Conflicts over Natural Resources and the Environment: Economics and Security
Publisher: School of Economics, The University of Queensland
Author(s): Clevo Wilson and Clem Tisdell
Date: 2003
Topics: Conflict Causes, Governance, Renewable Resources
Countries: Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam
The existence of natural resources has given rise to conflicts in many parts of the world (cf. Klare, 2001a,b; Homer-Dixon, 1999; Ghee and Valencia, 1990). As the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987, p.290) points out, “nations have often fought to assert or resist control over war materials, energy supplies, land, river basins, sea passages and other key environmental resources”. Malaquias (2001) observes that it is “not accidental that some of the nastiest wars in Africa are being fought in countries richly endowed with natural resources”. While there are no parallel cases in East and Southeast Asia to match the intensity and magnitude of the conflicts in some African countries, many conflicts that have arisen either directly or indirectly over the control and use of natural resources (cf. Tan and Boutin, 2001; Ghee and Valencia, 1990). The existence of rich natural resources in parts of countries, especially in large countries and with weak provincial administrative structures in some instances, could contribute to or even be a major cause for calls for separation or breakaway in some countries.