Conflict over natural resources is likely to pose significant threats to European security, and the European Union therefore needs to elaborate a comprehensive strategy to meet and overcome these threats. This strategy should combine existing instruments and approaches more effectively, while also finding new ways to balance the imperatives of access to natural resources, regulation of markets and conflict prevention, mitigation and resolution. Such an approach requires a better understanding of natural resource-related security and conflict challenges, as well as an analysis of how current policies affect these challenges. The strategy should therefore be based on comprehensive research into the connection between natural resources and conflict financing; the shifting nature of state effectiveness in the context of natural resource agreements; the link between resource conflict and climate change; and the impact of conflict over natural resources on the multipolar global economy.
In a collaborative effort, Nicholas Garrett, a director of consultancy Resource Consulting Services / associate of the London School of Economics and Political Science and Laura Seay, assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College write on ‘Trade, development and peacebuilding in the African Great Lakes’. For the countries in the African Great Lakes, their economies – and for some their conflicts – are interdependent. In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), investing in the creation of an economic and political environment that enables legitimate cross-border mineral trade to flourish could pay dividends, not just for traders, but also for governments and conflict-affected communities, in eastern DRC and throughout the region.
Based on original and extensive empirical research in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), carried out in 2009, Nicholas Garrett and Marie Lintzer offer an analysis of the prospects of mining in Katanga contributing to growth and development in the DRC. This paper is published by Routledge’s Journal of Eastern African Studies.
This presentation was given by Harrison Mitchell during a conference organised by the Institute for Environmental Security in Brussels in the context of a discussion about illegality and the limitations to current approaches in dealing with varying forms of illegality in the mineral trade from EDRC.
This report develops a record-keeping system that allows the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt and maintenance, use and disposition of records for four pilot mining companies in Rwanda in the context of the Certified Trading Chains (CTC) Standard Set initiated by the German government to track mineral trading chains. The authors detail the record-keeping systems currently in place among CTC Pilot mining companies to record mineral production and transport; suggest improvements/alternatives to current systems to ensure traceability of the minerals and advice the CTC Pilot companies on how to implement a system of traceability.
This presentation was given by Simon Gilbert during the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Africa’s Great Lakes Region on the 1st of July 2010.
Based on original and extensive empirical research in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this reportoffers an analysis of the conflict potential of mining in DRC and assesses the impact and conflict sensitivity of current donor interventions in the sector. This paper was incorporated into an edited volume of case studies and thematic analyses that identifies lessons learned in managing natural resources to facilitate the transition to peace. The volume is developed by the Environmental Law Institute, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), University of Tokyo, and Specialist Group on Armed Conflict and the Environment of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) Commission on Environmental Law.
Based on original and extensive empirical research in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nicholas Garrett, Sylvia Sergiou and Koen Vlassenroot offer an analysis of warlordism and natural resources in Eastern Congo. This paper is published by Routledge’s Journal of Eastern African Studies.
This report, based on research funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, The London School of Economics and Political Science’s Crisis States Research Centre and the Conflict Research Group at Ghent University, urges policy makers, the private sector and other stakeholders to commit to reforming the existing trade in minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) instead of banning or disrupting it. The report, suggests that military gain from the trade in Eastern DRC’s minerals, which generated at least 4m US$ to the Congolese state in tax revenue in 2008, is not the primary cause of insecurity and violence in North Kivu. Though the report acknowledges deep-seated problems with the trade, it goes further and suggests that, in contrast to current policy approaches, security and trade issues should be addressed separately as trade-based solutions to security issues, such as sanctions, are likely to have little effect on the perpetuation of the conflict.
This presentation was given by Nicholas Garrett during a conference in Pretoria organised by the Institute for Security Studies and the Royal Egmont Institute for International Relations. It discusses natural resource management approaches in the context of Eastern DRC.
Edited by Koen Vlassenroot and Steven Van Bockstael - the success of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) has been built on providing assurances that the trade in diamonds amongst signatory countries is based on diamonds traded legitimately, untainted by conflict and corruption. For this success to be durable there is a need to complement the commitment to policing the trade with concerted action to address the root causes of the problem of ‘conflict’ or ‘blood’ diamonds - the development needs of artisanal miners, diggers and their communities. They often live in abject poverty and are frequently vulnerable to exploitation. Effective development of artisanal diamond mining communities must be based on a thorough understanding of the inherent complexities that characterise the sector. This research coordinated by the Egmont Institute and undertaken in support of the KPCS Working Group on Alluvial/Artisanal Producers (currently chaired by Angola), involved many of the leading thinkers in this field. It makes a significant contribution to our knowledge on the sector, laying the foundations for a concerted work programme. Available at J.Story-Scienta Portal (www.story.be)