Online event with Antonio Pedro: Mineral resource governance in the 21st Century

If well managed, the extractive sector can play a positive role in promoting broad-based development and structural transformation in relevant countries, including an important contribution to the implementation of the 17 SDGs. However, poor management and bad governance can reverse any potential development gains. It has long been recognized that good governance is key for mitigating the adverse impacts and enhancing the positive economic, social and environmental outcomes of mining.

There is already a plethora of domestic, regional and international legal and regulatory frameworks as well as formal and informal initiatives and instruments including at company level, all aimed at better governing the extractive industry.

The International Resource Panel (IRP) report on Mineral Resource Governance, co-lead authored by Antonio Pedro, notes that most of the existing governance instruments represent piecemeal efforts, which often fail to be implemented at the national level. In response to the new imperatives set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the report advocates for a shift towards a new multi-level, holistic, integrated and multi-stakeholder governance framework composed of formal and informal arrangements. It refers to this as the “Sustainable Development Licence to Operate (SDLO)”, which is applicable to the broader range of stakeholders and interested parties in the extractive industry.

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A chaired by Professor Paul Ekins.

About the speaker

Antonio M.A. Pedro, a mineral exploration geologist, joined the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in 2001, where he is currently the Director of its Office for Central Africa, based in Yaounde, Cameroon. Prior to joining ECA, he was the Director General of the Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Managing Director of several companies in Mozambique and Deputy National Director of the country’s Geological Survey.

He spearheaded the formulation of the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) adopted by the African Union in February 2009 as the continental framework for the sustainable development of the extractive sector in Africa.

He is a member of the International Resources Panel (IRP), Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Co-Chair of the SDSN Thematic Network on the Good Governance of Extractive and Land Resources (TG10), and a faculty member of the “Extractive Industry and Sustainable Development Executive Training Programme” at the Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment (CCSI).

His current research interest focuses on economic diversification, industrial policy and mineral resources governance. He is a co-lead author of the IRP report “Mineral resource governance in the 21st Century: gearing extractive industries towards sustainable development".

Documents and links

• Antonio Pedros' PowerPoint presentation
• Linkages to the Resource Sector
• Local Content Policies - Guidelines for Governments
• Responsible Mineral Development Initiative 2013
• Local Content Policies in the Oil and Gas Sector
• Local Content Policies in the Mining Sector: Scaling up local procurement
• Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act's Perceived Performance Impact 2017
• Guiding Principles for Durable Extractive Contracts
• Shared Value Initiative (2012). Extracting with Purpose: Creating Shared Value in the Oil and Gas and Mining Sector’s Companies and Communities

Image credit: Tyler Lastovich on Unsplash