ZEF Bonn

Essay
“Disasters, Conflicts and Natural Resource
Degradation: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on
Complex Emergencies”
Joachim von Braun, Paul L.G. Vlek, Andreas Wimmer
The purpose of this essay is to highlight disasters in a broader sense as an important
area of development research and policy. The disaster-related information base is
weak, research is still in its early stages and current political responses are piecemeal.
Our suggestion is to take a closer look at natural, economic and political factors
responsible for major disasters to develop a basis for an integrated policy approach.
Some of the world's major disaster areas, such as in Afghanistan, Somalia or
Ethiopia, are simultaneously the locus of protracted conflict and war, natural disasters
and a long-term degradation of natural resources. War, famines, epidemic
diseases and resource depletion seem to occur in the same locations, just like with
the series of plagues in the scriptures.
Despite this apparent concurrence, the relation between political conflict, poverty
and natural resource degradation in the causation of such complex emergencies is
still hazy. While there are obvious feedback mechanisms, for example, between conflict,
institutional breakdown, poverty, and vulnerability to hazards, the precise
nature of these linkages remains to be determined. Interdisciplinary research is especially
needed
● on the linkages between man-made and naturally caused complex disasters,
● on each of their causes and
● on effective ways of their mitigation and prevention.
On the policy-making side, too little attention is paid to improving the situation of
the poor in conflicts and disasters: disaster prevention resources flow largely to
where capital damage can be reduced, not to where poor peoples' livelihood can be
sustained. While the politics of prevention, both of vulnerability to hazards and of
violent conflict, are by now well established, we lack a solid comparative evaluation
of the various approaches and their context-dependent efficiency. An integrated
approach that addresses both short-term vulnerability to disasters and violent conflict
and long-term policies for natural resource utilisation, poverty reduction and
democratisation that prevent hazards has yet to be developed.
In the following, we first describe and discuss definitions, trends and changing patterns
of man-made as well as natural disasters. Second, we highlight the interlinkages
between long-term and creeping degradation of natural resources, especially
soil, and natural disasters. Third, we discuss the relation between political conflicts
and man-made disasters such as wars and famines. We are thus only addressing
some of the linkages in an obviously far more complex causal pattern. Much needs
Essay
Interdisciplinary research is
needed on the linkages between
issues such as conflict,
poverty and vulnerability to
hazards.
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