While the countries of Central Africa within the Congo River Basin and bordering areas are home to Africa''s greatest concentration of wealth in natural resources, they still count among the poorest nations on earth. The region is often afflicted by crises and conflicts that severely harm national economies and enfeeble already weak governmental structures even further. Is the region''s vast natural resource wealth really responsible for this situation? Or does it come down to individual political and social conditions which, within a single generation, have transformed certain countries'' abundance in raw materials into a source of common wealth for all their citizens, while at the same time turning those same riches in other countries into a curse?

This book discussed the various demands being placed on good governance and transparency in Central Africa''s raw materials sector and the prerequisites that must be met, and seek answers to the challenges faced.

This book looks at the distribution, occurrences, potential and prospects for good governance, transparency and sustainable development of geological resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. By bringing together numerous different point of views, it is carried out in a holistic, interdisciplinary and scientific way.

The states of Sub-Saharan Africa are among the world’s most resource-rich regions – yet many of these countries are a long way from attaining their development potential – some are among the least developed in the world. Paradoxically, those countries that are most richly endowed with resources are often the least developed ("paradox of plenty"). This phenomenon is exacerbated in many African countries by inadequate governance; and yet, if the state is unable to provide basic services, the application of social and environmental standards in the extractive and processing sectors will not be effective.

The idea for this volume was conceived during an international conference of the Commission de la Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale (CEMAC) on ‘Geological Resources and Good Governance in Central Africa’ held in September 2009 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. International experts from the political, scientific and private sectors, along with civil society, came together and discussed the various demands being placed on good governance and transparency in the Sub-Saharan raw materials sector and the prerequisites that must be met, and considered how to seek answers to future challenges. New forms of inter-sectorial, transnational governance like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and civil society’s transparency movements like Publish What You Pay (PWYP) offer ways to take account of all the different stakeholder interests in the resources sector. In this book there is also a strong focus on artisanal mining, on gender and on the spread of HIV/AIDS in the mining sector.

This publication is addressed to stakeholders in the field, including civil society, international and private development agencies, planners, politicians and decision makers; as well as to researchers such as earth scientists, economists, jurists and political scientists.