Natural Resource Governance in Africa

The scale and diversity of Africa‟s natural resource endowments reveal that the continent alone has 12% of global oil reserves, 40% of global gold deposits, and about two thirds of the world‟s most suitable land for farming and forests. Unfortunately, and for a plethora of reasons, the flipside to this unprecedented potential is that the continent has not been able to fully maximise the developmental benefits that should have accrued from exploiting the resources. For example, the mispricing of natural resources in Africa leads to the loss of $50 billion per year, more than Africa‟s combined foreign direct investment and overseas development aid. In addition, according to an Oxfam estimate, more than US$18 billion per year is lost through resource-related conflicts in Africa, not including indirect costs.

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