A human security perspective on natural resource governance: What makes reforms effective?

Abstract

ABSTRACTAs the European Union is intensifying its efforts to curb the negative externalities of natural resource extraction on producing countries, the question arises as to what it can learn from earlier initiatives that have aimed to address the challenges of natural resource governance. Present and former reform schemes alike are based on the premise that changes in natural resource management can enable societies to mitigate the negative effects of global demands for their resources. Based in a critique of formalisation-oriented approaches to resource sector reform, this article employs an analytical perspective of human security to investigate the impact of transformations in resource governance on the wellbeing of populations affected by natural resource extraction. It analyses the successes and shortcomings of reforms in natural resource governance across two cases: the forestry sector in Liberia and the diamond sector in Sierra Leone. The study develops recommendations for future strategies striving to improve resource governance.