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Central Africa – the riches of the earth, the poverty of the people

While the countries of Central Africa within the Congo River Basin and bordering areas are home to Africa's greatest concentration of wealth in natural resources, they still count among the poorest nations on earth. The region is often afflicted by crises and conflicts that severely harm national economies and enfeeble already weak governmental structures even further. The interdependency of these problems creates a vicious circle that thwarts development, leaving large portions of the population floundering in absolute poverty. Is the region's vast natural resource wealth really responsible for this situation? Or does it come down to individual political and social conditions which, within a single generation, have transformed certain countries' abundance in raw materials into a source of common wealth for all their citizens, while at the same time turning those same riches in other countries into a curse?

Good governance and transparency: the dialogue continues

Churches, foundations and numerous bilateral and multilateral donors have long been fostering dialogue to determine how the wealth generated from Central Africa's rich natural resources can be shared more transparently and equitably and thereby contribute directly to promoting development and reducing poverty. Envisaged are sustainable endeavours based on environmentally compatible extraction and processing methods that enable investment of profits in diversified economic development that benefits the population as a whole.

One forum for dialogue launched at the 2007 Berlin conference on Transparency in the Extractive Sector will be further pursued at this year's follow-up conference in Cameroon. Debate this time around will focus on the African continent and the conditions and qualities necessary for good governance.

Yaoundé 2009 – the sectoral objectives

The Yaoundé conference will bring together the many actors involved and the interested public with the aim of promoting a strategy of sustainable, transparent economic management and good governance.

Conference objectives are to:

Demonstrate just how vast the geological richness and potential of Central Africa's mineral resources actually are with an eye to implementing more efficient mining techniques while taking into account the latest prospecting findings.
Identify what economic policy measures can best turn these abundant natural resources into a motor for driving sustainable economic and social development.
Look at the economic, social and political conflicts that are brewing among the most powerful and weakest actors at local, national and international levels, and discuss how contrary interests and identities as well as misunderstandings, mistrust, inadequate transparency and inefficient infrastructure and processes trigger and exacerbate many conflicts.
Show how regional partnerships such as the public-private partnership Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and civil society initiatives like Publish What You Pay and Global Witness can implement the goals of good governance and thereby achieve transparent and efficient regulation as well as correct financial accounting and reporting and fair taxation of the wealth reaped from natural resources.
Explain how local and equitable partnerships between indigenous communities and informal operators of small mines on the one hand and international enterprises on the other are indeed possible, and how this wealth in mineral resources can ensure a sustainable future for those who these assets truly belong to and who actually do the extracting and processing.
Define how the societal problem of infection with HIV can be actively combated at the local level. In those regions where social fringe groups eek out their livelihoods from mining, HIV and AIDS pose one of the greatest threats to public health along with the high risk of accidents due to inadequate occupational health and safety conditions and substandard tools and the glaring health hazards arising from use and release of dangerous chemicals.

Some 200 international experts from politics, science, the private sector and civil society will come together on 24 and 25 September in Yaoundé to wrestle with these issues. In six panel discussions and two plenary events, conference participants will discuss the various demands being placed on good governance and transparency in Central Africa's raw materials sector and the prerequisites that must be met, and seek answers to the challenges outlined above. The conference, which will be accompanied by an exhibition and various side events, will focus primarily on exchanging knowledge and experience and presenting best practices.