Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

64 swanson, oldgard, and lundeThere appear to be no control mechanisms for enforcement orfollow-up of the principles endorsed by East Asia FLEG. The websitestates that the ministerial declaration commits participating countriesto “intensify national efforts and strengthen bilateral, regional, andmultilateral collaboration to address violations of forest law and forestcrime and create a regional task force on forest law enforcementand governance to advance the declaration’s objectives.” 20 A taskforce met in May 2002 and is due to meet again in 2003. It is unclearwhether the declaration will be adopted. The impact of the AfricaFLEG initiative is difficult to evaluate at this relatively early stage. It isnoteworthy, however, that the FLEG process has expanded to includeother geographic regions.Therefore, the initiative’s strong and weak points are as follows:• It is the only initiative that requires host-country endorsement.• It includes possibilities for civil society influence.• Itisstill in the early stages, so its impact in practice is still unclear.• It includes no mechanisms for monitoring implementation.• The issue of revenue disclosure is not specifically addressed.Caspian Revenue Watch. The Caspian Revenue Watch policyprogram is a relatively new initiative of the Open Society Institute,which in turn is a part of the Soros Foundation. 21 It was established toexplore how revenues are being invested and disbursed and howgovernments and extraction companies are responding to civic demandsfor accountability in the region. It also contains a strong advocacycomponent, aiming to ensure that “existing and future revenuefunds in the region be invested and expended for the benefit of thepublic, such as poverty reduction, education, and public health—through the promotion of transparency, civic involvement, and governmentaccountability.” 22Although the ultimate focus is on how revenues generated by naturalresources can benefit development within the Caspian region,transparency of these revenues is very much highlighted. Moreover,transparency and accountability of resource revenues are specificobjectives of Caspian Revenue Watch.The Eurasia Policy Forum notes that the report that eventually willbe issued will offer “in-depth analysis and policy recommendationsuseful to donors, national governments, nongovernmental organizations,and the media.” 23 However, since neither the report nor theexpected recommendations have been published yet, it is difficult toevaluate the impact of the program.Caspian Revenue Watch focuses almost exclusively on flows goingto natural resource funds rather than on flows moving through the