Resources Matter: ending poverty while protecting nature

Abstract: Almost everything that is essential to modern society—transport and power systems, buildings, machinery, and medical devices—depends upon metals, minerals, and stone as well as oil and natural gas which provide the energy for households, businesses, and transport as well as widely-used materials such as plastics. The global economy has come to increasingly rely on mining and oil and gas extraction in the developing world. The global south now accounts for three-quarters of global mining, including the extraction of critical minerals which are now a source of geopolitical tension.

Poorer nations see extractive industries as vital to their prospects for greater prosperity, and to meet their own energy needs, but these industries are highly controversial not least in their impact on nature and the climate. This presentation explores the dilemmas (governance) as well as the opportunities (the green transition). The so-called ‘resource curse’ – the potentially harmful effect of resource booms on economies and societies – is not inevitable but it is hard to navigate, and the risks must be managed.

Countries need to see their resources, both renewable and non-renewable, as part of an asset portfolio, that also includes human and institutional capital. However, countries continue to neglect and undermine their renewable natural capital, which is accentuated by fossil fuel subsidies, hesitancy in the global energy transition, and the shortage of finance for low-income countries.

Ending poverty while protecting nature remains a central but unresolved challenge in development policy. Progress cannot be accelerated until we resolve the question of how we meet humanity’s ever-growing material needs.

The presentation is based on a Oxford University Press book (open access) available via UNU-WIDER for free download.

Bio: Tony Addison is a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER Helsinki. He was UNU-WIDER’s chief economist and deputy director, and a professor of economics (Copenhagen University) and of development studies (Manchester University). His field experiences include Mozambique’s war-to-peace transition, fiscal reform, and poverty analysis and policy.