Improving the management of natural resources in order to reach the UN's sustainable development goals: The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

摘要

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative brings together extractive firms, governments and nongovernmental organizations in the effort to inform the citizens of countries with oil, gas and mineral resources about the management of their nonrenewable natural wealth. This Initiative's intent and method are in line with the UN's sustainable development goals. The Initiative has successfully organized a genuine three-party dialog for releasing information on the extractive sector; and it has introduced the principle of transparency in an industry characterized by its opacity. The Initiative's promise of citizen control (thanks to the disclosure of information) is yet to be fulfilled. This calls for paying more attention to the conditions of how the data made public are actually put to use.