Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

78 swanson, oldgard, and lundePolicy RecommendationsReporting of natural resource revenues is a means to achieve transparency,which itself is a precondition for improving governance bycurbing opportunities for corruption, mismanagement, and diversionof funds. Reporting also provides civil society with an important partof the information it needs to hold government to account. Other importantinformation includes how government revenues are spent—for instance, how spending on health and education corresponds toincreases in oil revenues.Ultimately, the host government should have the ultimate responsibilityfor providing its citizens with details of the revenues it receivesfrom resource extraction and export. Unfortunately, there are oftenstrong incentives for resource-rich host governments or elites in developingcountries not to disclose information, and the international communityoften has limited leverage to force them to do so. For example,the threat of sanctions and conditionality is problematic, since naturalresources provide host governments with an independent and comparativelylarge source of funds from a legally traded commodity. This iswhy it may be necessary also to look at the company side of paymentsto host governments. Nevertheless, the ultimate focus must continue tobe on the (perhaps long-term) goal of host-country transparency.Technical Assistance to Host GovernmentsAt a minimum, the international community should step up efforts toprovide host governments with technical assistance on reporting andtracking revenues. This will at least cover the cases where the mainbarrier is technical. It is also important to remember that most governmentsare not monolithic and that technical assistance in reportingand tracking revenue could strengthen the hand of individuals who areconcerned with good governance.Ample opportunities exist for such assistance and cooperationalong both bilateral and multilateral avenues. Many donor countriesalready support capacity-building schemes—for instance, in nationalpetroleum administrations—and such schemes could be modified toincorporate reporting and transparency aspects. UN organizations andmultilateral development banks also run comprehensive public sectorreform programs, many of which relate to natural resource sectors andministries. International umbrella organizations such as the InternationalOrganization of Supreme Audit Institutions already managecapacity-building programs in relevant areas across developing andtransitional economies. However, like World Bank–sponsored public