Abstract

Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre 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.

In The Plundered Planet (released 6 May 2010), Collier builds upon his renowned work on developing countries and the poorest populations to confront the global mismanagement of nature. 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 these are all interconnected, Professor Collier will discuss a way forward to avoid the mismanagement of the natural world that threatens our future.