'No More Exploitation. No More Plundering' - UN Secretary-General on Natural Resource Governance

As global demand surges for critical minerals, local communities must also benefit from the economic and livelihood opportunities they confer. The UN is working with national and community partners across the world to ensure critical minerals translate to jobs, skills and local gains. Addressing the Security Council, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for accountability and sustainable practices as countries leverage this possibility for growth.

I thank the Democratic Republic of the Congo for its leadership on the important issue that brings us here today.

Across our world, the control and exploitation of natural resources are dramatically altering the causes, dynamics, and outcomes of conflict.

Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements are gaining in strategic importance.

Surging demand from global markets is creating vital opportunities to advance development in producing countries.

But it is also driving intense geopolitical competition, putting pressure on concentrated supply chains, and fuelling conflict – with dire humanitarian consequences.

All too often, revenues from illicit exploitation of natural resources are pushing peace out of reach.

By strengthening armed and criminal actors. Connecting local violence to regional and international networks. And weakening incentives for political compromise.

We see it in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where armed groups have reaped the benefits of illegal mining and mineral smuggling – and civilians have paid the price of ongoing conflict – as noted in successive reports from the Group of Experts mandated by this Council.

And we see it in Sudan, where a bitter fight for political and territorial dominance has been fuelled by the exploitation of natural resources – notably gold and gum arabic – leading to atrocities and displacing millions.

Everywhere, the greatest burden falls on the least powerful: women and children, and communities displaced from the land that holds the wealth.

That is why today’s open debate is so timely.

Madam President,

The Security Council has long recognized that illicit trade and exploitation of natural resources play a significant role in financing armed groups, fuelling conflicts, and aggravating humanitarian crises.

And you have taken action to cut off these flows.

With mandates for relevant UN peace operations to support national authorities in curbing illicit exploitation by armed groups;

Calls for stronger accountability of regional and international actors;

And the adoption of sanctions regimes – notably concerning the DRC, Libya, and Al-Shabaab – to curtail the illicit trade of natural resources and prevent revenues from fuelling violence.

I commend the panels and group of experts supporting you in these efforts:

By documenting violations. Tracing supply chains. And identifying the commercial and financial networks armed actors used to generate revenue.

This knowledge must inform our search for solutions.

Excellencies,

Looking ahead, I see four urgent priorities:

First – justice.

We must ensure mineral development delivers fair and sustainable outcomes for resource-endowed countries and communities.

It is time to break the age-old pattern – where resources are extracted, value is captured elsewhere, and impoverished communities are left behind to cope with the environmental and socioeconomic damage.

And it is time to close the gap between a State’s recognized sovereignty over its natural resources, and its sovereign rights in practice.

Nowhere is this sovereignty deficit wider than in Africa, where the enduring consequences of colonialism, coupled with governance challenges, put States at a steep disadvantage when seeking to capture or reinvest the value that lies in their natural resources.

The UN Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals shows some of the ways we can shift this dynamic:

Through responsible investing. Fair value chains. In-country processing and manufacturing. Transparency. Environmental and human rights standards. And meaningful benefits for affected communities.

Countries and communities must benefit – first and most – from the resources in their own backyard.

That is why the United Nations is supporting national authorities to strengthen governance and institutions, improve regulatory frameworks, and ensure minerals contribute to development and peacebuilding.

We are supporting efforts to strengthen national capacity to negotiate equitable mining agreements, expand domestic processing and refining, manage public revenues, and mitigate adverse social and environmental impacts.

The UN Environment Programme and the UN Economic Commission for Africa are helping advance these efforts in the DRC, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia with financing from the Joint SDG Fund.

Second – prevention.

We must curb illicit flows and strengthen transparency across mineral supply chains.

Natural resources are often extracted in one country, transported through another, processed elsewhere, and ultimately sold on global markets.

Effective action must address the full value chain – not just the point of extraction.

Cooperation among producing, transit, and consuming States is vital in closing regulatory and enforcement gaps.

International and regional organizations, financial institutions, and industry all have an important role to play – as seen in last week’s announcement that the European Union will ban the purchase, import, and transfer of gold from Sudan, and to ban exports to Sudan of mercury and cyanide that feed its extraction.

Together, they can help prevent illicitly sourced resources from entering legitimate markets – through enforceable legal frameworks and stronger traceability, due diligence, and information-sharing.

At the same time, we need stronger regional cooperation to narrow the gaps between national systems that armed groups and criminal networks exploit.

Third – peaceful settlement of disputes.

We must make greater use of the tools outlined in Chapter VI of the Charter – which I will discuss here in greater detail tomorrow – including when disputes over natural resources affect the prospects for peace.

Questions of access, ownership, territorial control, revenue-sharing, and local benefits are often political issues, not merely technical ones.

Where they materially shape the interests of the parties or the viability of an agreement, they should inform political analysis and peaceful means of settling disputes, including good offices and mediation.

This can help identify workable arrangements, address incentives for continued conflict, and create areas of cooperation in support of a wider political settlement.

And fourth – climate.

We must ensure that preventive and political efforts take climate analysis into account.

Drought, flooding, environmental degradation, and ecosystem loss often reduce access to land, water, and minerals.

And when that happens, the ripple effects can cut off livelihoods, strain institutions, heighten tensions, and even spark violence.

That is why we are supporting national and regional partners in identifying where environmental pressures, displacement, and competition over natural resources may compound existing grievances – and where early engagement could help prevent escalation.

The UN Regional Office for Central Africa, for example, is integrating climate, peace, and security analysis into early warning and planning in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, and the DRC.

And in Abyei, UNEP, the Office of the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, and UNISFA are supporting locally led peacebuilding in a context where environmental degradation and climate-related pressures compound protracted political tensions.

Engagement around the management of shared natural resources has created practical entry points for dialogue, cooperation, and confidence-building.

Madam President,

The challenge is to transform the way natural resources are extracted, processed, brought to market, and put to use – guaranteeing that much more added value is retained by producing countries and affected communities.

No more exploitation. No more plundering.

And we must deny armed groups and criminal networks the revenues that fuel protracted conflicts.

If we fail to act, the illicit exploitation of natural resources will continue to drive inequality, instability, and violence.

Instead, they must be managed in ways that help finance inclusive and sustainable development, strengthen institutions, and advance peace and prosperity for all.

Ultimately, this is a political choice.

And I urge you, as members of this Council, to choose peace.

Thank you.

These remarks were delivered to the UN Security Council.