After the Second World War at least 40 percent of all intrastate conflicts have a link to natural resources and the environment, according to a report launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

The report, entitled “From Conflict to Peacebuilding – The Role of Natural Resources and the Environment”, concludes that peacemaking efforts must focus much more on environmental factors in the future. This statement is based on the many civil wars, e.g. in Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which have centred on resources like timber, diamonds, gold, minerals and oil. Other conflicts, in places like Darfur and the Middle East, have involved control of scarce resources such as fertile land and water. “As the global population continues to rise, and the demand for resources continues to grow, there is significant potential for conflicts over natural resources to intensify in the coming decades”, writes UNEP in a press release.

Moreover, they conclude that climate change seems to aggravate existing tensions and generate new conflict due to its impacts on water availability, food security, prevalence of disease, coastal boundaries, and population distribution.

Rarely the only cause
On the other hand, it is also important to pinpoint that environmental factors are rarely the only cause of a specific conflict. In the complex mix of factors that tend to be prevalent in these contexts UNEP mentions ethnicity, adverse economic conditions, low levels of international trade and conflict in neighbouring countries as significant triggers.

Scarcity of natural resources and environmental degradation can both contribute to the outbreak and perpetuation of violence as well as undermining the prospects for peace. However, the realisation that environmental stress can contribute to violent conflicts also underlines the opposite: their potential as pathways for cooperation, transformation and the consolidation of peace in war-torn societies. “Natural resources and the environment can contribute to peacebuilding through economic development and the generation of employment, while cooperation over the management of shared natural resources provides new opportunities for peacebuilding”, the report states.

Finally, UNEP states that integrating environment and natural resources into peacebuilding is no longer an option – it is a security imperative. Consequently, they recommend that the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the wider international community consider the following key recommendations:
•    Further develop UN capacities for early warning and early action.
•    Improve oversight and protection of natural resources during conflicts.
•    Address natural resources and the environment as part of the peacemaking and peacekeeping process.
•    Include natural resources and environmental issues into integrated peacebuilding strategies.
•    Carefully harness natural resources for economic recovery.
•    Capitalize on the potential for environmental cooperation to contribute to peacebuilding.

(Albaeco, 08/05/2009)