Governance of Natural Resources: Uncovering the Social Purpose of Materials in Nature

The project aimed to analyze the relationship between natural resource governance and societal structure in Asian and African developing countries, and to present Japanese approaches for development assistance in the environmental field. Jin Sato, Associate Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia of the University of Tokyo (the then JICA-RI Visiting Fellow) served as the project leader. Drawing on findings from field surveys, the project examined how systems of governance in resource and environment developed in the course of poor developing countries gaining economic strength; it also analyzed changes as well as interactions among government, private industries, and civil societies.

The study covers a wide range of environmental sectors—minerals, forests and the air—, while target regions range from Cambodia, Thailand, China, the Philippines to Zambia.
The book focuses on political issues arising in the process of nature turning to ‘resource’, along with strategies to tackle the problems in many parts of the world. It includes case studies on Japan as a country experiencing problems of the future for developing countries. The volume also poses questions such as: Under what conditions stakeholders will build cooperation or compete among them over natural resources. It lays out a variety of challenges that parties involved in development aid should consider, because conflicts over water, land and clean air are expected to intensify globally.

Expected readers include practitioners and researchers who are directly involved in development; we also hope that the book will be beneficial as reference materials for those who have great interest in the areas of natural resource and environment governance.

*Please visit the link below for the details of the book.