The Plundered Planet: Why We Must--And How We Can--Manage Nature for Global Prosperity

Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion was greeted as groundbreaking when it appeared in 2007, winning the Estoril Distinguished Book Prize, the Arthur Ross Book Award, and the Lionel Gelber Prize. Now, in The Plundered Planet, Collier builds upon his renowned work on developing countries and the world's poorest populations to confront the global mismanagement of natural resources. Proper stewardship of natural assets and liabilities is a matter of planetary urgency: natural resources have the potential either to transform the poorest countries or to tear them apart, while the carbon emissions and agricultural follies of the developed world could further impoverish them. The Plundered Planet charts a course between unchecked profiteering on the one hand and environmental romanticism on the other to offer realistic and sustainable solutions to dauntingly complex issues. Grounded in a belief in the power of informed citizens, Collier proposes a series of international standards that would help poor countries rich in natural assets better manage those resources, policy changes that would raise world food supply, and a clear-headed approach to climate change that acknowledges the benefits of industrialization while addressing the need for alternatives to carbon trading. Revealing how all of these forces interconnect, The Plundered Planet charts a way forward to avoid the mismanagement of the natural world that threatens our future.

About the Author :
Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University and a former director of Development Research at the World Bank. In addition to the award-winning The Bottom Billion, he is the author of Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places.

Review :
"Paul Collier is a brilliant mind with a keen understanding of the modern world's obstacles to progress. In The Plundered Planet, Collier tackles some of the most difficult questions of our time, and offers an insightful framework for effectively managing our world's natural resources. Collier's book is an important meditation on how we can build a world that is more equal, more sustainable, and more prosperous for all humankind." --President Clinton "Paul Collier has written with great insight about the prospects of the bottom billion. In The Plundered Planet, he addresses himself to the complex opportunities, challenges and risks in managing the planet's natural resources. The bottom billion have a huge stake and an important role in the outcomes. Collier helps us see these issues through their eyes." --Michael Spence, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics "In this path-breaking book, Paul Collier develops one of the most fascinating subjects he touched on in The Bottom Billion -- the resource curse. It will be of great interest to all those who are concerned about the future of our civilization." --George Soros "Paul Collier's 'The Plundered Planet' should not only be read by every one of us but also force-fed to every politician." -- Buffalo News "Read this book."--Sir Nicholas Stern, author of The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change "Collier has made an important contribution in bringing together usually separate fields. His efforts may spark scholars in disparate disciplines to cooperate on these important problems--especially scholars who work at different scales." -Science "A practical handbook for ending world poverty - a must read." -- The Sunday Times "The Plundered Planet is right to highlight the importance of government accountability in addressing poverty and climate change. But it will be the dispersion of power, fuelled by entrepreneurship and innovation, that will ultimately empower individuals to create accountability and solve global problems."--Nature