Abstract

Governments have committed to halve world poverty by 2015 and also collectively acknowledged that millions of the world's poorest people, especially women, are completely reliant on access to natural resources for their livelihoods. But there is also evidence to show that liberalizing natural resource sectors is likely to deplete those resources and restrict women's and men's access to them. Ronnie Hall suggests that integrated policy-making requires that natural resources be removed from trade liberalization negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and elsewhere, to prevent a further escalation of poverty.