In the latest ECSP publication, Report From Africa, eight African leaders and scholars describe their continent’s struggle with conflict over resources and the possibilities for peace that population and environment initiatives may hold. They claim a commitment to sustainability could help turn deadly environments into safe, sustainable neighborhoods.
Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai says that poor governance and mismanagement of resources spur the violence that plagues many countries in Africa. “Below the thin layer of racial and ethnic chauvinism, religion, and politics, the real reason for many conflicts is the struggle for the access to and control of the limited resources on our planet.” But she sees hope: “When we manage our resources sustainably and practice good governance we deliberately and consciously promote cultures of peace,” said Maathai.
Another African leader, President Marc Ravalomanana of Madagascar, saw the devastation wrought by poverty and unsustainable population growth in his country, and dreamed of a different path. “We can build a strong economy, invest in our people, and maintain the nation’s precious natural treasures.”
The devastating civil conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was fueled by global demand for the country’s enormous stores of valuable minerals and extensive forests. Instead of being engines of growth, these resources “have largely been to blame for most of the past and current misfortunes visited on the Congolese people,” says John Katunga, who warns that unless the United States and others help the DRC develop stable institutions, governance structures, and regulations to control natural resources, “the country’s forests and minerals will once again be prey for deadly predators, and the people of the DRC will be doomed to repeat their tragic cycle.”
The Nigerian oil industry’s history of spills, lax environmental regulations, and government complicity has severely degraded the rich Niger Delta. Kenneth Omeje sees the residents’ “formidable struggle of unrelenting violent protests, including oil theft, pipeline sabotage, and kidnappings” as an attempt to capture the spoils from corrupt elites. To stop the violence, he is calling for international efforts to hold the oil industry to standards of social and environmental responsibility; and disarm and demobilize all Niger Delta militias and anti-oil combatants.
