Geological Resources and Good Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Holistic Approaches to Transparency and Sustainable Development in the Extractive Sector

by Runge; Jnrgen

• ISBN13: 9780415582674
• ISBN10: 0415582679
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-23
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

While the countries of Central Africa within the Congo River Basin and bordering areas are home to Africa's greatest concentration of wealth in natural resources, they still count among the poorest nations on earth. The region is often afflicted by crises and conflicts that severely harm national economies and enfeeble already weak governmental structures even further. Is the region's vast natural resource wealth really responsible for this situation? Or does it come down to individual political and social conditions which, within a single generation, have transformed certain countries' abundance in raw materials into a source of common wealth for all their citizens, while at the same time turning those same riches in other countries into a curse?Main book's objectives are to:Demonstrate just how vast the geological richness and potential of (Central) Africa's mineral resources actually are.Identify what economic policy measures can best turn these abundant natural resources into a motor for driving sustainable economic and social development.Look at the economic, social and political conflicts that are brewing among the most powerful and weakest actors at local, national and international levels.Show how regional partnerships can implement the goals of good governance and thereby achieve transparent and efficient regulation.Explain how local and equitable partnerships between indigenous communities and informal operators are indeed possible.Define how the societal problem of infection with HIV can be actively combated at the local level.Some 200 international experts from politics, science, the private sector and civil society came together and discussed the various demands being placed on good governance and transparency in Central Africa's raw materials sector and the prerequisites that must be met, and seek answers to the challenges outlined above.