§ Angus RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what assessment his Department has made of the importance of natural resource governance in developing countries; when this assessment was last revised; and if he will make a statement; [186229]
(2) what his Department's policy is on the promotion of issues of natural resource governance; when this policy was initially drawn up; when it was last revised; and if he will make a statement; [186230]
(3) what assessment his Department has made of the relevance of natural resource governance to armed conflicts in (a) Africa and (b) South America; and if he will make a statement. [186232]
§ Hilary BennThe Department for International Development (DFID) recognises that many of the poorest countries and the poorest people are highly dependent on natural resources for economic development and livelihoods. However, powerful groups sometimes deny poor people such access and revenues from natural resources—both renewable and non-renewable—have often fuelled conflict, corruption and exacerbated poverty. How natural resources are governed can fundamentally affect the contribution they make towards poverty reduction and sustainable development.
The Prime Minister launched the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, September 2002. Its aim is to improve governance and accountability in countries with a high reliance on oil, gas and minerals by increasing transparency of payments by companies to governments, and transparency of revenues received by those governments. EITI is now being implemented in Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Ghana and the Kyrgyz Republic, 736W with discussions taking place on implementation in a number of other countries including several in Africa and South America.
DFID's assessment of the importance of natural resource governance in developing countries is carried out on a country-by-country basis, usually through poverty reduction strategies. DFID has supported work on natural resource governance in Cambodia, Cameroon, Ghana, Indonesia and a number of other countries through the Governance Learning Group.
Some recent examples of governance programmes supported by DFID in the renewable natural resource sector include:
support to regional forest law enforcement and governance (FLEG) processes in East Asia and Africa that help build awareness of governance problems, in particular illegal logging, and generate commitment to tackle them;an active role within the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process. On 19 July the College of Commissioners adopted a package of proposals that includes a draft Regulation to control imports of illegally harvested timber into the single market;support to Global Witness to analyse and publish trends concerning the governance of natural resource extraction—in particular the forestry sector—in the Democratic Republic of Congo;support to the Overseas Development Institute to examine governance and poverty impacts of the illegal timber trade in Central America, with the aim of catalysing institutional and policy change by building awareness, dialogue and 'coalitions for change' among political institutions, government agencies, donors and civil society; andpathways for Environmental Action in Kenya (PEAK), a programme to enable local communities to better understand their rights and economic opportunities under new environment legislation.On the question of natural resource governance and armed conflict, responsibilities fall across Whitehall. DFID, the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence collaborate on African conflict issues through a joint strategy called the Africa Conflict Pool. This has considered a range of natural resource and conflict issues within its work drawing on academic literature, the work of groups such as Global Witness and the work of various United Nations bodies.