Conflict and Environment Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The definition of the term conflict is not so straightforward. Conflict can be defind as an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals) or as a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of war. The term conflict, as has been used in political science, sociology, anthropology, and psychology, refers to tension, which may explode into full-fledged violence, hostility, and insecurity. Conflict among humans is nothing new; it has always existed from antiquity to the present in one form or another.

In the context of society and environment, it is believed that dwindling natural resources have fueled conflict between members of different groups throughout the world. Many see environmental disruption in its all manifestations-global warming, soil depletion, desertification, water and air pollution, etc.-as a possible cause of future conflict. The most often quoted theorist on the relationship between population and resources is Thomas Malthus who first wrote his Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798. Malthus argued that in nature, plants and animals produce far more offspring than can survive, and that man, too, is capable of overproducing if left unchecked. His conclusion was that unless family size for the poor was regulated, man would experience misery, vice (conflict), and famine, which would put population growth in check. His propositions that poverty and famine were natural outcomes of population growth and food supply have been heavily criticized in the scholarly community. Nevertheless, his ideas continue to be influential as far as the link between population, resources, and conflict is concerned. Ideas of influential scholars such as Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and modern day neo-Malthusians such as Paul R. Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, have their foundation in the Malthus principle of population growth.

Political Change and Violence

In recent decades there has been a spurt of models advanced by neo-Malthusian scholars, in which they attempt to link population and economics to a third variable, political change, and political violence, and to show how the variables interact. The 1994 work of Robert Kaplan, the 1994 and 1999 works of Thomas Homer-Dixon, and the 2002 work of Michael Dobkowski and Isidor Wallimann are recent examples that attempt to link population variables to conflict for resources. In these works, the argument is that natural resources help fuel conflict, either by attracting predatory groups seeking to control them or by financing wars that were initially caused by other factors. The ongoing conflicts in Sierra Leone, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Rwanda are explained in these terms. Conflicts have also flared in areas where the benefits of mining and logging projects accrue to a small group of elites, while the social and environmental burdens are borne by local communities. Excellent examples of such conflict include oil in Columbia and the Niger Delta in Nigeria, and timber and natural gas in Indonesia.

Violence and Destruction

When conflict escalates into violence, many lives are lost and the environment and natural resources also suffer in various ways. As Michael Renner points out in his 2002 article, “The Anatomy of Resource Wars,” governments, rebels, and warlords have made billions of dollars by selling conflict commodities and have used the money to arm themselves and line their own pockets. The cost of these conflicts in human toll has been unprecedented with more than five million people killed during the 1990s, and as many as 20 million driven from their homes. There has also been considerable environmental destruction in conflict hot spots. Mozambique and Angola are two examples of the worst affected countries in the world due to conflict during the period 1970-2000. The effects of this conflict are still being felt long after the guns have gone silent. Angola and Mozambique are the most landmine-afflicted countries in Africa, with land mines laid over decades by the Portuguese, South African, Cuban, Angolan, and Mozambican government forces, and the rebel groups of UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambique. In both countries, millions died and millions were displaced as refugees in surrounding countries during the course of the conflict.

Angola and Mozambique are also excellent examples of how land mines were deployed to degrade the environment, making them an environmental and health problem. Most of the land mines in Angola were laid on paths used by civilians to go to fields, schools, markets, and medical centers. The second major area of landmine injuries is along roadsides where land mines target people who leave the road to take a shortcut or to rest. Built-up areas have not been spared, and the spate of landmine casualties has resulted in the desertion of villages. Land mines were also planted on riverbanks, especially around bridges and along or on railroad tracks, to disable trains and target people who use the tracks or embankments as footpaths. To kill elephants for ivory, poachers-many of them belonging to the fighting factions-often laid antitank mines on elephant paths. The whole business of laying mines in Angola and Mozambique has affected not only the fighting factions, but also the civilians, particularly children and women. Land mines affect a large portion of the population, with 80,000 amputees in Angola alone and an ever-expanding number of victims under the age of 15.

Warfare exacts a toll on natural ecosystems and resources as well as on human populations. Environmental damage associated with conflict, including disruption of agriculture and infrastructure, is a cost of war that may hinder a nation’s ability to recover after hostilities have ceased, as illustrated amply by the cases of Angola and Mozambique. Since the end of World War II in the 1940s, there have been numerous conflicts throughout the world, particularly in the developing world. There is general agreement that there is a great need to understand why violence occurs and how future conflicts could be prevented. It should be understood that the root causes of conflicts are complex and cannot be reduced to Malthusian principles alone; there is the interplay between political, economic, and historical factors, which ultimately result in civil war and the failure of states as illustrated in the conflicts in Somalia, Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and elsewhere in the world.

It is important to note that the debate about the extent to which abundant or scarce natural resources contribute to fueling conflict is ongoing and quite intense. It is a fact that throughout history, countries have fought over resources. In various parts of the world, conflicts have erupted over fishing rights, oil, diamonds, and access to water and other resources. In the case of water, many major rivers cross international boundaries, making water a precious commodity in semi-arid environments such as the Sudan and Egypt through which the Nile River passes. Overuse of the Nile waters in source areas such as Ethiopia, Uganda, and the Sudan, may jeopardize Egypt’s water needs, which might result in interstate warfare. Generally, the common denominator of resource conflicts has been the presence of greedy elites monopolizing the resources or one ethnic group or nationality taking more than its fair share of a commodity that transcends international boundaries. Experts agree that equitable access to natural resources essential for life, stable political institutions, and peaceful international agreements are crucial for a secure future.

Bibliography:

Daniel Chirot and Martin E. P. Seligman, Ethnopolitical Warfare: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions (American Psychological Association, 2001);
Michael N. Dobkowski and Isidor Wallimann, On the Edge of Scarcity: Environment, Resources, Population, Sustainability, and Conflict (Syracuse University Press, 2002);
Kurt Finsterbusch and George McKenna, Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Social Issues (Dushkin Publishing Group, 1994);
Thomas F. Homer-Dixon, “Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict,” International Security (v.19, 1994);
Thomas F. Homer-Dixon, Environment, Scarcity, and Violence (Princeton University Press, 1999); Robert D. Kaplan, “The Coming Anarchy,” Atlantic Monthly (v. 273, 1994);
Joseph R. Oppong and Ezekiel Kalipeni, “The Geography of Land Mines and Implications for Health and Disease in Africa: A Political Ecology Approach,” Africa Today (v.52/1, 2005);
John O. Oucho, Undercurrents of Ethnic Conflicts in Kenya (Brill, 2002);
Michael Renner, “The Anatomy of Resource Wars,” Worldwatch Paper 162 (Worldwatch Institute, 2002);
Allan Schnaiberg and Kenneth Alan Gould, Environment and Society: The Enduring Conflict (St. Martin’s Press, 1994);
Arthur H. Westing, Cultural Norms, War, and the Environment (Oxford University Press, 1988).