Coinciding with the launch of a new international campaign calling for TOTAL’s withdrawal from Burma, this report gathers together much of the available evidence relating to TOTAL’s role in fuelling the oppressive dictatorship in Burma.

This report documents the environmental and social impacts of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), assesses the role of international financial institutions in fuelling APP’s unsustainable and damaging operations and examines the link between this unsustainable practice and APP's financial crisis.Financial institutions should acknowledge that it is far more than the financial failure of APP that proves that they seriously underestimated the risk in financing the company.

Extractive Industries (EI) explore, find, extract, process and market sub-soil assets – oil, gas and mined minerals. EI represent a large and growing activity in many less-developed countries. But natural resource wealth does not always lead to sustainable and inclusive growth. This guide sets out the recent rise in importance of EI to less-developed countries. It provides a framework for thinking about (i) the socio-economic impacts of these industries and (ii) the relationship between EI, host country public policies and donor activities.

The guide:

In this paper the author takes a ‘political settlements’ approach to examining the political effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries. The political settlements approach uses an integrated understanding of politics, power and institutional forms to explain how, given different political processes and incentives, the same institutional forms can produce different economic and developmental outcomes.

This report assesses the role of the World Bank in the funding and management of the Chad-Cameroon oil and pipeline project. The report argues that the project has fueled violence, impoverished people in the oil fields and along the pipeline route, exacerbated the pressures on indigenous peoples and created new environmental problems. The report highlights how the World Bank’s Implementation Completion Report (ICR) is inconsistent with other independent reports on the project.

This is the first in a series of evidence-based reports on the role of large engineering contractors in strengthening the positive local economic and social impacts of capital investment projects in the oil and gas sector in developing countries.

Mining has not always had good press in the development arena, due to a history of inadequate environmental and social governance. This short paper argues that there is enormous opportunity to be had in including women in mining operations. The author looks at how International Finance Corporations’ (IFC) Gender Program was able to implement strategies to help two IFC mining clients better integrate women into their operations. The author highlights how in so doing, IFC has contributed to the clients’ sustainability objectives and to improved performance through greater gender diversity.

Governments in a number of countries are trying to address concerns about land grabbing by closing their borders to foreign investors. Are these restrictions effective?
Not really, says GRAIN. They give the impression that something is being done at the highest level and appeal to nationalist or pro-sovereignty sentiments. But they are very narrow approaches to a complex problem and often full of back doors and loopholes.

This report documents human rights abuses linked to efforts to control two key gold mining areas, Mongbwalu (Ituri District) and Durba (Haut Uélé District) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).Findings of the report include:competition to control the gold mines and trading routes has spurred the bloody conflict that has gripped this area since the start of the Congolese war in 1998 and continues to the presentafter 2003 two armed groups, one backed by Uganda and the other by Rwanda, fought for the control of gold-mining areas and trade routeseach group won a gold-rich area but battles

Among the most daunting constraints mining has been facing is that it is a

Oil is a principal factor in Sudanese politics. However, rather than contributing to an environment of peace and equitable development, it remains a source of strife and division.This dossier provides an overview of Sudan’s oil industry and serves as a background document about the country’s contentious oil issues. The tables with data in the first two chapters help the reader to get a picture of Sudan’s oil industry.

Does Anvil Mining, a multinational company which has been extracting copper since 2002 from a mine in Dikulushi impact positively or negatively on the lives or rights of the local populations? The study argues that the impact of Anvil has been not been as problematic compared to other mining companies as the company has been adhering to relevant national and international norms and standards such as the OECD guiding principles. The study also points out that the authorities need to do more to makes sure international and national standards and norms are respected.