Drafting a Charter to Guide the World's Use of Natural Resources

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The Revenue Watch Institute is collaborating with a team of economists and legal and environmental experts to draft an international Natural Resource Charter. This pioneering document offers resource-rich societies a vision and a blueprint for the future of their country's natural resource sector. The most important audience for this document will be policy makers in resource-rich countries, but industry, intergovernmental organizations, citizen groups, and importing states are also key players in the decisions that determine the outcome of a society's attempt to harness resource wealth.

Oil, gas and mining resources can be a blessing or a curse: They can ensure prosperity for current and future generations or they can trigger chaos and decline.  These resources are non-renewable, volatile in price and may require long-term commitments of capital and technology. Although successful exploitation entails a complex set of policy decisions, there are certain practical considerations that can help ensure that these resources contribute to social and economic development for the country.

The economists, lawyers, political scientists and other experts drafting the Charter do not represent any institution or special interest. We share the belief that natural resource wealth can be a powerful tool for social and economic advancement, but only if countries are able to meet some special challenges. The Charter offers guidance on core government decisions regarding natural resources, from the decision to extract through to the uses of resource revenues.

Among the leaders drafting the Charter are Revenue Watch director Karin Lissakers and RWI board members attorney Joseph Bell, Prof. Paul Collier of Oxford University, Prof. Thomas Heller of Stanford University and Prof. Michael Ross of UCLA, as well as Prof. Tony Venables of Oxford University, Prof. Robert Conrad of Duke University and economist and Nobel laureate Michael Spence.

The Natural Resource Charter is a work in progress and all those interested are asked to participant in its revision and completion. Please learn more and contribute to the transparent and inclusive process of creating a new draft at www.NaturalResourceCharter.org.