"A study prepared by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)".

Greater understanding of the forms and consequences of investment and disinvestment in the extractive industries is required as a result of capitalist expansion, recent declines in global commodity prices, and claims that extractive sector projects, especially in the global south, are poverty reduction projects. This book explores emergent forms of governance in mining and extractive industry projects around the world. Chapters examine efforts to govern extractive activities across multiple political scales, through intermediaries, instruments, technologies, discourses, and infrastructures. The contributions analyse how multiple micro-processes of rule reverberate through societies to shape the material conditions of everyday life but also politics, social relations, and subjectivities in extractive economies. Detailed case studies are included from Africa (Chad, Nigeria, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe), Latin America (Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru), and the UN Climate Conference.

This book addresses key challenges and conflicts arising in extractive industries (mining, oil drilling) concerning the human rights of workers, their families, local communities and other stakeholders. Further, it analyses various instruments that have sought to mitigate human rights violations by defining transparency-related obligations and participation rights. These include the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), disclosure requirements, and free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). The book critically assesses these instruments, demonstrating that, in some cases, they produce unwanted effects. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of resistance to extractive industry projects as a response to human rights violations, and discusses how transparency, participation and resistance are interconnected.

The Routledge Handbook of the Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development provides a cutting-edge, comprehensive overview of current trends, challenges and opportunities for metal and mineral production and use, in the context of climate change and the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. Minerals and metals are used throughout the world in manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, production of electronics and consumer goods. Alongside this widespread use, extraction and processing of mineral resources take place in almost every nation at varying scales, both in developing countries and major developed nations. The chapters in this interdisciplinary handbook examine the international governance mechanisms regulating social, environmental and economic implications of mineral resource extraction and use. The original contributions, from a range of scholars, examine the relevance of the mining industry to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reviewing important themes such as local communities Indigenous peoples, gender equality and fair trade, showing how mining can influence global sustainable development. The chapters are organised into three sections: Global Trends in Mineral Resources Consumption and Production; Technology, Minerals and Sustainable Development; and Management of Social, Environmental and Economic Issues in the Mining Industry. This handbook will serve as an important resource for students and researchers of geology, geography, earth science, environmental studies, engineering, international development, sustainable development and business management, among others. It will also be of interest to professionals in governmental, international and non-governmental organisations that are working on issues of resource governance, environmental protection and social justice.

The book provides a systematic examination of the legal, fiscal and institutional frameworks for the commercial development of petroleum and solid mineral resources in Africa. First, it considers the values, assumptions, and guiding principles underpinning legislation and governance in Africa’s extractive sector. It then provides detailed and comparative evaluations of regulatory frameworks, pricing, local content, procurement, sales, and contractual arrangements across African extractive industries. Further, the book assesses how questions of business and human rights risks, accountability, corporate social responsibility, waste and pollution control, environmental justice, and participatory development have been addressed to date, and how they could be addressed better in the future. Enhancing readers’ understanding of the geography, sources and scope of extractive resources in Africa, the book explains how corporations can effectively identify, mitigate and prevent legal and business risks when investing in African extractive industries. Lastly, it discusses the innovative legal strategies and tools needed to achieve a sustainable and rights-based extractive industry.Written in a user-friendly style, the book offers a valuable resource for corporations, investors, environmental and human rights administrators, advocates, policymakers, judges, international negotiators, government officials and consultants who advise on, or are interested in, petroleum and solid mineral investments in Africa. It also offers students and researchers an authoritative guidebook to the current state of extractive industry laws and institutions in Africa. Numerous examples of how international legal norms could be used to help revitalize the underlying legal and fiscal regimes in African extractive industries – to make them more robust, accountable, sustainable and rights-based – round out the coverage

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Proposals for more effective natural resource governance emphasize the importance of institutions and governance, but say less about the political conditions under which institutional change occurs. Governing Extractive Industries synthesizes findings regarding the political drivers of institutional change in extractive industry governance. It analyses resource governance from the late nineteenth century to the present in Bolivia, Ghana, Peru, and Zambia, focusing on the ways in which resource governance and national political settlements interact. The authors focus on the ways in which resource governance and national political settlements interact, exploring the nature of elite politics, the emergence of new political actors, forms of political contention, changing ideas regarding natural resources and development, the geography of natural resource deposits, and the influence of the transnational political economy of global commodity production.

During the last decade, the Latin American and Caribbean region has experienced unprecedented natural resources abundance. This book highlights how transparency can help realize the benefits and reduce negative externalities associated with the extractive industries in the region. A central message is that high-quality and well-managed information is critical to ensure the transparent and effective governance of the sector. The insights from experiences in the region can help policymakers design and implement effective regulatory reforms and adopt international standards that contribute to this goal. This is particularly important at a time when the recent boom experienced by extractives in the region may be coming to an end.