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Transparency in the Extractive Industries: Time to Ask for More

Transparency in the Extractive Industries: Time to Ask for More Forum Transparency in the Extractive Industries: Time to Ask for More Raimund Bleischwitz* The quest for transparency spans countries, policymakers, NGOs, and industries. Transparency can be defined as disclosing to the public, in a timely and reliable manner, information that governments and/or corporations previously con- sidered confidential. Recent examples include the Carbon Disclosure Project, the Aarhus convention on access to environmental information, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and its provisions on global genetically modified organism flows, and a wide array of financial information (e.g., in the G8 declaration of Lough Erne in 2013). Stemming from the “right to know,” advocates from NGOs and development organizations view transparency as a cure for corruption and a benefit for democratic accountability; transparency should lead to stakeholder empowerment and improve legitimacy, learning, investment certainty, and better governance. In this article I look at the efforts to establish financial transparency as a norm for the extractive sector. This sector is important because its activities are accompanied by a high level of corruption, especially in resource-rich developing countries. I show that those efforts are not enough and there is good evidence to demand more. I argue that such transparency norms should * This paper resulted http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Global Environmental Politics MIT Press

Transparency in the Extractive Industries: Time to Ask for More

Bleischwitz, Raimund
Global Environmental Politics , Volume 14 (4): 9 – Nov 1, 2014
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Publisher
MIT Press
Copyright
© 2014 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ISSN
1526-3800
eISSN
1536-0091
DOI
10.1162/glep_e_00254
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Forum Transparency in the Extractive Industries: Time to Ask for More Raimund Bleischwitz* The quest for transparency spans countries, policymakers, NGOs, and industries. Transparency can be defined as disclosing to the public, in a timely and reliable manner, information that governments and/or corporations previously con- sidered confidential. Recent examples include the Carbon Disclosure Project, the Aarhus convention on access to environmental information, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and its provisions on global genetically modified organism flows, and a wide array of financial information (e.g., in the G8 declaration of Lough Erne in 2013). Stemming from the “right to know,” advocates from NGOs and development organizations view transparency as a cure for corruption and a benefit for democratic accountability; transparency should lead to stakeholder empowerment and improve legitimacy, learning, investment certainty, and better governance. In this article I look at the efforts to establish financial transparency as a norm for the extractive sector. This sector is important because its activities are accompanied by a high level of corruption, especially in resource-rich developing countries. I show that those efforts are not enough and there is good evidence to demand more. I argue that such transparency norms should * This paper resulted

Journal

Global Environmental Politics – MIT Press

Published: Nov 1, 2014

References

  • Limited Partnership: Business, Government, Civil Society, and the Public in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
    Aaronson, Susan Ariel
  • The Global Resource Nexus. The Struggles for Land, Energy, Food, Water, and Minerals
    Andrews-Speed, Philip; Bleischwitz, Raimund; Kemp, Geoffrey; VanDeveer, Stacy; Boersma, Tim; Johnson, Corey
  • Fiscal Frameworks for Resource Rich Developing Countries. IMF Staff Discussion Note
    Baunsgaard, Thomas; Villafuerte, Mauricio; Poplawski-Ribeiro, Marcos; Richmond, Christine
  • Coltan from Central Africa, International Trade and Implications for Any Certification
    Bleischwitz, Raimund; Dittrich, Monika; Pierdicca, Chiara
  • Re-Assessing resource dependency and criticality. Linking future food and water stress with global resource supply vulnerabilities for foresight analysis
    Bleischwitz, Raimund; Johnson, Corey; Dozler, Michael
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    Clapp, Jennifer
  • Transparency in Global Environmental Governance: A Coming of Age?
    Gupta, Apurve
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    Haufler, Victoria
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    Humphreys, David
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    Kolstad, Ivar; Wiig, Arne
  • Exploring the Potential Benefits of Asian Participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: The Case of China
    Mouan, L. C.
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    Schuler, Douglas A.
  • Perspectives on Community Representation within the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: Experiences from South-East Madagascar
    Smith, Shirley M.; Shepherd, Derek D.; Dorward, Peter T.
  • Combating Material Leakage: A Proposal for an International Metal Covenant
    Wilts, Henning; Bleischwitz, Raimund