This paper describes the outcomes of the Kimberley Process, which aims to create a certification system for rough diamonds, so excluding illicit diamonds, which fuel conflict, from the global diamond trade.The author focuses on the provisions the process has made for monitoring certified diamonds. He provides an overview of the monitoring provisions of the Kimberley Process as agreed at its March 2002 Ottawa meeting.

This report documents the performance of the world’s second largest mining company with regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Despite Anglo American’s participation in various voluntary CSR initiatives, it continues to abuse human rights, fuel conflict and damage the local environment and livelihoods. The report documents a number of Anglo American’s activities which highlight that there is still a long way to go as far as the company's commitment to CSR, including:

This is a guide for companies working in the extractive industries, particularly in the oil and gas sectors and provides basic conflict management advice and guidance. Its objective is to save time, to protect resources and reputations, and to enhance the safety of employees and of the communities in which they do business.The guide presents tools for risk assessment and risk management in conflict settings, including:

While increasing attention has been paid to Chinese attempts to secure natural resources overseas, the case of Burma has often been overlooked. This background provides a summary of the operations of Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) in Burma in the hydro, oil & gas, and mining sectors. The research finds that more than 26 Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) are involved in more than 62 hydropower, oil & gas, and mining projects in Burma. The report describes the activities of Chinese MNCs in Burma which include the following:

This report presents the findings of an international fact finding mission to assess human rights, social and environmental impacts of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BYC) oil pipeline, which BP and other companies (as part of the BTC Consortium) are currently building in order to bring oil from Caspian Sea oilfields to Western markets.

This report documents the environmental and social impacts of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), assesses the role of international financial institutions in fuelling APP’s unsustainable and damaging operations and examines the link between this unsustainable practice and APP's financial crisis.Financial institutions should acknowledge that it is far more than the financial failure of APP that proves that they seriously underestimated the risk in financing the company.

Extractive Industries (EI) explore, find, extract, process and market sub-soil assets – oil, gas and mined minerals. EI represent a large and growing activity in many less-developed countries. But natural resource wealth does not always lead to sustainable and inclusive growth. This guide sets out the recent rise in importance of EI to less-developed countries. It provides a framework for thinking about (i) the socio-economic impacts of these industries and (ii) the relationship between EI, host country public policies and donor activities.

The guide:

In this paper the author takes a ‘political settlements’ approach to examining the political effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries. The political settlements approach uses an integrated understanding of politics, power and institutional forms to explain how, given different political processes and incentives, the same institutional forms can produce different economic and developmental outcomes.

This report assesses the role of the World Bank in the funding and management of the Chad-Cameroon oil and pipeline project. The report argues that the project has fueled violence, impoverished people in the oil fields and along the pipeline route, exacerbated the pressures on indigenous peoples and created new environmental problems. The report highlights how the World Bank’s Implementation Completion Report (ICR) is inconsistent with other independent reports on the project.

This is the first in a series of evidence-based reports on the role of large engineering contractors in strengthening the positive local economic and social impacts of capital investment projects in the oil and gas sector in developing countries.

Mining has not always had good press in the development arena, due to a history of inadequate environmental and social governance. This short paper argues that there is enormous opportunity to be had in including women in mining operations. The author looks at how International Finance Corporations’ (IFC) Gender Program was able to implement strategies to help two IFC mining clients better integrate women into their operations. The author highlights how in so doing, IFC has contributed to the clients’ sustainability objectives and to improved performance through greater gender diversity.

Governments in a number of countries are trying to address concerns about land grabbing by closing their borders to foreign investors. Are these restrictions effective?
Not really, says GRAIN. They give the impression that something is being done at the highest level and appeal to nationalist or pro-sovereignty sentiments. But they are very narrow approaches to a complex problem and often full of back doors and loopholes.