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Oil, gas & mining

Many poor countries face a resource curse: while nonrenewable resources can generate significant revenues, countries that depend on them can also suffer from higher rates of corruption, social unrest, and human rights violations.

Oxfam advocates directly with corporations, financial institutions, and governments to ensure respect for the rights of communities. We support new ideas for greater corporate social responsibility; global campaigns to create new human rights and environmental standards; and greater transparency of oil, gas, and mining revenues.

ACT FAST with Oxfam
We can beat poverty and hunger—but we’ve got to ACT FAST. When you pledge to ACT FAST with Oxfam, you agree to do three things. Each step builds on the power of numbers: 1, 10, 100. And each person who takes the pledge brings us closer to our goal of beating poverty.
Host an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet® event
Raise awareness and help fund Oxfam's work by hosting a Hunger Banquet® in your community! Few experiences bring to life the inequalities in our world more powerfully than an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet® event. Organizers and participants alike can experience firsthand how our decisions affect others in the world.
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Oxfam's oil, gas, and mining program
Oxfam advocates just government policies and corporate practices in the oil, gas, and mining industries, and supports the right of communities to participate meaningfully in decisions about the use of natural resources.
OXFAMExchange Spring 2009
The power of resilience
OXFAMExchange Spring 2008
Raising a generation without fear
OXFAMExchange Winter 2008
Hard Questions about Ghana's Gold Boom
Working together to end poverty and injustice
An overview of Oxfam America and our approach to poverty relief and lasting social change.
Oxfam in West Africa
Across the vast Sahel and down through the lush rainforests of Ghana, there is a growing sense of possibility.
Oxfam in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean
All across this diverse and beautiful territory, new faces of leadership are emerging. Women, rural communities, and small farmers are adding their voices to the political dialogue, calling on their governments: Hear us now.
OXFAMExchange Spring 2006
Challenging Injustice
Oxfam in South America
To their government officials and to the corporations who want to exploit their lands and natural resources, the indigenous and rural people of South America have a simple, yet important message: "We are here."
OXFAMExchange Fall 2002
What's in your coffee? Oxfam's coffee campaign. Plus Afghanistan, Make Trade Fair campaign, and the Hopi people's struggle for clean, safe drinking water.
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Mining conflicts in Peru: Condition critical
Metals, mining, and sustainable development in Central America
An assessment of benefits and costs
Ghana's Big Test
Oil's challenge to democratic development
Corporate Social Responsibility in the Mining Sector in Peru
Golden Rules
Around the world, large-scale metals mining takes an enormous toll on the health of the environment and communities. Gold mining, in particular, is one of the dirtiest industries in the world.
Hidden Treasure?
In search of Mali's gold-mining revenues
Transparency Begins at Home
An assessment of United States revenue transparency and extractive industries transparency initiative requirements
Dirty Metals
Mining, Communities, and the Environment
Tarnished Legacy
A Social and Environmental Analysis of Mali's Syama Goldmine
Investing in Destruction: Glamis Gold
Poverty Reduction or Poverty Exacerbation?
World Bank Group Support for Extractive Industries in Africa
Digging to Development?
A Historical Look at Mining and Economic Development
Extractive Sectors and the Poor
A Proposed Mine in Tambogrande, Peru: An Alternative Look
More research
Oxfam America Organizing Guide
Tips for taking action in your community
Oxfam America House Party Guide
Tools for hosting a high-impact event
Take Action: Protect Community Rights and Resources
Over 60 percent of the world's poorest people live in countries rich in natural resources—but they rarely share in the wealth. Too often, poor communities have no say in the extraction of resources from their land and receive little information about these projects.
More tools for activists
CRUDE Film Screening - Hartford
CRUDE, an independent film by Joe Berlinger, documents a landmark case in the Amazon jungles in Ecuador where indigenous communities are seeking redress from US oil giant Chevron for the alleged contamination of one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
CRUDE Film Screening - Baltimore
CRUDE, an independent film by Joe Berlinger, documents a landmark case in the Amazon jungles in Ecuador where indigenous communities are seeking redress from US oil giant Chevron for the alleged contamination of one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
CRUDE Film Screening - St. Louis
CRUDE, an independent film by Joe Berlinger, documents a landmark case in the Amazon jungles in Ecuador where indigenous communities are seeking redress from US oil giant Chevron for the alleged contamination of one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
CRUDE Film Screening - Cleveland
CRUDE, an independent film by Joe Berlinger, documents a landmark case in the Amazon jungles in Ecuador where indigenous communities are seeking redress from US oil giant Chevron for the alleged contamination of one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
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Open the Books on Corruption
From Oxfam America partner Publish What You Pay, calling for transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries and asking Congress to introduce the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act.
Is mining right for Central America?
Farmers and indigenous people debate the costs and benefits of mining.
Our Land, Our Life
The struggle of Carrie and Mary Dann, two Western Shoshone elders, to address the threat mining development poses to the sacred and environmentally sensitive lands of Crescent Valley, Nevada.
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International Conference on Extractive Industries Contracts

International Conference on Extractive Industries Contracts

September 23, 2009, Washington, DC. House of Sweden, Alfred Nobel Hall, 2900 K Street NW 20007 (30th and K St. NW).

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Following the money in Latin America

Following the money in Latin America

Where revenue from mining and oil comes from—and where it goes—can be hard to determine in Latin America.

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"Africa's future is up to Africans"

"Africa's future is up to Africans"

President Obama's first speech in sub-Saharan Africa hits important points on good governance, responsible use of natural resources, trade, and defeating poverty.

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New coalition to monitor resource revenues in Cambodia

New coalition to monitor resource revenues in Cambodia

Oil and mineral wealth could change the country, and a new watchdog intends to ensure revenues are well spent, and reduce poverty.

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Peru overturns decrees, starts dialogue

Peru overturns decrees, starts dialogue

The government of Peru and indigenous citizens to move from conflict to dialogue on land rights and the best way to consult native people as they work to protect their territory and way of life.

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West Africa asks, "Where is my gold?"

West Africa asks, "Where is my gold?"

Oxfam America and leading civil society organizations in West Africa are launching a week of action aimed at raising public awareness about the mining industry in the region.

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Chile: Struggling for the right to decide

Chile: Struggling for the right to decide

Farmers use the law to defend their water and their rights—but can't block a massive tailings dam.

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President Saca speaks out against mining in El Salvador

President Saca speaks out against mining in El Salvador

El Salvador's President Elias Antonio Saca announced that his government would not give out any mining permits in El Salvador.

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Ghana's president promises disclosure of oil contracts

Ghana's president promises disclosure of oil contracts

Mills takes step toward greater transparency, regulation.

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