Tanzania: Harnessing Resource Wealth for Sustainable Development

Tanzania's Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) is an independent, statutory body created under the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act 2007 to: (i) prevent corruption; (ii) raise public awareness of corruption; and (iii) investigate and prosecute those guilty of corrupt practices. As natural gas and oil developments advance in Tanzania, the PCCB is becoming increasingly engaged in addressing corruption-related issues in the extractives industry.

This Capstone project explores how Tanzania can prevent the ‘resource curse.’ The resource curse is a paradoxical phenomenon characterized by resource-rich countries experiencing slower economic growth than resource-poor countries, as well as suffering from weaker governance and higher social and environmental costs, including more unstable and conflict-ridden societies. The purpose of the final report is to make recommendations to relevant stakeholders on how Tanzania can maximize the benefits from exploitation of its hydrocarbon resources, while minimizing the costs borne by communities and their environment. The Capstone team provided recommendations to the government, companies, international donors, civil society and media organizations on what measures they can take to serve this overall purpose. The report provides a review of the actual and potential impacts of Tanzania’s growing hydrocarbon industry on the country’s economy, society, and natural environment. The focus is on natural gas, with some reference to the emerging oil industry. Natural gas is predicted to rapidly become the primary contributor to Tanzania’s government revenues and chief source of export earnings. The report tackles natural gas and oil development from five angles: (i) the legal framework governing oil and gas; (ii) the natural resource economy; (iii) the environmental impacts of extractive activities; (iv) the social and human rights impacts of extractive activities; and (v) the media landscape.