Valuable natural resources, such as oil, gemstones, and timber, should provide opportunities for countries and peoples to escape poverty.

Paradoxically, evidence shows that the opposite has often been the case.

This project examines how information disclosure about natural resource revenue management can improve accountability in revenue spending, transforming natural resource riches in developing countries into a blessing rather than a curse. 
​Recent publications
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa Nanang Kurniawan, Päivi Lujala, Primi Putri, Sabrina Scherzer and Indah Wardhani 2025. The right to benefit: Using videos to encourage citizen involvement in resource revenue management. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (in press). Repliaction data
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa, Ishmael Edjekumhene, Päivi Lujala and Sabrina Scherzer 2025. “You need to have this information!”: Using videos to increase demand for accountability on public revenue management. World Development 186: 106813. Open access; Replication data
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa, Päivi Lujala, Primi Putri, Sabrina Scherzer and Indah Wardhani 2025. When petroleum revenue transparency policy meets citizen engagement reality: Survey evidence from Indonesia. Ecological Economics 230: 108529. Open access; Replication data
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa, Deanna Karapetyan and Päivi Lujala 2024. Opportunities and risks of small-scale and artisanal gold mining for local communities: Survey evidence from Ghana. Extractive Industries and Society 17: 101403. Open access; Replication data
  • Putri, Primi and Päivi Lujala 2023. Assessing the Transformative Potential of Extractive Sector Transparency Initiatives: Evidence from Local Oil Revenue Management in Indonesia. Journal of Development Studies 59(12): 1787-1806. Open access 
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa and Päivi Lujala 2023. Contribution to the Dictionary of Ecological Economics (eds. Brent M. Haddad and Barry D. Solomon). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Entries: Accountability, Transparency.
  • Kurniawan, Nanang, Päivi Lujala and Ståle A. Rye 2023. Negotiating inclusion and exclusion in artisanal oil extraction: The case of two villages in East Java, Indonesia. In Beyond Binaries of Exclusion and Inclusion in Natural Resource Extraction, Stephanie Postar, Negar Elodie Behzadi and Nina Nikola Doering (eds). London: Rowman & Littlefield. pp 245- 258. 
  • Lujala, Päivi, Ashley Hooper and Maureen J. Purcell 2022. The Environmental Spoils of War. In Routledge Handbook of Environmental Security, Richard Matthew Evgenia Nizkorodov and Crystal Murphy (eds.). New York: Routledge. Pp 115-127.  
  • Kasimba, Sam A. and Päivi Lujala 2022. Community based participatory governance platforms and sharing of mining benefits: evidence from Ghana. Community Development Journal 57(4): 635–654. Open access
  • Kurniawan, Nanang Indra, Päivi Lujala, Ståle Angen Rye and Diana Vela-Almeida 2022. The role of local participation in the governance of natural resource extraction. Extractive Industries and Society 9: 101029. Open access
Project period 
2017-2025

Funding 
Academy of Finland and project partners

Contact 
Professor Päivi Lujala paivi.lujala(at)oulu.fi

Related projects
CitRes
TrAcRevenues​
Environmental Peacebuilding​