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151. 2021 Resource Governance Index: Lebanon (Oil and Gas)

Author:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
Assessed for the first time, Lebanon’s governance of its nascent oil and gas sector scored 53 out of 100 points in the 2021 Resource Governance Index. While Lebanon is not yet an oil and gas producer, its government has begun to establish an institutional framework to govern the sector before production begins. Lebanon received a “satisfactory” score of 73 points in terms of its ability to realize value from its sector according to the RGI, with the Lebanese Petroleum Administration (LPA) displaying signs of best practice in terms of extractive sector transparency. Nonetheless, “weak” revenue management and a “poor” enabling environment are causes for concern for the future of Lebanon’s resource governance.
Topic:
Corruption, Oil, Natural Resources, Governance, and Gas
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

152. Oil and Gas in Lebanon: Time to Rethink Expectations

Author:
Aaron Sayne and Laury Haytayan
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
Lebanon’s hopes of “entering the club of oil producers” have not materialized. After almost a decade of high expectations, the country still has no proven reserves of oil or natural gas. Instead, the one well drilled so far, by partners Eni, Total and Novatek, revealed only trace amounts of gas. Now the government has extended the companies’ deadline to explore until August 2022 and has postponed a second oil and gas licensing round. Lebanon needs a new, more realistic vision of what oil and gas can do for it. For years, politicians in Beirut have told the public that exporting fossil fuels would transform the country’s failing economy, and that generating electricity from gas would turn around its mismanaged power sector. In this briefing we do not try to predict the future—especially considering how fast conditions on the ground are changing. Instead, we offer an evidence-based warning about the wisdom of Lebanon staking its economic or energy future on oil and gas. The conclusions and observations are based on analysis of the current situation and on the experiences of fossil-fuel dependent countries and other prospective new producers. The current moment, though very painful, offers the country a chance to build a new energy strategy that it can start to implement when its economic and political fortunes improve. This strategy should realistically and sustainably meet people’s needs, rather than make them worse.
Topic:
Oil, Natural Resources, Gas, Economy, and Fossil Fuels
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

153. 2021 Resource Governance Index: Azerbaijan (Oil and Gas)

Author:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
Azerbaijan’s oil and gas sector scored 56 points out of 100 in the 2021 Resource Governance Index (RGI), up by nine points since the 2017 RGI. The country’s ability to realize value from the sector and its overall “enabling environment” deteriorated since the last assessment, but revenue management improved by 35 points and now places in the “good” performance band. Key messages: Governance of licensing received a “failing” 11 points, due to a lack of rules and disclosures in the licensing process, as well issues regarding disclosure of officials’ financial interests and identification of the beneficial owners of companies involved in the sector. The governance of local impacts received a “failing” score, with issues both in terms of the laws and disclosures of environmental and social impact assessments and environmental mitigation plans. SOCAR, the state-owned oil producer, scored in the lower end of the “satisfactory” performance band, with commodity sales rules and disclosures especially problematic. The implementation of fiscal rules and their monitoring boosted the national budgeting subcomponent score by 37 points since the 2017 RGI. SOFAZ, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, received a “good” score due to improvements in both the legal framework and disclosures.
Topic:
Environment, Oil, Natural Resources, Governance, and Gas
Political Geography:
Central Asia and Azerbaijan

154. Managing Senegal’s Oil and Gas Revenues

Author:
William Davis, Andrew Bauer, and Papa Daouda Diene
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
As of late 2021, Senegal is on the cusp of becoming a significant oil and gas producer. The revenues that it can expect to mobilize present it with an important opportunity to speed the country’s development by increasing public investment. In preparation for this, Senegalese authorities are currently revising the country’s framework for managing its oil and gas revenues, which remains a work in progress. The authors of this report evaluate various aspects of Senegal’s policy framework for managing oil and gas revenues and share recommendations as to how it could be strengthened.
Topic:
Oil, Natural Resources, Gas, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Africa and Senegal

155. Step by Step: Closing the Implementation Gap in Senegal's Petroleum Licensing Process

Author:
Papa Daouda Diene and Nicola Woodroffe
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
Historically, Senegal has experienced significant “implementation gaps” between rules and implementation of these rules in its petroleum licensing process. Causes have included lack of legal clarity, duplicative and conflicting institutional roles, and lack of institutional capacity. However, Senegal has made good progress on closing this implementation gap. As of 2020, Senegal’s implementation gap in the petroleum licensing process as measured by the Resource Governance Index is very small and reflects recent government reforms, investments and disclosures. Despite major progress in closing the implementation gap in the licensing process, Senegal has significant room for improvement in the transparency of the oil and gas licensing process. Senegal’s government should work to improve laws on the disclosure of assets of public officials and the disclosure of the identities of the beneficial owners of companies applying for and obtaining licenses.
Topic:
Natural Resources, Regulation, Legislation, and Policy Implementation
Political Geography:
Africa and Senegal

156. Oil or Nothing: Dealing with South Sudan’s Bleeding Finances

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Upon South Sudan’s independence in 2011, many hoped the country’s oil wealth would help build the state and lift citizens out of poverty. Instead, politicians have shunted these revenues toward patronage and personal enrichment, feeding internal conflict. Transparency and accountability are badly needed.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Oil, Natural Resources, and Fossil Fuels
Political Geography:
Africa and South Sudan

157. Stemming the Insurrection in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Deadly conflict in Mozambique’s ruby- and natural gas-rich northernmost coastal province feeds on a mix of colonial-era tensions, inequality and Islamist militancy. To tame the insurrection, Maputo needs to use force, with bespoke assistance from outside partners, and to carefully address underlying grievances.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Natural Resources, Inequality, and Insurrection
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique

158. Biodiversity and Development: The evolution of Community Based Conservation and implications for Danish development cooperation

Author:
Mikkel Funder and Marie Ladekjær Gravesen
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
Loss of nature and biodiversity constitutes a major global crisis for environment and development and interacts closely with the climate crisis. After a period of limited attention, conservation is again rising on the agenda of development cooperation, especially in the context of Nature-based Solutions. There is a growing consensus that biodiversity goals can only be achieved by focusing more on conservation outside conventional protected areas. This offers new opportunities for both conservation and development, but it also poses a risk of ‘green grabbing’ whereby communities loose access to land and natural resources that are key for their survival and resilience. In the support to biodiversity conservation, attention to Community Based Conservation (CBC) is therefore critical. However, CBC approaches are not new and have not always worked. Future support to such approaches must therefore learn from the past and incorporate new directions. This DIIS Working Paper, written by Mikkel Funder and Marie Ladekjær Gravesen, DIIS, provides an overview of the evolution of community-based biodiversity conservation since the 1980s, where new approaches are heading, and what the overall lessons are so far. On this basis it provides recommendations for how Denmark’s development cooperation can support community-based conservation. The paper focuses on the socioeconomic and governance dimensions of community-based conservation and draws particularly on experiences from area-based conservation in the African setting. The study finds that: • CBC has developed and expanded but is not yet consolidated on the ground • Community rights to land and natural resources are critical for successful CBC • CBC must be better anchored in local livelihoods and economies • Economic compensation and income substitution is not enough in itself • A growing emphasis on CBC in ‘working landscapes’ offers potential • National associations and networks have been important platforms for CBC advocacy • There is a need to strengthen horizontal and vertical institutional links for CBC The paper recommends that Denmark should: Strengthen support to community-based conservation outside protected areas. Denmark can play an important role in helping to ensure that conservation in these spaces is done in the right and most effective way, i.e. that it benefits biodiversity while also strengthening the rights and livelihoods of communities. Integrate support to CBC with support to climate change adaptation and resilience. With the right approach, Ecosystem Based Adaptation offers good scope for protecting and improving the conditions for both biodiversity conservation and development. Support protection of the land- and governance rights of communities and indigenous peoples in biodiversity conservation. Denmark should (i) advance legal recognition and enforceable safeguards of rights-based approaches in the implementation of the CBD’s post-2020 global biodiversity framework; (ii) support practical application of the IUCN’s Natural Resource Governance Framework and standards for Nature Based Solutions; and (iii) prioritise multilateral and bilateral support to conservation initiatives that actively sustain and strengthen community land rights as part of the solution. Support CBC approaches that transcend the conventional separation between human production and conservation. This entails a broad approach to biodiversity conservation which goes beyond species protection in isolated islands of ‘wild nature’. A key emphasis should be on supporting CBC in ‘working landscapes’, i.e. strengthening existing sustainable production systems in crop farming areas, rangelands, forests, wetlands, urban areas etc. Support CBC schemes to become more firmly anchored in local resource use economies. Many conventional CBC schemes - especially in the African setting – are heavily dependent on international leisure markets such as tourism/hunting and on recurrent donor funding. This poses risks, as illustrated by the major funding concerns for African conservation following the Covid-19 epidemic. A more diversified strategy is needed. Facilitate bio-cultural approaches to the governance of biodiversity conservation. This means accepting a diversity of conservation values and that conservation will look different from place to place. It entails an approach in which CBC arrangements are tailored to the socio-ecological and cultural context - rather than following a universal model - but which also builds broader nested governance frameworks for negotiation, decision-making, conflict resolution and knowledge sharing. Alongside place-based conservation, it is critical to sustain and strengthen Denmark’s efforts to engage with the broader drivers of biodiversity loss at global and national levels. While CBC is critically important for conservation, it cannot on its own address wider drivers of biodiversity loss.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Natural Resources, and Land Rights
Political Geography:
Denmark

159. Volume 71 Issue 2

Author:
Gökhan Karabulut
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Istanbul Journal of Economics
Institution:
Istanbul University Faculty of Economics
Abstract:
Istanbul Journal of Economics-İstanbul İktisat Dergisi is an open access, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal published two times a year in June and December. It has been an official publication of Istanbul University Faculty of Economics since 1939. The manuscripts submitted for publication in the journal must be scientific and original work in Turkish or English. Being one of the earliest peer-reviewed academic journals in Turkey in the area of economics, Istanbul Journal of Economics-İstanbul İktisat Dergisi aims to provide a forum for exploring issues in basicly economics and publish both disciplinary and multidisciplinary articles. Economics is the main scope of the journal. However, multidisciplinary and comparative approaches are encouraged as well and articles from various social science areas such as sociology of economics, history, social policy, international relations, financial studies are welcomed in this regard. The target group of the journal consists of academicians, researchers, professionals, students, related professional and academic bodies and institutions.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Oil, Political Economy, Natural Resources, Exchange Rate Policy, and Industry
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

160. Lithium Mining in Argentina Threatens Local Communities

Author:
María Félix Herrera
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:
In Puna, companies extracting lithium also drain the limited water supply for Guayatayoc communities dependent on groundwater.
Topic:
Natural Resources, Water, Mining, Lithium, and Extractive Industries
Political Geography:
Argentina and South America