Unlocking the poverty and hunger puzzle: Toward democratizing the natural resource for accomplishing SDGs 1&2

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the substantial effect of natural resource abundance on poverty and hunger of the UN 2030th agenda. For this purpose, we use the panel smooth transition regression model (PSTR) technique and a sample of 20 African economies for the period 2001 to 2017, to explore the relationship between natural resource abundance and poverty and between natural resources and hunger. Besides, the principal component analysis method was used to develop two composite indices to reflect the institutional quality and hunger. The empirical highlights confirm the nonlinearity for both models, and the thresholds of poverty and hunger take the values of 18.16 and 19.24 in each model, correspondingly. We confirm the significant impact of natural resource abundance and induced opportunities as remedies to the SDGs 1&2 looming challenge and the UN agendas. Due to the obvious significance of our findings and their repercussions for decision-makers, a state of emergency in the natural resources sector should be proclaimed to address SDGs 1&2. Indeed, fair natural resource revenue management could be a critical component in addressing Africa's endless tales of poverty and hunger.