Africa’s natural resource wealth: selected countries and commodities. Source: Africa Progress Panel
Sustainable natural-resource management must accompany Africa’s rapid economic growth if the continent is to prosper. “The starting point is for all countries to develop national strategies that set up the terms under which their natural resources will be developed, including fiscal policies, contractual arrangements and tax regimes,” says Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General and now chair of the advocacy group Africa Progress Panel, in his introduction to the Africa Progress Report 2013. Conflict and corruption would be banished, he says, as the continent enjoyed sustained social stability.
He repeated this theme for the World Economic Forum’s regional annual meeting held in Cape Town on May 8-10. “With Africa’s economies riding the crest of the global commodities wave, there is an unprecedented opportunity to convert the region’s vast resource wealth into investments that could lift millions out of poverty, create jobs, and bring hope to future generations,” Annan wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times.
The map above shows some of Africa’s natural-resource wealth by country and commodity, most the target of extractive multinationals. Annan says these companies bear a large responsibility to play by the rules in accordance with national law. “It is unconscionable,” says the Ghanaian diplomat, “that some companies, often supported by dishonest officials, are using unethical tax avoidance, transfer pricing and anonymous company ownership to maximize their profits, while millions of Africans go without adequate nutrition, health and education.”
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