ConflictBarometer_2015

CONFLICT ISSUES
five being wars, thus not indicating a clear propensity for
large-scale violence.
In Asia and Oceania, 28 conflicts encompassed the item resources.
Nine conflicts revolved around hydrocarbons and
ore respectively, with gold and copper being the most contested
metals. Regarding renewable resources, conflicts in
Asia outnumbered all other regions, with water and farmland
being claimed most frequently. Highly violent conflicts linked
to resources occurred in Myanmar [→ Myanmar (KIA, KIO /
Kachin State); Myanmar (MNDAA / Shan State)], Pakistan [→
Pakistan (Baloch nationalists / Balochistan)] and the Philippines
[→ Philippines (MILF)].
A total of 13 other violent resource conflicts were observed
all over the region. The most disputed resource was arable
land [e.g. → Japan China (East China Sea), Philippines (MILF);
Papua New Guinea (socioeconomic protests)], followed by ore
[e.g. → Papua New Guinea (Bougainville), Pakistan (Baloch
nationalists / Balochistan)], and water [e.g. → China India,
China (Tibet), Uzbekistan Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan]. Japan
and China continued to non-violently claim control of the
Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea in 2015. The
uninhabited islands lie close to important shipping lanes and
inherit rich fishing grounds. Moreover, in the late 1960s
undersea oil reserves near the islands had been discovered.
The region of Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 27 resourcerelated
conflicts, of which 18 were violent, and 13 highly
violent. The most often disputed resource was oil, followed
by ore, farmland, cattle, gemstones, and water. Nine highly
violent conflicts over non-renewable resources such as ore,
gemstones, and oil were fought in central Africa. With six limited
wars, the DR Congo accounted for more than one third of
all limited wars over resources in 2015 worldwide. Additionally,
Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Sudan experienced
five wars involving resources, making Sub-Saharan
Africa the region most severely affected by resource-related
violence in 2015.
Conflicts involving scarce agricultural resources such as farmland,
cattle, or both experienced high intensities, with the
average intensity amounting to the level of a limited war.
In one of those conflicts, clashes between pastoralists and
farmers in Nigeria's middle belt led to approx. 1,400 fatalities
in 2015. As desertification had reduced fertile grounds,
predominantly Christian farmers of Berom and Tiv tribes appealed
to their right to cultivate their ancestor's farmland,
while mainly Muslim Fulani nomads claimed those as grazing
areas for their cattle. As in other similar conflicts in the Sahel
region, the conflict was further fueled by disagreements
over identitarian (political, ethnic, and religious) issues. All
aforementioned cases recorded frequent clashes and raids,
leading to several hundred fatalities each year.
The Americas faced 26 resource-related conflicts. All four interstate
conflicts remained non-violent, while, in contrast, 19
out of 22 sub- and intrastate conflicts were violent. Specifically,
ten out of eleven conflicts over plant-based drugs, ten
out of twelve conflicts over ore, and nine out of 13 conflicts
over farmland were conducted violently. However, only conflicts
with conflict parties engaging in drug trafficking were
highly violent [e.g. → Mexico (drug cartels)]. Further, drug
trafficking organizations engaged in several other resourcerelated
activities like illegal mining and oil theft. Oil theft by
drug cartels especially constituted a challenge to the Mexican
government. Facing an increase of over 40 percent of illegal
pipeline taps connected to oil theft in 2014, the state-owned
Mexican utility Pemex announced in February 2015 not to
transport fully refined fuels in its pipelines anymore in order
to impede oil theft.
All five highly violent conflicts over ore revolved around
drug-trafficking organizations engaging in illegal mining. For
instance, the Colombian government sent 600 troops in
May to raid 63 mining sites controlled by the FARC. Further
conflicts over ore involved primarily protests exercised by
opposition groups and local residents against mining projects
like the Las Bambas mining site in Peru, where police forces
shot dead four protesters when approx. 2,000 people tried to
enter the mine on September 28 [→ Peru (opposition movements)].
In the Middle East and Maghreb region, the nine recorded
conflicts over resources revolved around hydrocarbons and
renewable resources such as water, farmland, and fishing
grounds. Seven sub- and intrastate conflicts revolved
around hydrocarbons, with only Kuchi nomads and Hazara
tribes competing exclusively over farmland in Afghanistan [→
Afghanistan (Kuchi Nomads Hazara)]. The Afghan Taliban
allegedly supported the mainly Sunni Kuchi tribes against the
Shiite Hazara in 2015 and, additionally, the so-called Islamic
State (IS) targeted the Shiite tribes. The conflict between
IS, on the one hand, and Syria, Iraq, numerous other governments,
and militant groups, on the other, saw repeated
airstrikes against oil infrastructure of the IS in Iraq [→ Syria,
Iraq et al. (IS)].
Of all resource-related conflicts in the region, only the dispute
between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and
the Iraqi government over autonomy and the distribution of
oil revenues remained non-violent [→ Iraq (Kurdistan Regional
Government)]. Syria's and Israel's conflict over water
from the disputed area of the Golan Heights was the only
resource-related interstate conflict of the region. Israel had
seized the area from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and
annexed it in 1981, with the area now providing approx. one
third of Israel's water supply. In early June 2015, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded from the international
community to acknowledge Israel's annexation.
In Europe, eight conflicts pertained to resources, with seven
being conducted non-violently and one amounting to the
level of a war [→ Ukraine (Donbas)]. Hydrocarbons were the
most frequently claimed resource being contested in seven
conflicts. Besides the secession conflict in Donbas, Ukraine,
all resource-related conflicts were linked to claims for territorial
waters. In the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus,
and Northern Cyprus upheld their interests. Two further conflicts
over resources focused on the Caspian Sea and the
Arctic. As such, in the Arctic, hydrocarbons, ore, and fishing
grounds were claimed by Russia, Denmark, Canada, Norway,
and the United States. On August 4, Russia announced to
have sent a revised bid to the UN, claiming 1.2 million square
kilometers of Arctic Sea. (iro, jkr)
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