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Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing?

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 growth Industrialization/economic growth

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Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing?

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  1. Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing? Dr. Filiz Otucu and Dr. Whitney Howarth Dept. of Social Sciences Plymouth State University

  2. Why have resources become so important?

  3. Escalating worldwide demand • population growth • Industrialization/economic growth • Increasing appetite for materials • Rising demand around the world

  4. Risk of shortages • Earth 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.

  5. 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

  6. Case Studies • Water: Jordan River Basin, Middle East • Oil: Darfur, Sudan • Diamonds: Sierra Leone

  7. WATER CONFLICT •  Supply is inadequate • Rapid urbanization • Global climate change • water: matter of national survival • “water is life itself”

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

  9. 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

  10. JORDAN RIVER BASIN • Lebanon: Hasbani tributes • Dan river: northern corner of Israel • Syria: Baniyas • Lake Tiberias • Israel: 6.7/10.9m • Jordan: 3,696,000/ 6.5m • Israel: 467/310 • Jordan: 224/80

  11. Israel: National Water Carrier(NWC) • Jordan: East Ghor Canal • 75% Jordanian water needs • 1967: 6 Day War • Golan Height of Syria (Baniyas) • West Bank

  12. Sudan: Starving for Oil Genocide in Darfur SUDAN: DARFUR: Starving for Oil in a Resource War Zone. “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

  13. Historic Background • Chevron 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 Janjaweedmilitias - Genocide?? Khartoum

  14. Who “owns” Darfur? Multi-nationals competing for oil concessions… http://youtube.com/watch?v=hI5j43YffFs(2:43) Other Oil Companies/Countries in Sudan: Talisman (Canada) Petronas (Malaysia) Lundin Oil (Sweden) National Iranian Gas Company Aqip (Italian) TotalFina (France) OMV (Austrian) & many more…

  15. Concessions • State-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.

  16. Diamonds • ruthless factions are provoking civil war • Major resource conglomerates are contributing •  no established local institutions. • demand is growing • Private military companies involved

  17. Sierra Leone

  18. 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.

  19. Fueling War • 1991: Civil War • Charles Taylor of Liberia • RUF: Revolutionary United Front • 1999: ceasefire

  20. Sierra Leone • Over 50,000 people have been killed • Over one million people have been displaced • Thousands, especially children, have been maimed and mutilated

  21. 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!

  22. Curriculum Ideas for teachers Water 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

  23. “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?

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