Adding value to natural resources: a multilevel challenge

Abstract

This article was written and Published by Mr. Antonio M.A. Pedro, Director of the Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa at the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa (UNECA) and Co-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in the thematic group on “Good Governance of Extractive and Land Resources”. Many developing countries suffer from the same malaise, i.e. the paradox of plenty, where abundant endowments of natural resources, including minerals, are not translated into equivalent levels of prosperity, broad-based development and resource-based industrialization. As with many other resource-rich countries, Indonesia wants to realize and maximize local retention of its mineral wealth, including through the enhancement of local processing of its raw materials. The recent ban of exports of raw materials could have therefore been introduced as part of an effort to scale-up local resource based industrialization (RBI) and value addition, a legitimate aspirational goal.