Enhancing EU Resource Governance Interventions: A Call for Prioritising Human Security

This briefing argues that the European Union's (EU) reliance on 'formalisation'—increasing legalisation and transparency—in natural resource governance has failed to improve human wellbeing in producer countries. Using case studies from Sierra Leone's diamond sector and Liberia's forest sector, the author contends that these technocratic approaches often ignore local socio-political contexts and fail to deliver tangible benefits to affected populations. The document calls for the EU to adopt a 'human security' approach, shifting focus from state security to the security of individuals, specifically targeting freedom from want and fear.

• The EU's dominant strategy for natural resource governance in sub-Saharan Africa is 'formalisation', which assumes that increased transparency and legalisation can fix the negative effects of resource abundance. However, critics argue this is often a technocratic 'refurbishment' that leaves predatory practices intact and may actually entrench the advantages of large international businesses over local economies.
• The author proposes replacing formalisation with a 'human security' approach based on UN principles. This framework shifts the focus from state security to individual security, emphasizing seven interrelated areas: economic, personal, political, environmental, health, food, and communal security. Such an approach requires bottom-up, context-specific analysis to address human insecurities.
• In Sierra Leone, formalisation efforts in the diamond sector—including the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) and EITI compliance—increased official exports but failed to legalise illegal production or improve the human security of artisanal miners. Furthermore, large-scale industrial mining has provided negligible national income (royalties for diamonds and gold were 0.1% of GDP in 2016) and has been linked to violent conflict and losses in food and health security due to resettlement.
• Forest sector reforms in Liberia, including a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU, have prioritised the industrial export sector over the domestic timber economy. This has resulted in forest communities signing logging contracts without understanding the procedures, leading to conflicts over boundaries and benefits. Additionally, logging operations are linked to water pollution, food shortages, and increased bush-meat prices.
• The failure of resource reforms in Sierra Leone and Liberia is attributed to three main factors: a lack of people-centred, bottom-up design; a failure to account for specific local contexts (such as colonial legacies and elite capture); and a lack of coordination between different EU policies, which often treats human security as an afterthought.
• The briefing recommends that the EU base the design and evaluation of resource sector reforms on the UN's human security approach. It suggests that the EU should better utilise knowledge of national socio-political and economic structures and streamline the links between its consumer market regulations, international trade support, and bilateral development cooperation.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2019). Enhancing EU Resource Governance Interventions: A Call for Prioritising Human Security. https://saiia.org.za/research/enhancing-eu-resource-governance-interventions-a-call-for-prioritising-human-security/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Enhancing EU Resource Governance Interventions: A Call for Prioritising Human Security. 2019. https://saiia.org.za/research/enhancing-eu-resource-governance-interventions-a-call-for-prioritising-human-security/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Enhancing EU Resource Governance Interventions: A Call for Prioritising Human Security |date=31 May 2019 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/enhancing-eu-resource-governance-interventions-a-call-for-prioritising-human-security/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2019enhancing, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Enhancing EU Resource Governance Interventions: A Call for Prioritising Human Security}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2019}, month = may, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/enhancing-eu-resource-governance-interventions-a-call-for-prioritising-human-security/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }