Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing?

Dr. Filiz Otucu and Dr. Whitney Howarth Dept. of Social Sciences

Plymouth State University

Why have resources become so important?

Escalating worldwide demand population growthIndustrialization/economic growthIncreasing appetite for materials Rising demand around the world

Risk of shortagesEarth lost nearly one-third of its available

natural wealth between 1970 and 1995 as a result of human activity.

Oil and water are likely to be in insufficient supply to meet global requirements by the middle of the 21st C.

Disputes over ownership Many key sources of natural resources are

shared by two or more nations, lie in contested border areas.

mixed with ethnic/religious conflicts

Case Studies

Water: Jordan River Basin, Middle East

Oil: Darfur, Sudan

Diamonds: Sierra Leone

WATER CONFLICT  Supply is inadequate

Rapid urbanization

Global climate change

water: matter of national survival

“water is life itself”

Yitzhak Rabin: “if we solve every other problem in the Middle East, but do not satisfactorily resolve the water problem, our region will explode”

According to World Bank: minimum human water requirement of 1,000 cubic meters per person a year

Actual available fresh water: 12,500 cubic km per year

JORDAN RIVER BASINLebanon: Hasbani

tributesDan river: northern

corner of IsraelSyria: BaniyasLake TiberiasIsrael: 6.7/10.9m Jordan: 3,696,000/

6.5mIsrael: 467/310Jordan: 224/80

Israel: National Water Carrier(NWC)

Jordan: East Ghor Canal75% Jordanian water

needs 1967: 6 Day WarGolan Height of Syria

(Baniyas) West Bank

“This is a resource war, fought by surrogates, involving great powers whose economies are predicated on growth, contending for a finite pool of resources.” – David Morse, War of the Future:

Oil Drives the Genocide in Darfur

Sudan: Starving for Oil

Genocide in Darfur

SUDAN:

DARFUR: Starving for Oil in a Resource War Zone.

Historic BackgroundChevron finds oil in Sudan 1978

Sudanese Civil War – 22 years Arab nomadic herding clans in north black African farmers in the south

US Sanctions since 1997

Racial Tensions, Ethnic Rivalries, and Religious disputes. Water wars.

“The Dafur Conflict” -- began in 2003 and continues today--450,000 dead (violence and disease) and --2.5 million displaced

The Janjaweed militias - Genocide??

Khartoum

Who “owns” Darfur?

Other Oil Companies/Countries in Sudan:Talisman (Canada)Petronas (Malaysia)Lundin Oil (Sweden)National Iranian Gas CompanyAqip (Italian)TotalFina (France)OMV (Austrian) & many more…

Multi-nationals competing for oil concessions…http://youtube.com/watch?v=hI5j43YffFs (2:43)

ConcessionsState-owned Chinese oil company,

CNPC, controls 60-70% of all Sudan oil production

China’s CNPC is the operator of Sudan's huge Block 6…

Recent production increase in the Block 6 from 10,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil a day.

oil revenues are used to finance the Sudanese government's war against Darfuri people.

China is the world’s fastest growing oil importing nation – uses its position on the UN Security Council to block sanctions against Sudan.

Diamondsruthless factions are provoking civil warMajor resource conglomerates are

contributing  no established local institutions. demand is growingPrivate military companies involved

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

“Conflict Diamonds” originate from areas controlled by forces opposed to internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments.

Fueling War 1991: Civil WarCharles Taylor of LiberiaRUF: Revolutionary United Front1999: ceasefire

2001 U.N. sanctions :“a ban on Liberian diamond sales, and a ban on travel by Liberian officials, including its president, and tougher weapons sanctions.”

2002 United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL)

•1996 elections: To intimidate potential voters and to maintain control of the diamond mines, the rebels chopped off the hands and feet of adults, teens, children and even infants

•2003: the U.N. Special Court in Sierra Leone “indicted several of those involved in the civil war in Sierra Leone for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian law.”

Over 50,000 people have been killed

Over one million people have been displaced

Thousands, especially children, have been maimed and mutilated

Sierra Leone

Who needs to take action?•Governments•IGOs and Non-Government Organizations (NGOS)•diamond traders & multi-national co.’s•financial institutions•arms manufacturers/traders•social and educational institutions•Citizens & human rights groups•YOU and your Students!

Curriculum Ideas for teachersWater Lessons: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/04/g912/newswater.html http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2005/10/flwrc11.html?&c=3wm (video clip) http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/educators/enrichment/africa/lessons/byarea.html

Oil Lessons: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/01/g68/iraqoil.html http://www.pbs.org/wnet/extremeoil/teachers/lp1.html http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/educators/geography_colombia.html

Blood Diamond Lessons: http://www.amnestyusa.org/education/pdf/bd_curriculumguide.pdf http://

www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/world/conflict_diamonds_12-06.html

http://www.blooddiamondaction.org/ and http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/blooddiamond/shineonem.htm

“Shine On ‘Em” Lyrics by rapper Nas

They dug me out the soil in the Mines of the MotherlandNow I'm misplaced, one hand to another handIllegal smugglin', people strugglin'Wish they could just throw me back in the mud againYeah, guess that's how we got hereSlave Trade then the Diamond TradeEvery child's afraidWhen his Mother and Father get sprayedForced in the Army, young killer BrigadeGets a new name and then he give his nose glueTil' his mind can't take what he's gon' throughLookin' in that dirt for that ice so blueThen The Royal Family, the ice goes toAnd this thing has to change, feelin' half-ashamedAs I rap with my Platinum chainWhen you shop for a gift for meYou think about the misery?The same way we made Apartheid HistoryWe can do the same thing to the conflict iceBut everybody wanna shine, right?