Overview

The degradation of renewables - land and freshwater - worldwide leads to conflict over access and/or distribution of these resources. However, not all conflicts become violent. Environmentally-caused violence is hardly found in relations between states. Today, mainly in developing countries, there is a correlation between environmental degradation and violent conflicts. As this synthesis of 40 case studies indicates, there are different causal pathways of current violent conflicts and wars that can be traced to the environmental roots of the conflict. Rwanda is a good example to demonstrate the interaction of ethnic, social, political and ecological factors. Whereas most studies in this field focus on classical security issues, the author here puts an emphasis on growing structural heterogeneity in agricultural societies which tend to discriminate chiefly against those rural producers who are the victims of bad resource allocations, unequal resource distribution, high dependence on natural capital, and bad state performance. One major conclusion to be discussed among scholars, teachers, and advanced students and to be taken seriously by professionals in international organizations is the following: competing land tenure systems, unclear property rights, large-scale farming, and nationalizing land by discriminating against small-holders, pastoralists, the landless, etc. provide a considerable potential for conflict and, thus, contribute to unsustainable resource use, social unrest, and political instability.

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