1st Edition

Conflicts over Natural Resources in the Global South Conceptual Approaches

Edited By Maarten Bavinck, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Erik Mostert Copyright 2014
    224 Pages
    by CRC Press

    224 Pages
    by CRC Press

    Inhabitants of poor, rural areas in the Global South heavily depend on natural resources in their immediate vicinity. Conflicts over and exploitation of these resources – whether it is water, fish, wood fuel, minerals, or land – severely affect their livelihoods. The contributors to this volume leave behind the polarised debate, previously surrounding the relationship between natural resources and conflict, preferring a more nuanced approach that allows for multiple causes at various levels. The contributions cover a wide array of resources, geographical contexts (Africa, Asia and Latin America), and conflict dynamics. Most are of a comparative nature, exploring experiences of conflict as well as cooperation in multiple regions.

    This volume finds its origin in an innovative research programme with the acronym CoCooN, steered by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO/WOTRO) and involving universities and civil society partners in many countries. It presents the conceptual approaches adhered to by each of seven interdisciplinary projects, ranging from green criminology and political ecology to institutional analysis, legal pluralism and identity politics. The volume will be of interest to academics and practitioners concerned with an understanding of conflict as well as cooperation over natural resources.

    1 Introduction
    MAARTEN BAVINCK, ERIK MOSTERT AND LORENZO PELLEGRINI
    1.1 Preliminary remarks
    1.2 The compendium of cases
    1.3 Situating the cases
    1.4 Taking action
    1.5 Ways forward

    2 Conflict and cooperation on natural resources: Justifying the CoCooN programme
    GEORG FRERKS, TON DIETZ AND PIETER VAN DER ZAAG
    2.1 Introduction
    2.2 Conflict and cooperation on natural resources: the academic debates
    2.2.1 From old to new wars
    2.2.2 Greed versus grievance
    2.2.3 Economies of violence
    2.2.4 The present position: an emerging consensus
    2.2.5 Environmental peace building
    2.2.6 Livelihoods
    2.2.7 From scarcity to variability
    2.2.8 Interdependence
    2.3 Conflict and cooperation on natural resources: the policy perspective
    2.3.1 International concerns
    2.3.2 Dutch concerns
    2.3.3 Other approaches
    2.4 Joining science and policy: The CoCooN initiative
    2.4.1 CoCooN’s understanding of conflict
    2.4.2 Creating usable knowledge
    2.4.3 Objectives

    3 New directions in conflict research from an economics perspective
    SYED MANSOOB MURSHED
    3.1 Introduction
    3.2 Conflict and underdevelopment/development
    3.2.1 Causes of conflict risk
    3.2.2 Social contract
    3.2.3 Globalisation and conflict
    3.2.4 Prosperity and violence
    3.3 Natural resource endowments and civil war
    3.4 Localised conflict
    3.5 Sectarian and civilisational conflict
    3.6 Conclusions

    4 How natural is natural? Seeking conceptual clarity over natural resources and conflicts
    MARCEL RUTTEN AND MOSES MWANGI
    4.1 Introduction
    4.2 Lack of conceptual clarity
    4.3 What are natural resources? a literature review
    4.4 What are conflicts?
    4.5 African scholars and natural resource conflicts
    4.6 Politics and natural resource conflicts: the EAPCC conflict case
    4.7 The natural resources – conflicts framework
    4.8 Conclusion

    5 Analysing the role of politics in groundwater management – research in Ethiopia, Palestine and Yemen
    EBEL SMIDT, TAYE ALEMAYEHU, ADEL AL WESHALI, KAREN ASSAF, ABDULLAH BABAQI, D. ABDEL GHAFOUR, ROZEMARIJN TER HORST, FRANK VAN STEENBERGEN, KIFLE WOLDEAREGAY AND OMAR ZAYED
    5.1 Introduction
    5.2 Groundwater and management of commons
    5.3 Conflict and cooperation
    5.4 Case studies: groundwater management in Ethiopia, Palestine and Yemen
    5.5 The role of politics
    5.6 A typology of political states
    5.7 Factors of change
    5.8 Conclusion and discussion

    6 Harms, crimes and natural resource exploitation: A green criminological and human rights perspective on land-use change
    DAMIÁN ZAITCH, TIM BOEKHOUT VAN SOLINGE AND GUDRUN MÜLLER
    6.1 Introduction
    6.2 Crime, harm and criminology
    6.3 Green criminology
    6.4 The human rights-based perspective
    6.5 The Colombian Cauca basin
    6.6 The Brazilian Tapajós basin
    6.7 Conclusion

    7 Property rights, nationalisation and extractive industries in Bolivia and Ecuador
    MURAT ARSEL, CARLOS MENA, LORENZO PELLEGRINI AND ISABELLA RADHUBER
    7.1 Introduction
    7.2 The left turn in Latin America
    7.3 Nationalisation and property rights
    7.4 Bolivia
    7.4.1 Background
    7.4.2 The current legal mining regime
    7.4.3 A comparative analysis of legislations and legal decisions
    7.4.4 Mines, ownership and the role of the state
    7.5 Ecuador
    7.5.1 A comparative analysis of the 2000 and 2009 mining acts
    7.5.2 Mines and ownership
    7.5.3 Mining and land ownership issues
    7.6 Towards a theory of nationalisation and conflict in Bolivia and Ecuador

    8 Engaging legal systems in small-scale gold mining conflicts in three South American countries
    MARJO DE THEIJE, JUDITH KOLEN, MARIEKE HEEMSKERK, CELINE DUIJVES, MARIANA SARMIENTO, ALEXANDRA URÁN, INGRID LOZADA, HELCÍAS AYALA, JORGE PEREA AND ARMIN MATHIS
    8.1 Introduction
    8.2 Engaging legal systems
    8.3 The case of Nieuw Koffiekamp (Suriname)
    8.4 The case of Chocó (Colombia)
    8.5 The case of Tapajós (Pará, Brazil)
    8.6 Conclusion

    9 Theorizing participatory governance in contexts of legal pluralism – a conceptual reconnaissance of fishing conflicts and their resolution
    MAARTEN BAVINCK, MERLE SOWMAN AND AJIT MENON
    9.1 Introduction
    9.2 A theoretical perspective on conflict and its resolution
    9.3 Collective action and the origin of fishing law
    9.4 Industrialisation, globalisation and the refashioning of governance
    9.5 South Asia (Palk Bay)
    9.6 South Africa
    9.7 Comparative framework
    9.8 Concluding remarks

    10 An analytical framework for assessing the impacts of Jatropha Curcas on Local Livelihoods
    JOLEEN A. TIMKO
    10.1 Introduction
    10.2 The analytical framework
    10.2.1 Local people are consulted about potential biofuel projects
    10.2.2 Impacts on local landholdings and land use are minimised
    10.2.3 Household-level socio-economic impacts are addressed
    10.3 What scope for reducing conflicts and enhancing cooperation on Jatropha-related projects?

    11 Challenges in the design of a research and development programme on conflict and cooperation over natural resources
    JAN JOOST KESSLER, HAN VAN DIJK AND WIJNAND VAN IJSSEL
    11.1 Introduction
    11.2 Organisation, expectations and design principles
    11.2.1 Organisation
    11.2.2 Design of the programme
    11.2.3 Definition of expectations and related design principles
    11.3 Initial observations on progress
    11.4 Conclusions and remaining challenges
    Subject index

    Biography

    Maarten Bavinck is associate professor at the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies of the University of Amsterdam, and director of the social-science Centre for Maritime Research (MARE). He specializes on coastal and marine governance and legal pluralism, particularly with regard to South Asia.



    Lorenzo Pellegrini is senior lecturer at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University, and part of the chair group on Economics of Sustainable Development. He has recently authored a volume on Corruption, Development and the Environment (Springer, 2011)



    Erik Mostert is lecturer within the Water Resources Management group of Delft University of Technology. His research focuses on water policy and law, and collaboration processes in water management.