Conflict Economy International Cooperation and Non Renewable Natural Resources
Publisher: Initiative for Peacebuilding
Author(s): William Godnick, Diana Klein, Camilo González-Posso, Ivan Mendoza, Sebastián Meneses
Date: 2008
Topics: Cooperation, Extractive Resources
Countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
This paper seeks to deepen the understanding of the intersection between the management of non-renewable natural resources and diverse forms of conflict in three countries of the Andean region: Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Each of the three countries is covered in a separate section addressing: a) the political context; b) the status of non-renewable natural resource exploitation and management; c) non-renewable natural resources and conflict; d) institutions and frameworks for dealing with conflict related to non-renewable natural resources, with particular emphasis on voluntary mechanisms involving the private sector; e) the nature of bilateral EU cooperation with each country to see if it is addressing conflicts related to non-renewable natural resources or their root causes; and f) a series of recommendations as to how the EU can improve its assistance to the Andean Community of Nations (Comunidad Andina de Naciones, or CAN) and its member states in these areas.
The European Commission and Europe Aid have initiated a process of addressing the interlinkages between natural resources and conflict globally. In the EU’s initial approach to linking these natural resources and conflict it was found that in its policies conflict prevention has been de-prioritised vis-à-vis crisis management and issues of post-conflict reconstruction. There were also no systematic conflict-sensitive programming approaches in place. The four global challenges identified by the EU – climate change, migration and refugees, energy security and depletion of fish stocks – still fail to get to the heart of the asymmetrical relationships and governance deficit faced by many local communities where non-renewable natural resources are exploited. Although this may seem like a localised problem particular to certain areas, it reflects the major social tension and social conflicts the Andean societies are grappling with, namely the clash of development with the preservation of nature, local economies and human rights protection.