Video Lesson

Lesson Objectives

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Examine the causes of resource conflict,
• Describe the consequences of resource conflict,
• Explain conflict resolving methods

Brainstorming Questions

• What are the causes of resource conflict?
• What are conflict handling strategies?

Dear Online Learner! In recent years, the scope and magnitude of natural resource conflicts have increased and intensified.

These conflicts, if not addressed, can escalate into violence and cause environmental degradation and deterioration of livelihoods.

Keywords

• Arbitration
• Causes
• Consequences
• Resource conflict
• Negotiation

 Sources and areas of resource conflict

Dear Online Learner! At a wider scope, four kinds of resource conflicts occur as a general challenge to national stability:

• Secessionist conflicts in which resource-rich regions seek to split away from the rest of a country;
• Disputes over resources as part of new national laws and conventions;
•  Grievances over standalone projects such as mines and hydroelectric dams; and
• Cumulative impacts of multiple small-scale clashes, typically over land, livestock,

Disputes over the control, ownership and use of natural resources exist all over the world. Some 40–60 % of the civil wars during the past six decades have been instigated by natural resources.

Typical examples:

Water and pasture shortages for instance cause conflicts in many areas of the world. See examples:

• Protests in Pakistan and Bolivia;
• Conflicts in China (in the Shandong & Guangdong Provinces in 2000),
• In Darfur (Sudan), for instance, much of the fighting was due to water scarcity.
• Between Nile riparian countries over the use of Nile water,
• Pasture land conflict: in Ethiopia (between Somali and Afar pastoralists),
• In Afghanistan, the main causes for village-level clashes in 2008 were arising from the use of land and irrigation water.

Caused by Fish

• Fishing disputes led to “cod wars” between UK and Iceland in the 1950s & 1970s.

Caused by land

• Ecuador and Peru have fought several wars over their disputed border,
• Violent conflict in China, East Timor, Kosovo,
• Rwanda, and Tajikistan,
• Between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia,
•  India and Pakistan (over Kashmir);
• Ethiopia and Sudan, and many other countries.

Caused by Timber

• Conflicts over the exploitation of timber are available in Burma, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Liberia.

Caused by Fuel

• Moreover, the world’s largest petroleum reserves located in Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Sudan are facing ardent conflicts.
• Natural Oil in the Middle East caused the Gulf war between Kuwait and Iraq.
• In Africa, between Cameroon and Nigeria.

Caused by Precious stones (minerals)

• Diamonds in Western and Central Africa: have been used by several rebel groups as a source of income. The Angola National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and Sierra Leone [Revolutionary United Front (RUF)] in the late 1990s; as well as the rebel groups in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo used such minerals for their rebel objectives,
• Amber in Russia, and Gold in Indonesia

Forms of Resource Conflict Expressions

• Through breaking rules,
• By the acts of sabotage and violence,
• Sometimes conflicts remain hidden or latent,
• People may allow grievances to rage because of fear,
• By showing distrust, and etc.

Actors of Resource Conflict

• Local people in the homesteads over the use of nearby resources,
• Neighboring communities over the control of woodland, Villages,
• Community-based organizations,
• Domestic and multinational businesses,
• Governments
• International development agencies, and
• NGOs over the use and management of large forest tracts.

Conflict handling strategies

• Avoidance: acting in ways to keep a conflict from becoming publicly acknowledged,
• Coercion: threatening or using force to impose one’s will,
• Negotiation: following a voluntary process in which parties reach an agreement through consent,
• Arbitration: submitting a conflict to a mutually agreeable third party who renders a decision,
• Mediation: using a third party to facilitate the negotiation process (a mediator lacks the authority to impose a solution),
• Adjudication: relying on a judge or administrator to make a binding decision