Natural resources within the Union of South American Nations: status and trends for a regional development agenda

This publication identifies the different legal and economic instruments which States invoke in order to assert ownership of and distribute the revenue derived from the exploitation of mineral, water and hydrocarbon resources. These instruments include: legislation and special regulations; sectoral planning policies and regimes for public-private partnerships for investment and development; institutions created for regulatory purposes, mechanisms for the control and distribution of revenue from natural resources between levels of government; direct participation in the development of resources through public enterprises; public management and mechanisms for the resolution of socioenvironmental conflicts in mining sectors; creation of targeted public savings and investment funds (geared to investment in education, innovation and development, among others) and macrofiscal stabilization funds, as well as support for countercyclical macroeconomic management in response to cyclical fluctuations in the international prices for natural resource exports.