War, Peace, and The Planet

By Megan Light
December 2020

It was the Syrian civil war that first caused me to reflect on the interdependency of conflict, peacebuilding, and the environment. Climate stress, natural resources, environmental degradation, and scarcity all have the ability to trigger, exacerbate, and prolong conflict and violence. But they also all have the ability to foster cooperation and peace. The interdependence of health, social, economic, and cultural factors, along with impacts on migration, livelihoods, and funding all come to play when in the timeline of violence, conflict, and peace.

Triggers of Conflict

1. Studies have shown that climate stress almost doubles the likelihood of violent conflict. Climate stress is generated by changes in the environment, as opposed to regular stress caused from activities within that environment. This is a long term trigger from climate change, that includes exacerbating scarcity, droughts, floods, extreme heat etc. Climate stress is also directly related to health implication such as cholera, the need to migrate, and the value of strategic natural assets.

2. Scarcity of key natural resources, such as water and useable land, is also a key contributor to conflict. Stemming from climate stress, scarcity increases tensions and anger, and has a strong connection to political participation and wider system vulnerabilities.

3. The strongest environmental influence on conflict is the resource curse. The resource curse asserts that when a government gains much of its income from natural resources, rather than taxation of a population, there is an increased risk of violence and repression, given that they do not rely on their people in order to maintain power. This link has been found extensively in oil and natural gas abundant countries, but emerging research shows it is also true for agricultural commodities.

Exacerbating & Prolonging Conflict

The key tool in exacerbating and prolonging conflict is the use of conflict resources. These flourished after the end of the Cold War, and can be both legitimate and illegimate. Resources are most likely to become conflict resources when: potential rewards are great; they require minimal technology/capital/investment; they are distanced from the capital city; and they are diffused, or scattered geographically.

Conflict resources sustain rebel groups and governments, funding most of their operations and strategies. They are also key in peace talks, and sustaining peace in the aftermath of violence.

• ISIS made over $1 billion in oil revenues.

• The major focus of the RUF and the AFRC in the Sierra Leone civil war was control of the coutry’s diamond mines, and these funded war efforts. Many of the blood diamonds from Sierra Leone were traded to the Liberian president, Charles G. Taylor, in exchange for weapons and military training from the AFRC.

• In 1993, the Khmer Rouge return to war, against UN peace treaties. This was funded by an illegal logging trade on the Thailand-Cambodia border that generated between $10 and $20 million a month.

Environmental Impacts

Whilst the environment has been shown to contribute to the triggering and sustaining of conflict, conflict also has acute and chronic impacts on the environment.

Short term, direct impacts include:

• intentional targeting

• chemicals and waste

• conflict resources

• scorched earth tactics

• weapons and landmines

Long term, indirect impacts include:

• the coping strategies used to survive

• liquidation of natural resources

• displacement and settlements

• informal economies

• delivery of support

The long term impacts are also linked to wider aspects of governance. Regulations, enforcement, and capacity are all broken down; there is a lack of transboundary cooperation; there exists a prevalence of illegal and criminal exploitation of natural resources; and a loss of land tenure security. Environmental governance drops from the mainstream political agenda.

Cooperation and Peacebuilding

But there is good news! The environment and resources can be key facilitators of cooperation and peacebuilding. They bridge political, geographical, and ethnic boundaries and demand cooperation. With clean water, livelihoods, and a healthy environment being contingent on joint management, there is an incentive for peace. Resources:

• demonstrate shared interests

• facilitate communication

• promote trust and reconciliation.

Resources also provide the chance for rebuilding good environmental governance, empowering women, and having a sustained recovery in post-conflict settings. We will discuss this further in a later article.

The content of this piece is almost entirely gathered from an SDG Academy course entitled Environmental Security and Sustaining Peace. I would highly recommend.

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© 2020 Climate Just Collective