International high-level dialogue forum

Shaping a globalised world

Transparency in the Resource Sector.
The basis for sustainable development

Raimund Bleischwitz
June 2013; 4 pages


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When a country quadruples its tax revenue over the course of a single year, it’s time to sit up and take notice. That’s the scale of the revenue increase achieved by African mining country Ghana from its extractive industries from 2010 to 2011. How was this possible? It’s largely down to the international rules on improved financial transparency in the energy and resource sectors, which significantly reduce the opportunities for tax evasion. These rules, known as the Dodd-Frank Act, and the standards set by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) feature on the agenda for the forthcoming G8 Summit hosted by the British Government at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland on 17-18 June 2013. This issue of Global Governance Spotlight outlines the new rules and the stage reached in their implementation, and considers the challenges facing resource-rich developing countries and the extractive industries, as well as the role of the U.S., Germany and the EU in this context. It concludes with policy recommendations, which focus on the international action required to curb the misuse of profits from the extractive industries and on better ways of institutionalising these measures. It also considers how the global interaction
between land, energy, food, water and minerals (= the resource nexus) can be utilised to improve the knowledge base for decision-makers.

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