ABSTRACT
Providing both a theoretical background and practical examples of natural resource conflict, this volume explores the pressures on natural resources leading to scarcity and conflict.
It is shown that the causes and driving forces behind natural resource conflicts are diverse, complex and often interlinked, including global economic growth, exploding consumption, poor governance, poverty, unequal access to resources and power. The different interpretations of nature-culture and the role of humans in the ecosystem are often at the centre of the conflict. Natural resource conflicts range from armed conflicts to conflicts of interest between stakeholders in the North as well as in the South. The varying driving forces behind such disputes at different levels and scales are critically analysed, and approaches to facilitate and enforce mediation, transformation and collaboration at these levels and scales are presented and discussed. In order to transform existing resource conflicts, as well as to decrease the risk of future conflicts, approaches that enhance and enforce collaboration for sustainable development at global, regional, national and local levels are reviewed, and sustainable pathways suggested. A range of global examples is presented including water resources, fisheries, forests, human–wildlife conflicts, urban environments and the consequences of climate change.
It will be a valuable text for advanced students of natural resource management, environment and development studies and peace and conflict management. The book will also be of interest to practitioners in the field of natural resource management.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|2 pages
Overview of natural resource use conflicts in relation to sustainable development
chapter 3|14 pages
Water, conflict and social sustainability
chapter 5|16 pages
Conflicts in the management of fisheries
part II|2 pages
Case Studies
chapter 6|15 pages
The raptor and the lamb
chapter 7|15 pages
From dystopia to utopia – and back again
chapter 8|15 pages
Undermining the resource ground
part III|2 pages
Transforming natural resource conflicts