Resource war
A resource war is a type of war caused by conflict over resources. In a resource war, there is typically a nation or group that controls the resource and an aggressor that wishes to seize control over said resource. This power dynamic between nations has been a significant underlying factor in conflicts since the late 19th century.[1] Following the rise of industrialization, the amount of raw materials an industrialized nation uses to sustain its activities is heightened.[2]
History
Chincha Islands War
One of the most prolific examples of resource war in history is the conflict over Chincha Island guano in the late 19th century. The Chincha Islands of Peru are situated off of the southern coast of Peru, where many seabirds were known to roost and prey on fish brought there by the currents of the Pacific Ocean.[3] The guano of these seabirds is incredibly dense in nutrients and became a sought-after resource as a fertilizer.[4] Soil that was nutrient rich allowed for higher crop yields, which subsequently translated to better sustenance of the population and overall improved economic performance. Known colloquially as "white gold", guano from the Chincha Islands began to catch the interest of Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other industrial powers at the time.[5]
The international interest for that resource resulting in a number of conflicts including the Chincha Islands War between Spain and Peru and the War of the Pacific between Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.[6] Although the primary inciting force of the conflict originated over possession of the nutrient-rich guano, Spain also attempted to exercise prior colonial control over Peru during its aggressions during this conflict. The Chincha Islands guano became a resource of imperialism with foreign nations inciting conflict and establishing dominion over it. In 1856, United States President Franklin Pierce passed the Guano Islands Act with the exclusive purpose of addressing American scarcity over guano.[7] Under the Guano Islands Act, any piece of uninhabited land that harbors a guano deposit could be claimed as a territory of the United States to extract the resource.[8] The legislation acted as a workaround for the United States to access Peruvian seabird guano since direct trade was not an option because of a treaty between Peru and the United Kingdom.[6]
Perspectives
Geopolitical
Under the
Environmental security
Also known as the environmental scarcity or political economy, the environmental security perspective interprets resource conflict as a response to resource scarcity. A notable proponent of the environmental security perspective is Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon, a Canadian political scientist and professor at the University of Waterloo. The work of Homer-Dixon focuses on two different phenomena regarding the effect of resources on violent conflict: resource scarcity and resource abundance. Under the environmental security perspective, resource scarcity perpetuates conflict by inciting pressures on a society that is dealing with resource deprivation. According to Homer-Dixon, populations struggling with resource scarcity are also impacted by overpopulation and inequitable resource allocation.[10] Overpopulation and inequitable resource allocation can make resource scarcity even more pronounced, creating a cyclical instability in the society.[10]
Conversely, countries with natural resource abundance are impacted in a different way. Countries that are wealthy in resources have been shown to have disproportionate economic growth, less democracy, and overall insufficient development outcomes.[11] This permeates from an overdependence on their resource from an economic standpoint, where authoritarian traits may begin to take effect.[10] This creates pressure on the citizens as a whole due to undermined governance of the nation and volatile economic state if the resource fluctuates heavily in price.[12] This phenomenon is known as the resource curse.
Conflict resources
Conflict resources are
History
The concept of "conflict resource", or "conflict commodity" emerged in the late 1990s, initially in relation to the "blood diamonds" that were financing rebellions in Angola and Sierra Leone.[18] Then "conflict timber" financed hostilities in Cambodia and Liberia.[19]
Conventions
The concept was first officially discussed by the
Since 1996 the
(Indonesia).Legal frameworks
Several countries and organizations, including the United States, European Union, and OECD have designated tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold connected to conflict in the DRC as conflict minerals and legally require companies to report trade or use of conflict minerals as a way to reduce incentives for armed groups to extract and fight over the minerals.
Supporting external conflicts
In the 2020s, the concept of conflict minerals was extended to those mined to support conflicts in parts of the world other than where the mining takes place. The Wagner Group has been granted mining rights in the Central African Republic in return for securing the continuity of the government. This "blood gold" is then sold to support Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian War.[23] Wagner also has gold-related operations in Mali and Sudan.[24]
See also
- Oil war
- Petro-aggression
- Resource curse
- Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- Water conflict
References
- ISSN 0033-5533.
- ^ Bakeless, John (1921). The Economic Causes of Modern War: A Study of the Period: 1878-1918. New York: Moffat, Yard, and Company.
- ^ "The Hard Workers of the Peruvian Guano (The Chincha Islands), 2014". Agence VU'. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
- ^ Durfee, Nell (2018-04-27). "Holy Crap! A Trip to the World's Largest Guano-Producing Islands". Audubon. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
- ^ Mancini, Mark (2015-08-12). "How an Old Bird Poop Law Can Help You Claim an Island". Mental Floss. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
- ^ a b Brazeau, Mark (2018-04-04). "Remember the Guano Wars". The Breakthrough Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
- ^ Cornell Law School. "48 U.S. COde Chapter 8- GUANO ISLANDS". Legal Information Institute.
- – via Wiley.
- ^ S2CID 154212598.
- S2CID 233539488.
- S2CID 59417490.
- ^ p.8, Conflict and Development: Peacebuilding and Post-conflict Resolution; Sixth Report of Session 2005–06, Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee, The Stationery Office, 2006
- ^ Philippe Le Billon, "Fuelling War: Natural Resources and Armed Conflicts", Adelphi Paper 373, IISS & Routledge, 2006.
- ^ Michael Ross,"How Do Natural Resources Influence Civil War? Evidence from Thirteen Cases", International Organization, 2004.
- ^ James Fearon and David lotinakin "Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War" American Political Science Review, 2003.
- S2CID 154968679.
- Democratic Republic of Congo, we have a duty to ensure that we are doing as much as we can.
- ^ "Liberian 'conflict' timber faces trade ban". Greenpeace UK. 7 May 2003. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ UNGA Resolution 55/56 (2001) Archived 2006-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 9781783476091.
- ^ Accessible through "the BICC Resource Conflict Monitor". Archived from the original on 2011-01-22. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
- ^ Scott Detrow; Emma Klein; Tinbete Ermyas (December 27, 2023). "How 'blood gold' from Africa is funding Russia's war on Ukraine". NPR.
- ^ "The Blood Gold Report". Retrieved March 2, 2024.