New Frontiers in Natural Resources Management in Africa

This book discusses policy strategies for the effective management of natural resources in Africa within the context of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). While natural resource wealth has the potential to lift many out of poverty, sustain economic growth, and foster political stability, it does not guarantee these benefits. The absolute levels of human development in many resource-rich countries remain low, despite their apparent wealth. The challenge is to adopt policies that better harness the potential of natural resources, not only as an opportunity for development, but also to foster policies and institutional innovations that manage resource wealth equitably and boost human capital. To this end, this volume highlights key opportunities and solutions for harnessing natural resources for sustained economic development and explain how such approaches should be incorporated into the SDG agenda. These opportunities are communicated in the form of policy recommendations that in some cases, are country specific but can (and should) be adapted by individual African countries where applicable. With a broad perspective supplied by a diverse group of authors, this book will be useful for graduate students and academicians studying Africa, development economics, economic policy, and resource management, as well as policy makers, NGOs, and IGOs.

Dr Elias Takor Ayuk is the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA). He has over 20 years experience in Sub-Saharan Africa on development issues including institutional capacity building, poverty reduction, food security, natural resources management, strategic planning and development funding.Prior to joining UNU-INRA, Dr Ayuk has served as a Senior Programme Specialist with the Globalization, Growth and Poverty (GGP) programme of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) at the Regional Office for West and Central Africa, in Dakar, Senegal, from 2004 to 2010. He was responsible for project development, management and monitoring of the IDRC's GGP program in West and Central Africa. He also served as Acting Executive Director of the Secretariat for Institutional Support for Economic Research in Africa (SISERA/IDRC), Dakar, Senegal from 2002 to 2006.

Dr Ngozi Stewart is a specialist in Environmental Law and Ethics. Her core areas are in fostering ecological integrity including biodiversity conservation, environmental policy and regulation, coastal management, sustainability issues in aviation, food security and climate change. She is currently a research fellow in environmental policy at the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA).

Praise Nutakor is a Communication Specialist with over seven years' experience in the communications field. She is currently the Communications and Public Relations Associate of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), heading the Institute's communications unit.