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Last changed: 04/02/2009
Many people in lesser developed countries depend on access to natural resources such as soil, water or forests for their livelihoods. If this access is no longer given due to overuse, environmental degradation (destruction) or climatic changes, violent clashes may erupt. Another consequence might be the migration of populations, which in turn jeopardises the stability of the countries affected. In some countries, lack of access to land and lacking land ownership have led to violent disputes. Construction of large-scale reservoir dams is also controversial because it often entails resettlement and detrimental effects for local populations. The distribution and use of resources such as oil, timber, gold, diamonds or minerals can lead to conflicts between different groups within the population of a country or between the government and its people. In Nigeria, for example, the environmental degradation owing to petroleum extraction has long been a point of contention between the affected population, oil companies, and the government.
In some countries, it is easy for armed groups to help themselves to certain raw materials, e.g. diamonds or coltan, with which they finance their conflicts. Coltan is an ore that contains tantalum. Tantalum is used in capacitors that are found in, among other things, a broad range of information and communication technology appliances such as mobile phones and notebooks. One of the countries where it is extracted is the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the 1998-2004 war in that country, the warring parties funded their conflict with revenues from coltan extraction and award of extraction rights. In so doing, the war was prolonged and more intense, claiming an estimated 3.9 million lives. The Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT) in Berlin was commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA) to investigate, based on the example of coltan extraction in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to what degree the demand for rare metals can escalate armed conflict, and made proposals on approaches in conflict prevention.
In May 2004 the German federal government’s umbrella concept ”Civil Crisis Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Peace Consolidation” shaped a national programme of measures on how to avoid environmental and resource-related conflicts.
For the information of the public about the relationships between environmental protection, protection of resources, sustainable development, and peace policy, the Federal Environment Agency exhibited "Environment, Conflict and Cooperation" by Adelphi Research, Adelphi Consult and Weltformat.Design from 18 0ctober - 17 November 2006 in Dessau. The exhibition visualised various aspects of environmental protection and security, such as the impact of climage change on the stability of affected states and conflicts about water.
The Environment, Conflict and Cooperation information platform and publication of an associated Newsletter is meant to foster professional exchange on the inter-relationship of environment, foreign, development, and security policies and thus make a contribution to politics in these areas.
In addition, the Federal Environment Agency’s Advisory Assistance for Environmental Protection in Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia aims to support various projects in the area of peace consolidation. UBA aided a project on transboundary cooperation for hazard prevention in the Kura River basin between Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan by carrying out a feasibility study and risk assessment as well as by providing professional guidance to the project. The Safety of Installations, Prevention of Hazardous Incidents Section at UBA developed a warn and alarm system for the river catchment area of the Neman/Nemunas river in Belarus, Lithuania, and the Russian Federation.