The Anatomy of Resource Wars

Worldwatch Live Online Discussion

Michael Renner: Senior Researcher

October 18, 2002 - 12:00pm EDT

In The Anatomy of Resource Wars (released on October 17), Renner reveals how the world's ever-growing demand for cellular phones and other consumer luxuries is fueling violent conflict and killing millions in developing countries. In the 1990s alone, more than 20 million people were killed, forced to flee to a neighboring country, or displaced inside the borders of their home country because of resource-driven conflicts.

Finland: Hi Michael! I just read your article from the State of the World 2002 about the resource wars and it was devestating. Is there any way how it could be possible to build a sustain societies or even good governance in these states? I understand the responsibilty of us living in western countries and the companys ethics, but what if anything doesn't change in the western world, is it possible for anything to change in these conflict areas? And is there any signs of change?

Michael Renner: You are right to point to the need for change in the conflict areas themselves. This concerns issues like more democratic governance, observation of human rights, more balanced forms of economic development, among others.

There is some progress on these fronts, but it's clearly a difficult struggle. And Western policy, apart from what individual consumers may or may not decide to do, does make difference as well. Clearly, we need to scrutinize our arms transfer policy, for example. Let's not continue to make arms available to countries that either are already at war or that are close to such a situation.

the Pentagon, Washington DC: Do you see linkages between environmental degradation caused by resource exploitation and the emergence and proliferation of human diseases [such as Ebola, Marburg, and monkey pox].

Michael Renner: This is not a linkage I have studied. However, to the extent that human encroachment on previously inaccessible areas (such as certain rainforest areas) gets us into increased contact with microbes and disease vectors that we haven't been exposed to previously, there is at least a danger that resource exploitation and related conflicts has a negative impact.

Pittsburg, PA: Do you think President Bush wants to go to war in Iraq about oil? Is that the kind of war you're writing about?

Michael Renner: I think there are a number of reasons and motives for the war drums other than the official reasons we keep hearing, and I strongly believe that oil is an important one. Iraq has the second-largest proven oil reserves in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia (and there is strong reason to assume that its reserves are actually far larger because large stretches of Iraqi territory were never fully explored). Western oil companies (with the partial exception of French firms) lost control over Iraqi oil in 1972, when the regime nationalized the industry. A post-Saddam Hussein regime would presumably take a radically different stance, and U.S. companies in particular would stand to gain from renewed access. As much as Iraq has been a pariah state for 12 years, its oil remains a major economic and geopolitical "prize."

My paper, however, did not address that aspect of resource wars. I concentrated on conflicts that are principally internal to a given country, such as the Congo, Angola, Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Colombia, and others. In these conflicts, non-renewable resources like oil, timber, minerals, etc. are being extracted and sold -- sometimes by government forces, sometimes by rebel and predatory groups - and the revenues are being used to purchase arms and equipment, but also enrich a small group of people controlling these resources.

Dallas, TX: I'm about to go out and buy an engagement ring--is there any way of knowing where the diamond came from? Who can I trust?

Michael Renner: There are international efforts under way (called the "Kimberley Process" -- named after a South African city where negotiations were started) to put in place a certification system for diamonds that is intended to track the origins of diamonds and help screen out those that are being produced and traded out of conflict zones. There are some remaining questions as to how effective this system will be (because some measures are to be voluntary rather than mandatory), but this system should be at least of some help. It will be some time, however, before this will give individual consumers like yourself more assurance that you are not unwittingly buying a conflict diamond. (Each nation is supposed to develop national laws to implement the Kimberley measures; there is legislation in the U.S. Congress to that effect). In the meantime, though, you can ask your jeweler whether there are any stones from Canada, Botswana, South Africa, or Russia, for instance, countries that are not involved in any diamond wars.

Portland, OR: Are drugs a natural resource? Aren't there lots of conflicts where illegal drugs play a role, at least as a source of funds? Would legalizing drugs help?

Michael Renner: Drugs themselves might not be seen as a natural resource, but the poppy and coca plants they are derived from is. You are right, there are a number of conflicts that are at least in part fueled by drug money.

In Afghanistan, prior to the US intervention last year, both the Taliban and the then-opposition Northern Alliance funded their operations in part through poppy/opium/heroin smuggling.

Afghanistan displaced Burma as the leading opium producer in the mid- to late-1990s, but there, too, drug money has played a role in the conflict between the military dictatorship and a variety of ethnic-based rebels.

In Colombia, right-wing paramilitary groups that are responsible for most of the political killings in that country are believed to derive as much as 70% of their revenues from drug trafficking and related activities. The FARC and ELN rebels likewise are to some extent involved, as are probably certain portions of the government army.

Legalizing drugs presumably would help deflate the prices that drugs fetch in Western countries and therefore make cocaine and heroin, etc. a far less lucrative cash source.

But in the countries where poppy and coca are grown, very often farmers have little choice but to continue growing. "Normal" agricultural produce earns them far less in income than cultivating drug plants.

New York, NY: Besides diamonds, what kinds of consumer products have hidden resource war costs? Are there things we use every day and don't even think about that we should start worrying about?

Michael Renner: Other than diamonds, some other gemstones have played a role in financing conflict (emeralds and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, rubies and sapphires in Cambodia's war in the 1990s). Plus, gold from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Timber (and hence timber products ranging from plywood to finished furniture) is important as well (derived from parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Indonesia, Burma, Cambodia). Large quantities of international timber sales involve illegally-cut timber, and in such circumstances, it's difficult to know what shipments may have come straight out of a war zone. But there are also efforts to track the origins; most important is the Forest Stewardship Council, which has sought to establish criteria to guard against timber suplies derived environmentally rapacious cutting (these kinds of efforts would also be crucial to gain more insight into conflict timber).

Not all conflict commodities are easily visible to the consumer. Coltan, for instance, an ore that's processed into a material that helps make electric equipment work is embedded into cell phones, computers, etc. A portion of supplies come from the Congo.

San Francisco, CA: I read the Australian Navy was going to start protecting some fish that we're eating too many of. Do you know anything about this, or anything like it, where a legitimate government is using its military to defend a resource?

Michael Renner: Tensions over access to fishing grounds are multiplying, as many fisheries around the world are exploited to the breaking point. While some governments have begun to put in place policies to guard against continued overfishing, there are also plenty of actions that involve navy ships, like the one you're referring to. In 1995, for instance, Canada and Spain nearly came to blows over disputed fishing rights off Greenland.

I've written about this and related aspects of "environmental security" in my book "Fighting for Survival" (part of the Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series of books and published by W.W. Norton in 1996).

Portland, ME: Does the UN do anything to stop these resource wars? If not, do you think it should? How?

Michael Renner: The UN is involved in a number of important ways. It has done crucial reporting on events in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, and the Congo, in the form of investigative panels that have revealed to the world community the dimensions and consequences of these kinds of wars.

The UN has also imposed a number of sanctions and embargoes in an effort particularly to reduce illicit diamond trade, but also to cut off arms supplies to those government and groups that are involved in these wars. (Separately, the UN has become more and more involved in the issue of small arms proliferation -- the weapons of choice in many of these conflicts).

And the UN is taking an active interest in the Kimberley process negotiations designed to address the flow of conflict diamonds.

UN action is indeed crucial, but equally important is that national governments cooperate in these endeavors.

Cedar Falls, IA: In reading books by authors such Homer Dixon (1991); Kaplan R D(1994); Norman Myers (1996)and now you, there is overwhelming evidence on the connection between regional resource wars and international security. Data shows us that there are looming threats over the River Nile, River Euphrates, River Jordan, grazing and watering holes in countries such as Kenya, oil in Nigeria and other resources in Angola, Sierra Leone etc. Why have international security scholars in western academic circles tended to negate the role of resource wars in generating international conflict? Why is the environment still in the backdrop of international security studies?

Michael Renner: Reports like the ones you cite have had a considerable impact on security thinking and even to some extent on security policy. I remember when I wrote about the concept of "environmental security" in the late 1980s, this was at the time dismissed by many traditional analysts as an unimportant or even silly issue. We have come a long way since, but many government policies still are at cross-purposes with the findings and insights that you mentioned in your question.

I'm also afraid that given the current preoccupation with Iraq, we are once more losing sight of some very pressing issues.

I think that many governments, particularly powerful governments, are wedded to a traditional security policy because they feel that they need a "big stick." But the lesson here is that traditional approaches simply don't work or even make things worse. What will make the difference in the end is if there is sufficient awareness and pressure on governments from the bottom up.

Denmark: Are most of the civil conflicts we are seeing in the South i.e. Africa, Middle East and Asia for example related to the inequity in the access to the natural resources in these places? Is it really the WMD(weapons of mass destruction) that the US is after in Iraq, or there is more than the eye can see.

Michael Renner: Severe social and economic inequities, unequal access to resources and economic wealth, are part of a "toxic brew" of pressures and instabilities (including environmental degradation, persistent poverty, resurgence of infectious diseases, extremely poor governance, etc.) that are behind many of the conflicts that we see today.

It is doubtful, in my view, that the Bush administration is solely motivated by WMD in Iraq. As I mentioned in response to an earlier question, oil figures quite heavily, but there are probably additional considerations that come into play.

Fairbanks, Alaska: What is your view regarding the postulate that "while most wars of the 20th century were fought over access to oil resources, most wars of the 21st century will be fought over access to water resources" ? Egypt says it will go to war to prevent the capture or diversion of critical water supplies originating from upper reaches of the Nile in Ethiopia; India has similar proprietary interests in water coming from Himalayan nations like Nepal and Bhutan.

Michael Renner: There is indeed good reason to worry about water disputes. These questions will loom larger and larger, as populations and demand for water increases, and as countries jockey over the scarce water resources that are available.

Still, as the current Iraq situation suggests, oil wars are not entirely a matter of the past.

Minneapolis, MN: Thank you so much for your work. I haven't read your paper yet, but plan to do so. As the free trade vs. fair trade debate emerges, I believe consumer education on a mass scale will be crucial to ensuring that trade is done responsibly. What role do you see this playing as part of the solution to this problem. In other words, will "demand-side" actions be effective, or do you think Western consumers are too disengaged, complacent, apathetic, etc?

Michael Renner: Demand-side actions are very important. We live in a world where everything is done in the name of the market and the consumer. Unless consumers let companies and government know that they want alternatives, it's unlikely that much will change. I think the move toward fair trade goods and related initiatives are also very important in the context of conflict commodities. Of course, at this point, alternatives are still quite small (for instance, fair-trade, organically-produced, shade-grown coffee accounts for less than 5 percent of the market). But it's a dynamic situation, the alternatives are growing rapidly, and this creates new opportunities.

Dick Bell, Worldwatch Institute: Thank you all for coming to today's chat. If you want to know more about resource wars, go to the front page www.worldwatch.org and follow the links for Michael's page. Next week, join us at the same time to talk with Brian Halweil about the dynamic growth of the organic farming business.

Michael Renner: Thanks Dick, and thank you to all of you participating in this Web chat. Great and stimulating questions!