Video: Getting Our Fair Share from Natural Resources

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June 28, 2013

Too often, people in resource-rich countries are left in poverty even as their governments bring in enormous revenues from the extraction of natural resources. To combat this problem, many countries have adopted the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an international standard that promotes transparency when it comes to collecting revenue from oil, gas, and mineral resources.

Under the EITI standard, companies disclose the payments they have made for natural resources and governments disclose how much they have received. These transactions are independently assessed in an EITI report and publicly shared to create awareness and debate about how a country is managing its resources.

The EITI is a flexible standard under which the government, the industry, and civil society groups in each country collaborate to develop a standard to fit their nation’s needs. Nearly 40 countries have implemented the EITI, contributing to better governance of natural resources across the world.

In the United States, the Project On Government Oversight’s Executive Director Danielle Brian is a member of the EITI federal advisory committee. POGO has reported numerous examples of the U.S. failing to collect natural resource royalties, cheating American taxpayers out of billions of dollars of revenues. Brian and the EITI committee are working to ensure that Americans receive the full benefits of their natural resources, just as citizens worldwide deserve.  

Watch the video above to learn more about the initiative and how it is helping people around the world.

Topics: Energy and Natural Resources

Related Content: Information Access, Oil & Gas Royalty Revenue

Authors: Jana Persky

Project On Government Oversight (POGO)

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Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that champions good government reforms. POGO’s investigations into corruption, misconduct, and conflicts of interest achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.