The Emergence of Right-Based Approaches to Resource Governance in Africa: False Start or New Dawn

Africa is home to a significant percentage of the world's deposits of natural resources, especially non-renewable natural resources such as oil, natural gas, and heavy metals like gold, iron, copper, silver, and others. According to the 2014 BP Statistical Energy Survey, Africa had proven oil reserves of 132.438 billion barrels at the end of 2013, equivalent to 41.2 years of current production and 8.01 % of the world's reserves. Similarly, Africa produced an average of 8804.4 thousand barrels of crude oil per day in 2011 or l 0.44% of the world production. Countries such as Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, and Angola are historical giants in oil production in Africa; they account for eighty-five percent of the continent's oil production.While Ghana, South Sudan, South Africa, Namibia, Gabon, Congo,
Cameroon, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cote d'Ivoire have attracted significant investment inter-ests for mineral resources ranging from gold, bauxite, cobalt, industrial diamond, phosphate rock, platinum-group metals ("PGM"), vermiculit~, and zirconiqm. As such, the Africa~ min~ral industry is one of the largest mineral industries in the world.