Resource%20security

Environmental security

Resource Curse

Developing countries with natural resource wealth are often plagued with “resource curse” or the “paradox of plenty”:

?economy is so focused on one commodity, it doesn’t diversify

?country becomes import dependent because they don’t develop a manufacturing sector

?especially problematic when resource is nonrenewable and faces decline from 1970-1993, economies of non-oil countries grew 4 times faster than oil countries

? A lot of corruption siphons off profits, but far from only problem: MNCs also to blame

?MNCs can make deals with govt’s to avoid paying taxes which means money doesn’t come back into helping develop country

?Also, debt and repayment cycle leads to need for exploitating resources for maximum cash

?Local people are not usually hired to work in resource exploitation industry (oil in Africa, for example)

?Also, exploitation can severely damage local environment and prevent local population from carrying out other activities to keep economy going,

like agriculture

?Social effects: inequality. Very small elite with access to wealth of resource exploitation. Can lead to armed conflict, civil war.

The majority of people who live in countries with great natural resource wealth in the developing world still experience great poverty, lack of access to

education, infrastructural services, and even, in the case study of Congo,

basic security.

Resource Wars

Fight over resources will be the main cause of geopolitical strife in the post cold-war era. Foreign policy strategically designed to gain control over key resources and trade routes.

Conflict Resources

Resource conflicts are often the underlying causes of tensions and even wars that seem on the surface ethnic or ideological in nature. Profits over the exploitation of these resources go to a small elite while the social and environmental burdens are borne by local communities.

In the case of luxury goods (such as diamonds, tropical hardwoods, ivory, or furs), global consciousness over “conflict resources” is g rowing. Organizations such as the UN can sanction the trade in these commodities. Of course, we all think of oil as perhaps the major/most valuable global commodity that drives nations to conflict. We will see a video about this by Michael Klare on Wednesday 12/3 called “Blood and Oil.”

However, there are a host of other resources that we should take into consideration:

Water

Water requirements are interdependent and water resources cross political boundaries. Political tension over scarce and privatized freshwater (for drinking and irrigation, but also for hydroelectric energy) has already been observed in modern times in South America, Africa, the US, China, India, Australia, and between Israel and Palestine

Land

Desertification (loss of arable agricultural land): Rwanda, Somalia, Ethiopia

Land and water part of “food security”-which, when connected to current

energy/transportation costs) form the basis of the current global food cost crisis Timber

Cambodia, Indonesia, Burma. Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas. Liberia: during the civil war, indiscriminate logging and illegal smuggling of forest products were used to help fund the conflict, leading the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Liberian timber exports. A prominent Dutch timber merchant is

currently on trial in the Netherlands on charges of buying timber from former President Charles Taylor in exchange for shiploads of arms and ammunition. Diamonds, Minerals

High-valued diamonds have fueled conflicts in Sierre Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, the DRC, and Liberia