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Maps can be a tool in the defense of Indigenous communities against extractive industries. Canadian Centre for Architecture; Grant Tigner, painter. Seagrams Limited, publisher. The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project, in The St. Lawrence Seaway: The Realization of a Mighty Dream, 1954.

Using maps as a weapon to resist extractive industries on Indigenous territories

Historically, western corporate maps have been privileged over Indigenous ones. But given the essential debate of territory in resource conflicts, maps are a crucial tool.
Mining is a highly destructive endeavour towards our environment but demand for gems and minerals is non-stop; early colonial relationships continue to define these industries. Shutterstock

Earth Day: Colonialism’s role in the overexploitation of natural resources

Much of the devastation of our globe’s natural resources traces its origins to early colonialism. These relationships continue to define the extraction of resources that severely impact ecosystems.
Guyana, a former British colony on the north shore of South America, may soon supplant Trinidad and Tobago as the Caribbean region’s biggest oil producer. Reuters/Andrea De Silva

Guyana, one of South America’s poorest countries, struck oil. Will it go boom or bust?

Guyana is on the verge of an oil bonanza that could bring in US$1 million a day. But if it’s not careful, this poor nation – population 750,000 – could fall prey to the dreaded ‘resource curse.’
There is very little evidence that commodity producing countries diversify their economies by adding value to their raw materials. Reuters/Siegfried Modola

Time for Africa to transition from extractive to learning economies

The downturn in the commodity boom will not automatically lead to diversification of Africa’s economies. This can only be achieved through a focus on creating learning economies driven by innovation.
An oil worker stands on the deck of a tanker at Bonga off-shore oil field outside Lagos. Africa’s extractive industries are committed to local content but universities aren’t producing the right kind of graduates. Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye

Why local content in Africa’s extractive sector won’t work without home grown human capital

Huge investments have been made to develop Africa’s extractive industry. The challenge now is to forge collaboration between the industry and institutions of higher education to build a skills base.
The goals of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative are laudable; but an excessive focus on transparency and accountability doesn’t always benefit developing host countries.

Is more transparency for big miners the answer for developing countries?

A developed country, rich in natural resources, with relatively open and accountable governance lends its support to a global transparency initiative – what does this mean for the world’s poor? It depends…

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