Toward a Sustainable Future: Assessing the Impact of Extractive Industries on Sustainable Development in Africa

Mining in Africa has contributed to significant economic growth in some countries. Indeed, these sectors have held the promise of raising incomes and living standards for citizens of resource-rich countries the world over. Numerous African countries today increasingly finance their development through resource extraction. For a continent endowed with a seemingly endless bounty of resources, the allure of rapid economic growth and development funded solely by proceeds from resource extraction have led many African governments to ignore the pitfalls of these industries and become resource-dependent nations. Consequently, the lack of effective strategies, legal frameworks and policies to negotiate, regulate and enforce extraction contracts in transparent and accountable ways have left many African countries unable to take full advantage of their natural wealth. Moreover, the failure of some to insist upon environmentally and socially sustainable resource extraction has spawned a host of associated problems: environmental degradation, volatile economic growth, limited job creation, violent conflicts, endemic poverty, health problems and corruption. These adverse outcomes, however, are not inevitable. Indeed, some African countries have managed to beat the resource curse, using the proceeds from extractive industries to diversify their economies and invest in their human, social, physical and financial capital. This paper thus seeks to assess the successes and failures of African governments to utilize their resources sustainably. It draws upon the experiences of Nigeria, Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa to document the strides Africa has made toward sustainable development. Using the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a backdrop, the paper further seeks to assess the challenges many African governments still face and the effective strategies and legal frameworks that may be adopted with regard to the exploitation and extraction of Africa’s mineral resources.