change increase in frequency and severity, political space will open up – often after shocks – for a limited time. Having ideas ‘on the shelf’ means that policy options can be deployed rapidly when opportunities arise.

Full-text of report

Conflict minerals are used by armed groups to fund violence and insurrection. Global Witness’s work on conflict minerals currently focuses on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where fighting has continued for over 10 years, driven by the trade in valuable minerals. Millions of people have died, and many more have been displaced.

There are four main minerals being mined in the Congo: cassiterite (the ore for tin), coltan (the ore for a rare metal called tantalum), wolframite (tungsten ore), and gold. The illicit trade provides rebel groups and units of the national army with tens of millions of dollars a year that they use to buy guns and shore up their rival campaigns.

http://www.globalwitness.org/campaigns/conflict/conflict-minerals

Thanks to my colleague, Susan Ogterop, for this.

Many of the contemporary conflicts in Africa are characterised by the exploitation of and conflict over valued and lucrative natural resources. These resources include oil, water, natural gas, timber, minerals, gemstones, narcotics and fibres. Conflict over these resources ranges from minor policy issues to explicit violence. Their exploitation facilitated by economic globalisation and the liberalisation of financial markets. Revenues generated are used for the provision of weapons and other military materials; the hiring of mercenaries; personal wealth of warlords and Government officials; and to procure the support of bordering states and relevant groups.(2)

The two main outcomes of resource wars are power and wealth. Conflict often occurs in areas of pre-existing hostility and is intertwined with ethnic, religious and/or tribal rivalry. Even though the often pre-existing hostility can be exacerbated by the conflict over the relevant resources, it often happens that the struggle over the resources can act as the sole reason for conflict.(3) All across the continent, conflicts over these resources have posed a great threat to peace, security and stability. This threat is not only witnessed and experienced on African soil, but also felt across the globe. It is therefore crucial that the international community assist in the prevention and resolution of war, as well as the sustainability of peace often initiated by peacebuilding initiatives... [More]

Global Witness exposes the : , to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses.

Global Witness was the first organisation that sought to break the links between the exploitation of natural resources, and conflict and corruption; and the results of our investigations and our powerful lobbying skills have been not only a catalyst, but a main driver behind most of the major international mechanisms and initiatives that have been established to address these issues; including the Kimberley Process and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).  Global Witness is largely responsible for natural resources occupying the prominent role in the international agenda that they currently do.

And away from the policy arena, Global Witness' hard-hitting investigations have had direct and major impacts, such as the IMF withdrawal from Cambodia in 1996 over corruption in the logging industry, the imposition of timber sanctions on Charles Taylor's Liberia in 2003, and the precedent-setting arrest of timber baron Gus Kouwenhoven, in the Netherlands in 2005.

Despite the great strides made in the first decade of Global Witness' existence, the struggle to ensure that natural resource exploitation is equitable and sustainable is still in its early stages. Resource-fuelled wars such as those that shattered the DRC, Liberia, Angola and Cambodia could happen again tomorrow, and add to a death toll that has topped over six million since the late 1990's, because the international community has not addressed the trade in conflict resources.

The competition between the old and emerging powers to secure the world's remaining oil reserves is escalating, perhaps dangerously so. The scramble by extractive industries to secure exploitation rights over the world's mineral wealth, whilst at the same time resisting any kind of regulation that would enforce good practice, threatens some of the planet's poorest populations, whilst the world's dwindling forests, home to millions of people and reservoirs of biodiversity, continue to face an onslaught by some of the most corrupt regimes and companies, bent on satisfying an insatiable demand for timber regardless of cost.

Natural resources could be the key to ending Africa's poverty, and making it, and other areas of the developing world, the economic powerhouses they should be. But Global Witness believes that neither governments nor industry have shown the leadership or the vision to create the sea change in the international architecture that is necessary to make natural resources a benefit and not a curse. Global Witness also believes that this sea change is possible, and it is for this reason that we are continuing to deploy the accumulated thinking, experience and skill that we have developed over the past decade, to help bring about this change. There is no alternative.

Media Library

 

The case for integrated resource plan public hearings. http://www.polity.org.za/article/the-case-for-integrated-resource-plan-public-hearings-2010-01-22

Companies in the U.S. and Western Europe once had unfettered access to the world’s resources, such as raw materials, capital and talent. Thanks to increasing demand from India, China, Brazil, Russia and other rapidly developing economies, however, that access is no longer assured. In this special report, experts from Wharton and The Boston Consulting Group discuss the ways in which this unprecedented “race” for resources is reshaping global business, and how key political and financial trends in emerging economies are likely to affect companies anywhere in the world.

+ Full Report (PDF; 599 KB)

Source: Knowledge@Wharton

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