A Sustainability Index of Mining Countries

This paper discusses the issue of Sustainable Development (SD) in countries having abundant natural resources with the aim of constructing a Sustainability Index of Mining Countries (SIMC). The SIMC is based on the Hartwick (1977) weak sustainability theoretical framework and the Brundtland et al. (1987) vision of SD. The specific studies on mining and Top down/Bottom-up approach allow us to identify five dimensions of sustainability concerning mining countries. These are an economic dimension, a social dimension, an environmental dimension, a transverse dimension and a dimension involving governance, political and institutional issues. Each dimension is declined into measurable indicators and then the indicators are weighted and aggregated. An implementation of the constructed tool with Burkina Faso and Niger data reveals a dichotomy between perceived rents and development indicators. A sensitivity and robustness analysis of the SIMC with other development indicators confirms the strength of the tool.