• Energy Research

The implementation of good practice in the natural resource management processes is crucial to the economic development of many countries. Well managed resources can bring high financial rewards and benefit the entire country, while poor resource management can lead to severe social and economic consequences. The allocation of licenses for the exploration and development of the natural resources is of particular importance in establishing good management and ensuring the accrual of benefits to the country. In this paper we identify an analytic framework for establishing the most suitable license allocation approach in any context, and apply this to five case studies. From this application we draw conclusions regarding best practice and identify the policy implications of this discussion.

Adopting a qualitative case study approach of a renewable energy company in South Africa, the research investigated community engagement within the tripartite relationship of a wind farm, the communities, and the local government. It was found that local government played a moderating role in the community engagement efforts of the wind farm which had to comply with certain engagement protocols determined by local government. Local government also played a mediating role in corporate community engagement, as the wind farm developed their engagement strategy in alignment with local government’s policies and acted as a ‘dot-connector’ between local government and communities. The wind farm played a reciprocal mediating role on local government’s own engagement with their communities in the face of local government’s inefficiencies and complemented service delivery outcomes. The wind farm’s engagement strategy thus enabled local development which was appreciated by communities and local government.