Conflicts

ISSUES

War and the environment

In 2007, 67 of the 328 conflicts in the world (of variable intensity) were linked to natural resources. Most were in Africa and Asia. (1) These conflicts were sometimes about the ownership of certain resources. Conversely, resources could also be used to fund conflicts. The two sides of the problem were often linked.
Wars over resources
There are many examples of wars over resources. The colonial conquests were obviously aimed at seizing more wealth. More recently, during the First Gulf War, Iraq invaded Kuwait to take over its oil and currency reserves. Such conflicts have occurred on all the continents, and not only between North and South. Thus, in the Saltpetre war, around the turn of the 1880s, Chile, Peru and Bolivia were fighting over the control of nitrate reserves among other things. (4)

NEWS

North Koreans in rice belt 'starve to death'

Brazil fights illegal logging to protect Amazon natives

Nepal winning battle against rhino poachers

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DEBATES

Rebuilding Afghanistan’s irrigation network

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FOCUS

Collateral damage and forests

Because forests can hide enemies, armies sometimes see the destruction of forests as an important strategy. Between 1962 and 1971, the US military sprayed approximately 80 million litres of defoliants, including the notorious Agent Orange, onto the Vietnamese...

VIDEOS

14/03/2012	According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Millenium...	15/02/2011	A short documentary about the dangerous effects of first contact on the...
01/06/2010	The Sunderbans forest in Bangladesh is home to the world's largest tiger...	26/05/2010	Three decades ago the Chagos islanders were forced from their homes by an...

GREEN TIPS

Water and peace in the Middle East

In Israel, Gidon Bromberg, the director of ecoPeace – Friends of the Earth in the Middle East, brings...

INDICATORS

Ecological footprint

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