ABSTRACT
Following conflict, a country’s natural resources are the single most important asset available to kick-start economic recovery, employment, and livelihoods, and to sustain basic services. Decisions about the restoration, management, and protection of natural resources have fundamental implications for short-term stability, longer-term sustainable development, and successful peacebuilding. Yet many post-conflict countries lack (1) sound information on the quality or quantity of the natural resource base and (2) an accurate picture of how resources were damaged or destroyed during conflict. Moreover, there is often little understanding of the ways in which natural resources may have provided a lifeline to populations coping with conflict, or of how resources may have become entwined with the conflict economy. An informed understanding of the linkages between natural resources and conflict is essential, however, to capitalize on the peacebuilding potential of resources while avoiding the perils associated with their poor governance.
