Last modified: 2016-09-19
Abstract
Over 80% of the 50 fragile states identified by OECD in 2015 are rich in one or more extractive resources of global economic importance. If managed sustainably, these natural assets could fundamentally contribute to peacebuilding and statebuilding, and be the foundation for economic growth and diversification as well as longer term sustainable development. While the potential benefits to fragile states are large, so are the risks. If extractive resources are not developed with the correct mix of rules, institutions and governance safeguards in place, they will likely contribute to the onset of the resource curse – a combination of negative development outcomes, poor economic performance, rent seeking, social conflict and large scale environmental degradation.
One of the critical success factors in transforming the economic and social potential of extractive resources into tangible development outcomes is access to authoritative information by all stakeholders. Access to information both sharps and informs dialogue and decision making processes among stakeholders and is critical towards understanding how the myriad of benefits and risks can be shared in an equitable manner. However, in many fragile states, authoritative information itself is a scarce resource, with massive information asymmetries among stakeholders.
The on-going transparency revolution in the extractive sector, through initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, is a critical step forward in terms of providing all stakeholders transparent access to information in the extractives sectors. While the initial focus has been on financial and contractual aspects, stakeholders are now demanding access to further information on social and environmental risks and benefits. They are also requiring data in the extractives sector to be published in an open data format to promote accessibility, analysis and visualization. A third trend is the disaggregation of data from the national to the local level, combined with heighted transparency around contractual compliance and performance at the site level.
To enable this broader movement towards full transparency of revenues, risks and benefits across the entire extractive industry value chain, one of the most immediate needs is georeferenced information on extractive concession boundaries, the location of specific operations, production information and beneficial ownership. The possibility to overlay this information with other contextual data (e.g., environment, socio-economic, conflict-related) can facilitate improved identification of potential social and environment risks and benefits, while also offering opportunities for improved spatial planning and connecting extractive infrastructure and services to the broader economy.
In this paper we will describe how new trends and technical innovations linked to transparency, open data and spatial data infrastructures are being combined and leveraged to support improved access to authoritative information in the extractive sector in DR Congo. We will explore both the technical as well as the political and governance challenges faced and how these can be tackled. This will be done using the experience gained by the authors in the design and implementation of a new Open Data Platform for the Extractive Sector called MAP-X (Mapping and Assessing the Performance of eXtractive Industries).