Research & reports

Investing in Destruction: Glamis Gold

mborum — 2009-06-08T16:21:39Z

A new claim under the investment rules in Chapter 11 of NAFTA has been initiated by Glamis Gold, a Canadian mining company that has demanded $50 million in compensation from the US because of California restrictions on open-pit gold mining. The initiation of the claim reinforces the threats to environmental laws from investment rules, and raises important new issues about risks to indigenous communities.

Poverty Reduction or Poverty Exacerbation?

mborum — 2010-05-19T17:40:07Z

This report examines the World Bank Group’s support for extractive industries (oil, gas, and mining) in Africa over the last 20 years in light of the World Bank's self-proclaimed mission of poverty reduction. It describes the obstacles to using extractive industries as a vehicle for poverty alleviation and sustainable development, and poses a series of research questions related to the role of the World Bank Group in extractive industries.

Cuba: Social Policy at the Crossroads

mborum — 2009-04-30T22:45:30Z

From the beginning of the Cuban revolution in 1959, the model of social development has underscored equity across society and universal access. Full responsibility rests on government to fund and deliver social entitlements. These values have framed the development and implementation of social policy during the last 40 years. During this time Cuba has instituted free and universally accessible health care and education and has built on its formerly weak pension system to develop a universal and government sponsored one.

Cuba's safety net of benefits includes protection of workers' employment and housing, food subsidies, utilities and other necessities, and mechanisms to assist vulnerable families without stigma. The results have been quite positive. Adult literacy is nearly 96%, and schooling rates have risen dramatically. Infant mortality has decreased, drug use and crime are subdued compared with other countries, and youth violence is minimal. Cubans feel these effects in their daily lives, and for many these transformations mean that the revolution is working for them.

Digging to Development?

mborum — 2009-05-28T00:03:52Z

Large scale mining has had serious environmental and social impacts on poor communities around the world. Yet international financial institutions such as the World Bank continue to promote mining in developing countries. They justify this in part on the apparent success rich countries like the US, Canada and Australia have had with mining. This report finds that mining was actually much less important in these countries than the World Bank claims and argues that these countries should not be used as models for developing countries today.

Mugged: Poverty in Your Coffee Cup

mborum — 2009-06-30T22:18:49Z

Over the past five years, the price of coffee has fallen almost 70 percent from a high in 1997, to a 30-year low, in many cases, forcing coffee farming families out of business. Small coffee farmers in developing countries sell their beans for less than they cost to produce. Meanwhile, the largest coffee corporations continue to reap enormous profits.

In this report, Oxfam calls for the major players in the coffee industry to support a Coffee Rescue Plan to overcome the current crisis and create a more stable market. The report analyzes the origins and effects of collapsed coffee prices and urges American consumers to join Oxfam in bringing relief to farmers and a change to the system.

Extractive Sectors and the Poor

mborum — 2009-04-30T23:04:09Z

Developing countries that rely heavily on oil or mineral exports suffer higher rates of poverty and child mortality, and spend more on their militaries than similar countries with more diverse economies, according to a study released today by Oxfam America.

"Extractive Sectors and the Poor" comes on the eve of a new yearlong World Bank review of its oil, gas, and mining investments. The report contests the conventional economic wisdom that developing nations prosper by extracting and exporting their oil and mineral wealth.

A Proposed Mine in Tambogrande, Peru: An Alternative Look

mborum — 2009-04-30T22:08:36Z

The proposed Tambo Grande mining project in northern Peru offers a stark illustration of the problems associated with large-scale mining operations in an era of deregulation and globalization. The town of Tambogrande is poor, isolated and in the heart of Peru's "El Niño" zone. It sits directly atop a major gold, zinc and copper deposit that Manhattan Minerals, a small Canadian mining multinational, is seeking to develop into an open-pit mine. Projected impacts of the mine could be severe. Construction of the mine would require the relocation of an estimated 8,000 inhabitants of a total population of between 14,000 and 16,000 people and the diversion of a local river. The project could also have significant impacts on agricultural production in the area. Tambogrande farmers are Peru's principal mango exporters and the area has become one of Peru's leading agricultural centers thanks to major investment in irrigation systems, some of it provided by the World Bank.

Concerned by the proposed relocation and by threats to their agriculturally based livelihoods, local populations have mounted significant resistance to the project. On February 27 and 28, 2001, an estimated 10,000 people participated in blocking road access to the exploration site. A recent initiative collected approximately 28,000 notarized signatures of individuals in the Tambogrande district, of approximately 37,000 eligible voters, who are opposed to the mine. Tambogrande's Mayor and local Archbishop have called for the project not to go forward, citing not only the potential environmental impacts, but the mine's
disruptive social impacts, already evident in the exploration phase due to the tense environment of distrust and conflict that exists in the area. The archbishop has called the project "socially unviable." These actions represent significant opposition to the proposed mine by affected citizens and community leaders.

Manhattan Minerals, a mining "junior" with no previous experience operating a mine of this size, and no other current projects, rode into Peru on the wave of the country’s recent mining boom. With the privatization of Peru's mining sector in the early 1990s, foreign investment in the sector has exploded over the past decade. From 1992 to 1997, the volume of mining operations in Peru tripled from 30,000 to 100,000 metric tons of minerals per day. Land area devoted to exploration and extraction increased from 4 million to 18 million hectares between 1992 and 1998. According to the Financial Times, Peru has had South America's highest rate of exploration success in recent years, driving Latin America's emergence as the most popular continent for new mining projects. The Tambo Grande project is located in the department of Piura, a department that up until now has not been known for mining, but rather agriculture. Manhattan's operation may open the door to the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of hectares currently under concession in Piura. The impact on traditional agricultural livelihoods, from which the vast majority of Piurans draw sustenance and income, could be significant.

Up In Arms: Controlling The International Trade In Small Arms

mborum — 2009-06-30T22:20:10Z

An Oxfam International paper for the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

The Human Cost of Small Arms

mborum — 2009-06-30T22:20:57Z

An Oxfam International paper for the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

Cuba: Going Against the Grain

Minor Sinclair and Martha Thompson — 2009-04-30T22:42:46Z

A new Oxfam America report looks at how Cuba has successfully turned a severe food crisis into a sustained recovery in food production. Through a combination of sweeping reforms and innovations in ecological agriculture, Cuba's countryside has changed dramatically.