Trade and natural resources
Natural resources and trade flows in the Great Lakes region
Can improved natural resource exploitation and trade help reduce poverty in the Great Lakes region?
Authors:
Publisher:
Department for International Development, UK, 2007
This document analyses natural resource exploitation and trade at four main border areas in the Great Lakes region. It looks at the mechanisms of exploitation for cassiterite, coltan, gold, copper and cobalt and also reviews regional transport and transit corridors and issues in the main transit countries: Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
Key points include:
- the many years of economic decline and conflict have led to a sharp decline in accumulated assets of households (tools, housing, livestock etc)
- the response seems similar in all three areas; a shift into activities that require very few assets and are risk adverse in terms of infrastructure, and a shift away form more complex activities requiring assets and infrastructure
- the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC’s) new mining code has had little impact on improving the livelihoods of artisanal miners
- in areas where industrial mining is practised (Katanga), the degree of ethnic specialisation tends to be smaller than where artisanal miners operate under customary rights (the Kivu’s).
The authors conclude that the future potential of converting natural resource exploitation and trade into revenue capable of bringing significant numbers out of poverty is only possible if redistribution mechanisms are improved and bottom end producers receive a better share of the final sales price of their goods. With the restoration of peace and state control over much of the Congolese territory, negotiating with neighbours to ensure added value from minerals is shared should be a priority.
