All countries are affected by changes in the use of natural resources, and search for better management practices for their own resources and those of the global commons. Resources such as water and biodiversity that form the global commons are critical to environmental health, but they are also difficult to manage on a global scale.

Natural resources are distinguished by their renewability and ownership regimes. Renewable resources include forests, fisheries and wildlife. Exhaustible resources include minerals that can only be replenished over geologic time. Ownership regimes frequently dictate the rate at which natural resources are degraded, with open-access regimes often leading to the highest levels of degradation.

The use of natural resources also poses difficult social and distributive questions. Poverty can lead to unsustainable use and environmental degradation, and threatens fragile ecosystems. The poor suffer disproportionately from over-exploitation and degradation of resources, yet they lack sufficient political or economic representation.

Well-structured market instruments are key elements in natural resource management for both social and ecological benefits. The Working Party on Global and Structural Policy (WPGSP) is coordinating work with other OECD groups and international organizations aimed at enhancing economic policies that foster the sustainable use of natural resources.