Many Latin American countries are rich with natural resources like oil, gas and minerals, and they have a wealth of experience to share in terms of the investment policies they have pursued to develop their extractive industries.

This selection of publications highlights key resources documenting and analysing the following aspects of the Latin American investment policy experience: Gas Sector, Oil Sector, Mining Sector, Choice of Policy Model, and Rents, Taxes and Royalties.

This report provides practical information on how to be an effective monitor of government earnings and expenditures.

This collection of articles looks at the role of natural resources in Western Sahara and outlines the framework for Western Sahara’s independence from Morocco.There is no doubt that the question of the natural resources of Western Sahara such as fish, oil and phosphates has been the main reason for the interest in the area in question.

Using microeconomic data for Angola, this paper studies the relationship between civil war and private investment in a poor, resource abundant country.

This report examines the theoretical underpinnings of trade and conflict, and lays out the debate on how free trade affects conflict.

In the light of an emerging International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for the extractive industries - which could give a significant boost to global efforts to better account for revenues from the extractive industries - this report argues that such standards should require upstream extractive industry operators to disclose revenue payments on a country-by-country basis.Country-by-country reporting, this report argues, are crucial in achieving greater transparency, and will allow for better informed decisions about companies engaged in the extractive sector.

Mineral wealth often detracts from, rather than enhances, the economic performance of developing countries, a phenomenon known as the “resource curse”. The need to finance basic government expenditure, as well as rent-seeking behaviour by individuals and interest groups, puts pressure on developing country governments to spend mineral revenues rather than reinvest them.

This report looks at the changes needed to ensure that gold mining will benefit development in resource rich countries, for example by generating revenue and creating jobs.With reference to case studies from Honduras and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report outlines further changes needed in the gold mining industry.

This key issue guide present some of the key themes around extractive industries and development. The guide is divided into the key extractive industry sectors: oil, diamonds and mining. Each section gives a brief introduction to the topic and examines some of the key challenges.

This document considers the economic impact of diamonds in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. It states that the many global campaigns to stop trade in conflict diamonds has tended to ignore the benefits of the legitimate industry for these countries. The author describes a study that attempts to verify the claims regarding the positive aspects of the industry.

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda has been a part of the global debate on socio-economic development for many decades. Countless claims have been made that CSR can contribute towards more inclusive development and the alleviation of poverty. This briefing examines the concept and role of CSR in the mining industry of South Africa. The mining case study reviewed here demonstrates that key implementation challenges are a lack of co-ordination and alignment with the government’s development plans, at both national and local level, coupled with weak monitoring and evaluation.

In the natural resources sector, laws are often formulated to regulate the relationship between men and the environment. Ideally, the law can play a vital role in regulating and protecting communities from adverse environmental and social impacts of mining, loss of land, biodiversity and natural wealth, as well as other human rights violations. Almost all countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have developed laws and institutions to regulate and monitor the extraction of mineral resources and their impact on the environment and people.