Summary
The Extractives Hub project supports enhanced energy and mining sectors governance, in particular in Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Afghanistan and Lebanon. This blog examines the gold mining sector in one of these countries, namely Ethiopia. This blog is written collaboratively between Mr Daniel Gilbert, a member of the above project team at the University of Dundee (UK), and Professor Asebe Regassa Debelo, Researcher and founder of the Institute of Indigenous Studies, Dilla University (Ethiopia), where is also served as the Director of the university’s research and dissemination office. This blog focuses on two major themes. On the one hand, there is an increasing demand for gold at global market, which in turn – given the country’s geological natural endowment of rich gold ores, still mostly untouched – makes Ethiopia one of potential destinations for investors. On the other, Ethiopia’s highly contested and fluid mineral rights landscape, its lack of underpinning clear policy frameworks and attendant uncertainty regarding stakeholder dynamics, environmentally friendly and socially inclusive sustainable development, all naturally elicit caution from potential investors.