Environmental Conflict: A Geographical Perspective

Full text

Environmental
Conflict
A Geographical Perspective
Sarfaraz Alam

Copyright © Sarfaraz Alam
Published in 2014 by
Brown Book Publications Pvt. Ltd.
New Delhi-110025
ISBN: 978-93-83558-31-5
Price : INR 250/-
All Rights Reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopy, recording or otherwise, without prior
permission of the author/publisher.

Dedicated to the memory of my revered teacher
Dr. R. C. Sharma
(1932-2009)
Formerly Professor of Political Geography
Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament
School of International Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi - 67

Contents
DEDICATION ........................................................ iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................. Vii
LIST OF FIGURES .............................................. viii
INTRODUCTION .................................................1-6
CHAPTER 1 ENVIRONMENT AND
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS ..................................... 7-25
CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING
SOCIAL CONFLICTS ................................................ 26-33
CHAPTER 3 CONCEPTUALIZING
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS ........................ 34-43
CHAPTER 4 PROCESSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL
CONFLICTS ................................................................. 44-51
CHAPTER 5 GEOGRAPHY OF
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS ................................... 52-63
CHAPTER 6 GEOGRAPHY OF
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS ........................ 64-79
CHAPTER 7 ENVIRONMENTAL
CONFLICT RESOLUTION ..................................... 80-85
CONCLUSION ................................................ 86-88
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 89-100
INDEX ........................................................... 101-104

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to my wife Dr. Swati Sucharita
Nanda. This book would not have been possible but for her constant
encouragement and support. My project fellow Dr. Pankaj Prakash
Singh has helped in drawing diagrams of this book. I am thankful to
him as well. I also take this opportunity to thank my colleagues in the
department and friends for their help and encouragement. Last but
not the least I am thankful to my five-year old son Shashwat Kabeer
for inspiring me by sitting silently in the hope that I complete the
works of the day early to accompany him in his favourite hobby of
cycling.
Sarfaraz Alam
Banaras Hindu University

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No. Title Page No.
0.1 Environment and conflict: 3
the vicious interaction
1.1 Resource capture 20
1.2 Ecological marginalization 21
3.1 Environmentally-induced conflicts 35
4.1 Human reactions to environmental stress 45
4.2 Environmental crisis and conflicts 51

1
INTRODUCTION
‘The Cacao lands, a region embracing all of the southern part of the
state of Bahia in Brazil, were fertilized with blood. They were conquered
foot by foot in ferocious struggles of indescribable violence . . . At the
very time that the seedlings were being planted, crosses were being set
up to mark the spots where the brave had fallen, victims of ambushes
or of encounters between hired gunmen’.
Amado, 1989; cited in Bryant, Raymond L. 1998
The twin processes of environment and social conflicts are
causally linked. The linkage between environment and conflict may
be investigated in the following four different ways (Figure 0.1). First,
conflict may result in environmental destruction. Environmental
damage in the West Asia region as a result of the Gulf War is an
example of environmental degradation caused by conflict. However,
this is a case of environmental degradation as an unintended
consequence of conflict. Second, environment may be used of as
non-military tools. There are many examples of direct manipulation
of resources or environmental services for achieving military ends.
The apparent deliberate oil-spill and burning of oil-wells in the Gulf
War are striking examples of ecological warfare (Gleick, Peter H.
1991: 19). In ecological warfare, elements of environment are used
as a tool to defeat enemy (Choucri, Nazli, 1992: 67-68). Environmental
warfare is basically a war not against the natural environment per say.
Instead, it is war against the enemy who lives in the environment. In
other words, the destruction of the environmental foundations of
an enemy implies the destruction of the enemy itself. The defoliation
of tropical forests, by aerial chemical spray, by the USA during the
Vietnam War is a glaring example of the use of environment as a
tool to defeat the enemy in the war. Third, environmental crisis may
become a cause of armed struggle. In other words, environmental
crisis could be considered as the direct cause of a conflict. Finally,
environmental crisis may also be viewed as a contributor to armed
conflict in the sense of exacerbating existing conflicts or adding new
dimension thereto. In this case, environmental crisis is considered
only as a minor or triggering cause of conflicts. Besides, environmental
issues are often deliberately manipulated politically to serve narrow

2
group interests. It causes domestic political instability. For example,
the Ganga water dispute between India and Bangladesh has often
been exaggerated by the opposition political parties in both the
countries to serve their narrow electoral gains.
The present study deals with the third and fourth dimensions.
But before we discuss any further, it is important to note that the
environment is but one variable in a series of political, economic and
social factors that can cause conflict. Indeed, some sceptics claim
that scarcities of renewable resources are merely a minor variable
that sometimes links existing political and economic factors to
subsequent social conflicts (Homer-Dixon, Thomas F. et al, 1993:
38). However, a plethora of research findings show environmental
crisis as an independent variable in relation to social conflicts.
Scholars of peace and conflict studies consider environmental
crisis or scarcity of renewable resource or degradation of human
habitat as a direct as well as a minor cause of environmental conflict.
The geographical distribution of environmental crisis is global in
spread. In other words, no region of the earth is immune from some
kind of environmental crisis. However, in some regions its occurrence
rate is higher and its intensity is more acute than other region. In
these regions, there are concentrations of those factors which cause
environmental crisis. These regions are characterized by high density
of population, occurrence of various kinds of environmental
degradation, socially unequal distribution of environmental resources
and destructive development practices. These factors operate either
individually or in various combinations and give rise to different kinds
of environmental crisis in different regions of the world.

3
However, the mere occurrence of environmental crisis does
not always become a cause of conflict. Instead, it generates conflicts
generally in those areas where there are cleavages and instability in
the existing socio-economic and political environments. Therefore,
it would be wrong to say that environmental conflicts are basically
social conflicts. Environmental conflicts occur when ‘good’ and ‘bad’
of the environmental process are unequally shared in the society.
The poor and the marginalized bear most of the burden of
environmental degradation, resource shortage and loss of habitats.
They are the worst sufferers from environmental hazards. On the
other hand, useful elements of natural environment benefits people
of rich class more than the people of poor class. Thus, the occurrence
of conflicts over environmental issues is nothing but an extension
of class conflict in the society.

4
The contemporary social and economic scenario in the Third
and Fourth World countries are characterized by scarcity and hardship.
Economic development could be one of the important factors for
integrating the marginalized and dissatisfied section into the
mainstream socio-political order without altering the very structure
of society and polity. The distribution of surplus wealth among the
poor and dissatisfied groups through welfare schemes keeps them
satisfied and brings legitimacy to the state or the regime. However,
their economies are already at a subsistence level. Any further
depreciation in their economies, due to environmental crisis, would
inevitably weaken these states financially, politically and socially.
Most of the developing states were born and reborn after many
decades of awful colonial past. These countries were colonies of the
European imperial powers such as the Great Britain, France, Spain,
Portugal, etc. The colonizers materially exploited these countries a
lot and plundered their environmental resources with impunity. This
resulted in extensive destruction of the ecological foundations of
these states and their people. The colonial powers played the policy
of divide and rule to keep these countries subjugated for so long
time. People of these countries were deliberately divided along racial,
religious, ethnic and regional lines. They were made to fight against
each other. As part of their colonial design, they forcefully imposed
artificial administrative and political boundaries on territories of the
developing countries to divide the people. No care was given to the
ecological, social and economic rationality while delineating territories.
Instead, boundaries were drawn between territories to create fracture
between people of various ethnic affiliations. Thus, the long-drawn
colonial rule financially and socially weakened these countries.
It should be noted that a weak state usually provide greater
opportunities to its challenger groups to denounce its external and
internal sovereignty. As Nicholas Hildyard (1993: 70) says:
“As soils are eroded, so land is taken out of production; as seas are over
fished and rivers polluted, so fisheries crash; as forests are logged out
or succumb to damage from air pollution, so timber supplies are
threatened; and economic cost of mitigating damage rise, so capital is
diverted away from productive growth.”

5
The state might also become a hard regime to control civil strife
and conflicts caused by environmental crisis. In this context, Ted
Robert Gurr (1985:70) argues that bureaucratic authoritarian states
would be better able to suppress scarcity-induced conflicts caused by
environmental crisis in the short term than democratic societies.
Advertently, many developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin
America became authoritarian regimes not long after emerging from
the clutches of colonialism.
Thus, the bio-physical, social-economic and political processes
in the developing countries provide ideal conditions for the occurrence
of environmental conflicts there. In these countries, a large proportion
of population depends depend on renewable resource for their well-
being and survival. The decline in the quality and quantity of renewable
resources cause economic decline, decline in the standard of living
and an increase in relative deprivation. Environmental changes also
cause destruction of human habitat and out-migration of people.
These conditions provide fertile ground for the emergence of various
types of environmentally-induced conflicts in many regions of these
countries.
Not all regions of developing countries are uniformly prone to
environmental conflicts. Some regions are greater susceptible to such
conflicts. These regions include arid and semi-arid lands, tropical rain
forests, steep sloped mountains and highlands, coastal low land and
islands, river valleys, mining, industrial and peri-urban areas. These
regions suffer from either one or more of the following factors of
environmental crisis - huge population size, environmental
degradation, unequal social distribution of resources, environmental
disasters or destructive development practices.
In view of these, this book endeavours to develop an
understanding of processes of environmental conflicts - as a causal
link between environmental crisis and social conflicts - particularly
from the point of view of the developing countries. Towards this, it
maps environmental crisis in some of the most vulnerable
geographical regions of the developing countries. It, then, goes on
to map occurrences of various types of environmentally-induced
conflicts in these regions. The book also attempts to predict the future

6
pattern and trend of occurrences of environmentally-induced social
conflicts. Finally, it offers some basic ideas for the resolution of
environmental conflicts.
The book hypothesizes that there is a close relationship between
environmental crisis and social conflict, but the magnitude/degree
varies with the intensity. It presumes that environmental crisis is mostly
locational so as the social conflict. Finally, the frequency of
environmentally-induced social conflict would grow in future,
particularly in the developing countries.
Keeping in view objectives of the study, the book is organized
into seven chapters. The introduction of the book problematizes the
linkage between environmental crisis and social conflicts from a
geographical perspective. First chapter deals with the concept of
environment and environmental crisis from the point of view of
conflict and security studies. Second chapter discusses various
perspectives on conflicts deals. It examines various types of conflicts
and their underlying causes. Third chapter attempts to conceptualize
environmental conflict from the perspective of developing countries.
Chapter four looks into the processes of causal relations between
environmental crisis and social conflict. The focus is on varying human
perceptions of environmental crisis and their reactions. Chapter five
describes distinct character of environmental crisis in some of the
geographical regions of the developing countries. Chapter six maps
the spatial distribution on environment confl icts and their
geographical determinants. Environmental conflicts at various scales
- local, regional and national - have been discussed. Various cases of
environmental conflicts have been examined. The chapter ends with
a discussion on the future of environmentally-induced conflict in
the developing countries. In the seventh chapter, some elementary
idea s have been proposed which can be applied to resolve
environmentally-induced conflicts. The book concludes by
summarizing the study.

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CHAPTER 1
ENVIRONMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Everything is related to everything else; one cannot simply change one
aspect of nature or society without directly or indirectly affecting other
aspects of nature and society.
INTRODUCTION
The term environment is used in many different ways. In the
conflict and security studies, it refers specifically to renewable resources
– land, water, forest and animals. Human beings universally depend
on these resources for their well-being and survival. However, the
dependence of the poor and the unskilled is far greater. In developing
countries, such communities as farmers, fishermen, foresters, hunters,
gatherers, miners and animal herders directly depend on renewable
resources of their surroundings for meeting their basic needs. The
overall economy of developing countries also depends on agriculture
and allied activities including agro-based industries. Any decline in
the performance of these sectors inevitably implies weakening of
the economic strength of the country. This could also lead to decline
in the standard of living, disordering in the distribution of resources
and increase in the relative deprivation of the population. The
economic decline of the state and the decline in the standard of
living of the people could have serious repercussions on the social
and political health of these countries.
The chapter begins by defining concepts related to man-
environment relations hip such as objective environment,
environmental perception and cognition, image and behavioural
environment. It, then, goes on to examine various causes of
environmental crisis. Lastly, it discusses socio-economic consequences
of environmental crisis.
ENVIRONMENT
The term ‘environment’ refers to a surrounding. It implies the
aggregate of all the external conditions and influences affecting the

8
life and development of an organism. This definition of environment
involves three basic questions. What is surrounded? By what is it
surrounded? Where is it surrounded? It is meaningless to discuss
the meaning of the term environment in abstract. It must entail the
surrounding of something. It could be surroundings of a person or
a group of plants, animals and other organisms. However, human
geographers are concerned with human and their surroundings. Even
in the context of environmental conflict and security literature, it is
the surroundings of human being and that of the state which are of
interest. The human surroundings may be defined as ‘all the
phenomena which affect human activities and all the phenomena
which are affected by human activities’. (Conacher, Arthur, 1979: 158)
The environment of a person consists of both physical and
biological phenomena. The physical environment comprises of the
land, water and air while the biological environment includes the plants,
animals and other organisms. The environment of a person or a group
of people also includes other people and their activities. The answer
to the third question is the geographical space or habitat or ecological
system. The spatial system is made up of many different sub-systems.
Each part of the earth’s surface has unique characteristics such as
locational, physical and biological conditions which in turn affect the
spatial relationships that human have with it. Geographer’s task is to
identify and analyse the form and nature of the ecological system in
which man interacts with his environments being influenced by it
and in turn modifying it (Knowles R. and Wareing, J. 1990: 2).
HUMAN DEPENDENCE ON NATURAL
ENVIRONMENT
As discussed above, in security and conflict studies, the term
environment is used to refer to renewable resources. Renewable natural
resources comprise of land, water, forests, fisheries and bio-diversity.
These resources are essential for the well-being and survival of human
beings. In fact, natural environment provides the setting within which
man operates, presenting him with a range of opportunities (services)
and constraints (Knowles R. and Wareing, J. 1990: 3). In general,
natural environment provides four main types of essential services
to humanity (Hanley, Nick, et al. 1979: 2-8). First, it serves as the

9
basic source of raw material and inputs that support all of the material
needs and desires. However, the nature of this dependence varies
across communities. In isolated and primitive agricultural societies,
any change in natural environment has direct bearing on lives of the
people. On the other hand, in advanced agricultural societies, the
human relationship with the natural environment is much more
complex. However, the ultimate sources of food and raw materials
remain the nature for all types of communities. Second, it is the sink,
which absorbs and recycles (normally at little or no cost to society)
the waste products of human society. Third, it provides essential life
support functions (such as blocking of ultra-violet rays by the
stratospheric ozone layer), without which many living organism would
cease to exist. Finally, it acts as a supplier of amenity, education, social
and spiritual values. Tourists derive pleasure from the existence of
wilderness areas in forests and mountains. For researchers, they
provide the environment where useful education and research can be
carried out. The tribal groups who are mostly naturalist and national
habitats local attach economic, spiritual and cultural values to them.
Natural environment also affects human beings by imposing
constraints in their day-to-day lives. Extreme natural events like floods,
droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, sea surges and
atmospheric storms create numerous constrains for human beings.
No part of the earth is immune from some or other forms of extreme
natural events. However, the impact of such events is unequally borne
by different communities. As a matter of fact, impacts of extreme
natural events on people are mediated by their socio-spatial locations.
Generally, the poor and socio-spatially marginalized people are more
vulnerable than the rich. Similarly, people inhabiting the hazard prone
areas are more vulnerable than those living away from such areas. It
is generally the poor and the marginalized communities who live in
hazard prone areas.
ENVIRONMENTAL PERCEPTION, COGNITION
AND IMAGE
Ma n’s relationship with hi s env ironment is indirect.
Environmental behaviour of humans does not depend on the
objective environment. Instead, it depends on the image of the

10
objective environment that each person carries with himself. This
image is, therefore, as important as an objective environment. The
image of the world that each person carries is called subjective
environment. It is the environment as perceived by man. This image
is created as a result of interaction of humans with the real world (i.e.
objective environment) through the process of perception and
cognition. It is this image which affects human behaviour. Therefore,
an appreciation of how images of the objective environment are
created and how behaviour is affected by individual’s mental model
of the real world is very important.
The term environmental perception is defined as the process
by which an individual gains knowledge of the world by receiving
stimuli from the environment through his or her senses (Knowles R.
and Wareing, J. 1990: 12). On the other hand, the term cognition
refers to the way information once received, is stored and organized
in the brain so that it fits in with already accumulated knowledge that
a person has with his or her value (Golledge, R. G. and Stimson, R. J.,
1987: 38).
‘Cognition occurs in a spatial context when the spaces of interest are so
extensive that they cannot be perceived or apprehended at once. Thus,
these large scale spaces have to be committed to memory and cognitively
organized to contain events and objects that are outside the immediate
sensory field of a person’. (Stea, D. quoted by Golledge, R.G. and
Stimson, R. J., 1987: 38)
The end product of perception and cognition is a mental image
of the objective environment that each individual carries within
himself. The signals are initially filtered through perception then
further filtered through the cognitive representation given to these in
relation to previous cognitive structures in the brain (Golledge, R. G.
and Stimson, R. J., 1987: 38). The mental image of environment that
each individual carries inside his/her head is very important as it
constitutes the frame of reference within which he/she behaves.
The process of perception and cognition and its consequent
mental image of the environment may happen through both direct
and indirect experiences.
1. Direct experience occurs through senses, i.e. by touch taste, smell,
hearing and sight. Direct experience is an actual visit to place and

11
it forms the basis for the most accurate perception (Whynne-
Hammond, Charles, 1979: 9).
2. Indirect experience is based on knowledge acquired through
secondary sources such as books, films, newspapers, maps,
advertisement, relatives and friends. Mass media has become a
very important source of knowledge about the environmental
issues. This kind of information is helpful but not always accurate
(Whynne-Hammond, Charles, 1979: 9).
An image is both an individual phenomenon and a cultural
phenomenon. Each person receives image of the environment
distinctively. In other words, no two persons share exactly the same
image or idea of an environment. The perception of two individuals
varies as a function of the differences in the content of the
information presented and the differences in the ability of the
individual to pick up the information messages (Golledge, R. G. and
Stimson, R. J., 1987: 38). The objective environment is extremely
complex. It presents individual with so many images. Not all images
are important for an individual. Therefore, a process of selection has
to take place. It is the culture which enables him/her to choose certain
stimuli and not others. The culture through which the reality is
perceived consists of such considerations as philosophy and ideology
(i.e. beliefs, concepts and attitudes of individuals and groups), skills
and tools (i.e. acquired abilities for manipulating the human and natural
environment), social organizations (i.e. various social institutions) and
communications (i.e. skills by which various cultural expressions are
transferred). Thus, an image is both an individual phenomenon and
a cultural phenomenon to the extent that similar individual in similar
milieu are likely to behave in the same way. That is to say, although
each individual perceives uniquely, the resultant behavioural
environments have much in common because they are derived from
both common neurological mechanisms that are innate in people
and form common super-imposed socializing experience (Ittelson
W. H. quoted by Walmsley, D. J. and Lewis, G. J. 1984: 10). Thus,
people belonging to different cultures may perceive the same
environment differently. Human geographers are concerned with the
influence of culture on individuals’ views of environment and ways
in which perceptions of objective environment vary across cultures.

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BEHAVIOURAL ENVIRONMENT
In the preceding section, the relations between human and their
objective environment have been explained. Mental images of
objective environment are created through processes of perception
and cognition. Human response to objective environment (i.e.
stimulus) is indirect. Perception forms a crucial intervening link
between stimulus and response (i.e. behaviour). Each person has an
image of the environment within himself. Human behaviour depends
on this image. It is also clear from the preceding section that human
response to environment is affected by the culture; and people from
different cultures may perceive the same quite environment differently.
Thus, culture is the primary factor affecting the way in which human
being respond to the environment. There are different types of
cultures in the world. As a result, there are diverse cultural responses
even to the same environment. For example, in the semi-desert regions
of Africa two distinct cultures can be identified – nomadic herdsmen
and sedentary farmers. Both groups have developed different
relationship with the environment. Nomadic herdsmen utilize land
for the grazing of animals only even though such lands are suitable
for cultivation. The sedentary farmers, on the other hand, utilize the
same land for crop cultivation even though such land is suitable for
animal husbandry. Both groups are at different stages of cultural
development. As a result, they relate and use the same piece of
environment differently. It is no wonder that the inter-group difference
in the utilization of the same piece of land is the principal cause of
conflicts.
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Human beings live in a state of dynamic equilibrium with their
environments. Environment is in a constant state of flux. Human
beings make internal adjustments in response to external changes in
environment to be able to survive, feed, grow and reproduce. When
the dynamic equilibrium between human beings and their environment
either changes or breaks down, environmental crisis arises. Such a
disequilibrium situation is manifested in various ways - depletion and
pollution of fresh water supplies, degradation and loss of good
agricultural land, degradation and removal of forests, depletion of

13
fisheries, etc. In other words, if a change to or a breakdown of the
dynamic equilibrium between human beings and their environment,
possibly caused by human actions, threatens or perceived to be such
by some people as threat to their economic, social and cultural
activities, to physical well-being, including comfort and health, to
psychological well-being, including aesthetic appreciation and to
identity, the environmental crisis arises. For example, increasing
pollution of freshwater is not an environmental crisis per se (that is
to the stream itself). It becomes a crisis only when it threatens or is
perceived as threatening certain human activities and well-being - the
use of water for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes.
Environmental crisis can also be said to have arisen when there is a
growing concern over loss of aquatic life. Thus, an environmental
crisis may be defined as the crisis produced by changes in or
breakdown of relationship between human beings and their
environment, possibly caused by human actions, which threatens or
perceived as threatening certain human activities or well-being.
An important point that comes out from this definition of
environmental crisis is that the term is usually discussed from the
point of view human beings. There would be no environmental crisis
occurs if it does not produce adverse effect on human beings. In
other words, environmental crisis does not occur if a change in
environment is not perceived by people as threatening their lives,
habitats and livelihood. Therefore, there is a need to identify causes
which bring changes or break down the dynamic equilibrium between
human beings and environment and thereby produces grave
consequences to physical, economic and socio-cultural security of
the people. Thomas F. Homer-Dixon (2004: 8) has identified three
main causes of environmental crisis/scarcity/change.
1. Environmental degradation and ecological changes;
2. Exponential growth in human population; and
3. Skewed distribution of environmental resources or unequal access
to environmental resources.
These causes of environmental crisis operate either singly or in
combination. Let us take environmental degradation and ecological
change. Environmental degradation simply means overall lowering

14
of environmental qualities brought in by human activities in the basic
structure of the components of the environment to such an extent
that these adverse changes adversely affect all biological communities
in general and human society in particular (Singh, Savinder, 1991:
223). In short, the term environmental degradation means that the
condition of the natural environment turns worst under the influence
of human caused actions. By reducing ecosystem and ecological
diversity, environmental degradation is also responsible for producing
ecological imbalance.
The following types of environmental degradation and
ecological changes either singly or in combinations produce
environmental crisis.
• g reenhou s e-induced global wa rming and the resulta nt
submergence of low-lying sea coasts and islands;
• stratospheric ozone depletion;
• acid rain;
• degradation and loss of arable lands;
• depletion and pollution of freshwater supplies;
• degradation and removal of forests;
• loss of biological diversity;
• mining and quarrying;
• disposal of waste materials;
• degradation of natural and cultural heritage
• human-induced environmental hazards; and
• loss of habitats of indigenous communities.
Human activities are responsible for disturbing the equilibrium
between incoming solar radiation and the loss of energy from earth
to space (i.e. terrestrial radiation). There has been an increase in the
greenhouse effect due to enhanced levels of carbon dioxide (CO2),
water vapour, sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrous oxides (N2O), methane
(CH4), and a variety of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The most
important of the CFCs are CFCL3 and CF2CL2. These gases are added
primarily by use of aerosol sprays, refrigerants and foams (Norton,
William, 1995: 92-93). As a result of this there is an overall increase
in the temperature of the earth. The phenomenon is called global

15
warming. There is a serious concern that the global warming would
accelerate sea-level rise, modify ocean circulation and change marine
ecosystems. Such changes, in turn, would have serious socio-economic
and political consequences. The predicted rise is about 20 cm in global
mean seal-level by the year 2030 and 65 cm by the end of the 21st
century, and there will be significant regional variations (ICPC, Quoted
by Tolba, Mustafa K., 1992: 29). A sea level rise of this magnitude
will threaten low-lying islands and coastal zones. It would render some
island countries uninhabitable, displace tens of millions of people,
seriously threaten low-lying areas, flood productive lands, contaminate
fresh-water supplies and change coastlines (Tolba, Mustafa K., 1992:
29-30). Sea-level rise would hit hardest the agricultural societies of
coastal low lands. Agriculture is the chief source of livelihood and
main strength of economy in low latitude countries. Island nations
in all the ocean and seas could also be badly affected. In coastal
lowlands, such as in Bangladesh, China and Egypt, inundation due to
sea-level rise and storm surges could lead to significant economic
losses and social disruptions. A sea level-rise, even if of only one
metre, would threaten the habitat and human life in Maldives.
The second major environmental concern is the depletion of
stratospheric ozone layer. Ozone (O3) is a form of oxygen that occurs
naturally in the cool upper atmosphere. It serves as a protective sun
screen for the earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation that is
potentially harmful, causing skin cancer, cataracts, and a weakening
of the human immune system (Norton, William, 1995: 92-93). The
increased incidence of ultraviolet radiation is likely to raise the rate
of disease not only among humans but also livestock. The loss of
stratospheric ozone may damage fish at larval stage and plankton
that form the basis of the marine food chain (UNEP: 1995: 52). It
could damage trees and agricultural crops and decrease their
productivity. These in turn could hamper economic health of nation
states and the livelihood security of people dependent on agriculture
and allied activities.
One of the most serious atmospheric pollution which has
emerged during the past few decades is the incidence of acid rain. In
acid rain, there is deposition on the earth’s surface of sulphuric and
nitric acid formed in the atmosphere as a result of fossil fuel and

16
biomass burning (Norton, William, 1995: 312). It can cause widespread
damage to ecology, economy and built environment. The damage to
crops and forests, lakes and rivers, buildings and structures due to
acid rain is growing. Acid rain causes serious harms to freshwater
lakes and river systems. Common symptoms of the early stages of
acidification include reduced fish population, declining reproductive
rates and decreased species diversity; advanced acidification brings
wholesale fish death (Park, Chris, 1991: 31).
An accelerated loss of arable land is taking place due to soil
erosion, salinization, alkalization, water logging and desertification.
Erosion is one of the key elements in soil degradation. It causes
decline of soil productivity. Unless checked, soil erosion can lead to
abandonment of land. The process of desertification reduces
biological productivity. It results in reduction of plant biomass. The
capacity of land to produce livestock and crop decreases. Degradation
of land could result in decline of agricultural productivity and decrease
in the per capita availability of arable land. Eventually human well-
being would be adversely affected.
Freshwater is one of the most critical resources. It is used for
domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes. This resource is not
uniformly distributed across the nations and regions. Many regions
of the world are already facing water shortage. Further decline in
freshwater due to pollution and over-use would cause water crisis.
The per capita availability of water would be decreasing. Already the
scarcity fresh water is adversely affecting human health, economy
and ecology in various parts of the world.
Forest resource has ecological and economic value. It is the
source of livelihood of large number of people. Human being
depends on forests for fuel-wood, timber and other minor forest
products. Fuel-wood and charcoal are critical for the poor. They are
the cheapest available fuels and are used extensively to provide energy
for cooking, heating and lighting. Further deforestation would be
producing severe scarcity of fuel-wood and fodder. The journeys
made to gather fuel, fodder and fibre would become even longer. It
would further increase man-hours spent on collection of fuel-wood,
fodder and minor forest products. These articles are often collected
by women and children. Deforestation results in large-scale

17
displacement of forest communities. After abandoning their homes
they are forced to seek their livelihood in other places which may be
socially and culturally unfamiliar and hostile.
Wild species and genetic variation within them make substantial
contributions to the development of agriculture, medicine and
industry. Many wild species constitute the livelihood sources of various
communities who depend on them for food, fuel and fibre. Many
species are essential for stabilizing climate. They also help in the
protection of watersheds, soil, nurseries and animals’ breeding
grounds. The loss of biological diversity will restrict all these socio-
economic and environmental benefits and, in the long run, will
compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs
(Tolba, Mustafa K., 1992: 79-80). The loss of genetic diversity among
domestic plants and animals is an even greater threat to human welfare
compared to loss of wild species. It is the richness in bio-diversity
that would enable crops to adapt to future environmental changes.
Mining and quarrying are essential perquisite for industrial
development. They are suppliers of industrial raw materials. Mining
and quarrying activities adversely impact the immediate vicinity of
their sites. Extraction of minerals and rocks is associated with land
subsidence and underground mine fires. Mining and quarrying
threaten settlements, aesthetic and socio-economic activities of the
locality. Minerals generally occur in forested areas and mountains
where the poor indigenous communities live. Mineral extraction causes
damages to their habitats. The economy and culture of indigenous
communities are threatened.
The industrialised and urban ecosystems produce huge quantities
of domestic and industrial wastes. Exposure to hazardous wastes
and hazardous processes causes chronic health problems. It adversely
affects workers and the poor and marginalized communities by
worsening their already poor health due to lack of proper drinking
water and sanitation facilities.
The heavy metal chemical pollutes the water system which may
be a threat to aquatic life and human health. Moreover, underground
water and soils may also be contaminated by heavy metals. Chemical
fertilizers used in agriculture pollute surface and ground waters.

18
Natural and cultural heritage are vital to communities and the
state for the aesthetic, historical, scientific and social values. The
degradation of natural and cultural heritage due to deforestation, air
pollution and human interferences leads to depletion of works of
the nature and human beings.
Some environmental hazards are human-induced. These are
droughts, floods, landslides and diseases. These hazards pose serious
threats to lives of human and other living beings and economic
activities.
There are some 200 million people worldwide who can be
described as indigenous communities. They live in isolated and semi-
isolated areas such as forests, mountains, deserts and semi-deserts.
These people have developed strong ties to their ancestral land. Land
and forest are much more than an economic resource. These people
have learnt not only to extract a living from these resources on a
sustainable basis but they form the very basis of their being. It is
through their habitat that indigenous people find their meaning as
cohesive social and cultural group. Forces of modernization and
outside influences are disturbing their traditions, culture and ways of
life. The destruction of their habitat due to deforestation, mining,
construction of dams and reservoir is posing threats to their very
survival and existence.
It is in these various ways that environmental degradation and
ecological changes cause decline in the quality and quantity of
environmental resources. The degradation of renewable resources
occurs faster than it is renewed by natural processes. These processes
are producing adverse socio-economic and health consequences on
human being. A change or break-down of the dynamic equilibrium
between human beings and environment adversely affect their
economic, social and cultural activities. It also threatens their physical
and psychological well-being or at least perceived such by people.
Population growth is a cause of environmental crisis as well as
environmental degradation. It actually has dual impacts on
environmental crisis. The high population growth has multiplied
pressure on all renewable resources such as fresh water, soil forests
and biodiversity as well as non-renewable resources - minerals and

19
fossil fuels. Population growth reduces per capita availability of a
resource by dividing it among more and more people.
The high rate of population growth is considered as the principal
cause of both poverty and environmental degradation. Due to
population growth, the growth of labour supply out-places its demand.
This leads to the marginalisation of labour. The pressure by an
increasingly marginalised poor rural population on common lands is
identified as an important link between socio-economic development
and environmental degradation, especially in dry-land agriculture in
arid and semi-arid areas (Bifani, P. 1992: 106-107). The poor are forced
and pushed to exploit the marginal areas of low productivity. In the
absence of capital and appropriate technology they tend to over-
exploit natural resources (e.g. land, water and wood). A process of
cumulative causation sets in, reinforcing poverty, which in turn exerts
more and more pressure on the environment.
Population growth gives rise to a rapid increase in demands for
food and other commodities. This, in turn, leads to the adoption of
policies which are mainly concerned with maximization of food
production to the neglect of environment. Thus, population growth
has dual impact on environmental crisis. It causes environmental crisis
directly. Simultaneously, it produces environmental crisis by degrading
the environment.
To properly understand the nature of population pressure on
environmental resources, it is important to link increasing numbers
of people with their respective consumption styles and consumption
levels. Consumption is directly tied to resource use and waste
generation and hence the environmental degradation. The living
standards prevalent in industrialised countries characterized by high
consumption life styles can hardly be called sustainable. Although
the population of developed countries is less than 20 per cent of the
world’s population, they are responsible for most of the production,
trade and consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), carbon dioxide
and sulphur emissions. The consumption pattern of less than 20 per
cent of world’s population (even if they are associated with a very
low rate of population growth) are likely to exert a far more significant
impact on environment and natural resources than the higher rate of

20
population growth of a much larger population with a much lower
consumption capacity.
Third important cause of environmental crisis is skewed
distribution of resources/unequal access to resources. When farmers
encroach on tropical rainforests or cultivate fragile hill sides or semi-
desert areas, population growth is blamed. But the pressure actually
originates from the concentration of land in the hands of few people.
The rest of the population is left without much land. Thus, population
pressure on renewable resources is a reflectance of an extremely
skewed distribution of these resources. Unequal resource distribution
concentrates a resource in the hands of few and subjects the rest to
greater crisis.
These causes of environmental crisis often interact and produce
two patterns of interaction - “resource capture” and “ecological
marginalisation” (Figure nos. 1.1 and 1.2). These are modified models
of Homer-Dixon (Homer-Dixon, Thomas F., 1994: 10). The
environmental degradation and ecological changes in combination
with rapid population growth encourage powerful groups within a
society to shift resource in their favour with dire environmental
consequences (i.e. environmental crisis) for poorer and weaker groups
whose claims to resources are opposed by these powerful groups.
Homer-Dixon (1994: 10) calls this type of interaction as “resource
capture”.

21
The skewed distribution of resources and/or unequal resource
access in combination with population growth can cause land
extensification. Since sites with good land tend to be cultivated first,
land extensification increasingly requires the use of marginal lands,
such as equatorial rainforests, steep slopes or semi-arid lands. Increase
in population density in these areas, in combined with lack of resource
and technology among households to counter the decrease in natural
soil fertility and lack of incentives to invest in soil, causes severe
environmental damages. Population growth remains a crucial variable
in both these patterns of interaction. Examples of resource capture
can be given from the Senegal River Valley (Senegal and Mauritania)
and the West Asia. On the other hand, examples of ecological
marginalisation are found in Philippines, the Himalayas, Indonesia,
Brazil, Costa Rica and the Sahel.
These sources of environmental crisis occur ubiquitously.
However, in addition to these, other sources of environmental crisis
are worth consideration. Political economy of development, for
example, has drawn much attention of scholars in the recent decades
especially in the wake of liberalization-privatisation-globalization
(LPG). The construction of large scale developmental projects, such
as dams and reservoir, biosphere reserves, mining, setting of factory
on fertile land forces people to leave their habitats and move to other
areas.

22
CONSEQUENCES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Environmental crisis occurs when a change to or breakdown
of dynamic equilibrium between human beings and their environment
perceived by some people as threatening their economic, social or
cultural activities or their physical or psychological well-beings. Ashok
Swain (1993: 13-18), has identified three important socio-economic
consequences of environmental degradation: (a) disordering the
distribution of environmental resources and competition; (b) loss of
environmental sources of living and migration; and (c) deterioration
in the standard of living and frustration. According to Volkar Boge
(1995: 832-833) socio-economic effects of environmental degradation
are as follow:
1. Economic Problems/Economic Decline
-Decrease in agricultural production
-Insufficient supplies of basic goods for population
-Problems regarding industrial production, transportation system,
traffic, etc.
-Decline in production of world market and associated effects
-Production of industrial toxic waste and waste in general
-Industrial accidents/catastrophes and their economic repercussion
-Large-scale negative effects on human health
2. Population Displacement/Large-scale Migration
-Environmental refugees caused by desertification, sea level rise,
hurricanes, and floods, large-scale industrial catastrophes (e.g.,
nuclear meltdowns), overfishing of certain coastal areas, etc.
3. Domestic Problems and Differences
-Ethnic divides inter alia aggravated by environmentally-induced
migration caused by soil erosion, etc.
-Social divide inter alia aggravated by economic decline
-Other manifestations of domestic destabilization with grave
effects on the stability of social institutions and social structures
(religious fundamentalism, organized crime, and guerrilla
movement).

23
Some other important socio-economic implica tions of
environmental crisis, especially in the developing countries are decline
in the economy of the region, loss of sources of aesthetic pleasure,
erosion of cultural identifies and disruption of ways of life of people.
Environmental crisis may result in the reduction in the availability
of arable land, fresh water, forests and fish resources for the
consumption of humans. In this situation, it becomes difficult for
the all social actors to be comfortable with the reduced availability or
prospect of future availability of these resources. In the event of
declining resources, competition between stakeholders intensifies. In
these competitions, it is the poor who find it extremely difficult to
subsist.
The degradation and depletion of environmental resources
often affect economic productivity in poor countries and thereby
contributing to decline in the standard of living of people. For
example, the depletion of fish stocks and forest lands may severely
jeopardize the export earnings of a country. It may impoverish the
local economy as well. Climatic change-induced extreme events, such
as droughts and floods could drive countries with poor economies to
virtual bankruptcy. A drop in agricultural output may weaken rural
communities. It may cause malnutrition and disease among the poor.
Natural and cultural heritage are important resources used for
aesthetic pleasure by the present community. The degradation and
depletion of these resources could lead to the loss of psychological
well-being of people including their aesthetic appreciation.
In the developing countries, agriculture is the most important
source of subsistence. A decline in its production might result in the
loss of livelihood of millions of people. The shortage of clean water
or lack of availability of raw materials might lead to the closure of
industrial plants and a subsequent loss of jobs. The depletion and
removal of forests and depletion of fish stock would deprive a large
number of people who are directly dependent on these resources as
source of living. It is worth emphasizing that environmental crisis
mostly deprives the poor and other socially disadvantaged groups. It
destroys environmental foundations of their livelihood.

24
Various ethnic groups inhabit isolated and semi-isolated regions
throughout the world. They are known as indigenous or tribal people.
They are often the original inhabitants of the region they have been
living since ancient time. They have developed ways of life in balance
with their natural environment. They identify themselves with their
natural surroundings. Their ways of life reflect the characteristics of
their natural environment. It has evolved through their interaction
with their surroundings since ancient times. Their territories are often
the storehouse of renewable and non-renewable resources. These
areas are also considered as the frontier areas for human expansion.
The construction of dams and reservoirs to generate hydroelectricity,
extraction of mineral resources for industrial plants and cutting of
forests for industrial and commercial purposes not only deprive them
of environmental foundations of their livelihood but also threatens
their cultural identities and ways of life.
Economic growth in a country is considered as one of the most
important factors for integrating the disgruntled sections of
population into the existing socio-political order without altering the
very structure of society. The allocation of excess wealth among the
discontented people keeps them content and peaceful. This helps in
restoring the legitimacy to the state as well as the regime. Economic
decline may weaken the tax base and earnings from export and also
undermine financial, legal and political institutions of a state. It can
cause shifts in class relations. The widening gap between state capacity
and the demand on the state could aggravate grievances of citizens
and erodes legitimacy of a state. The socially disadvantaged in many
parts of the Third World are increasingly turning to overt strategies
of collective resistance and, as manifested in environmental
movements, such strategies represent a potentially potent challenge
to local, national and even international political processes (Bryant,
Raymond L. 1992: 27).
CONCLUSION
In conflict and security studies, the term environment refers to
renewable resources. The poor people directly depend on renewable
resources for their well-being and survival. The overall economic

25
health and prosperity of developing countries also depend on
performances of these resources. Environmental crisis is caused by
population growth, unequal access over resources, environmental
degradation and political economy of development. These factors
cause environmental crisis either singly or in combinations.
Therefore, a decline in the quality and quantity of these resources
not only adversely affect the economy and health of the poor but
also adversely influence the economy and polity of the developing
countries. It can also cause decline in the standard of living and
increase in relative deprivation of people. Due to unequal exposure
of people to environmental crisis, the resource distribution in the
society may become highly disorderly. Those communities whose
habitats have been destroyed due to ‘development projects’ experience
loss of their habitat and cultural identities.

26
CHAPTER 2
UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL CONFLICTS
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master
and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant
opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden,
now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary
re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the
contending classes.
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, 1848
INTRODUCTION
Conflicts are endemic in every society. But, why do conflicts
occur? Karl Marx believes that conflict performs certain functions in
the sense that it leads to not only to changes within the existing social
structure but also to the revolutionary transformation of the entire
social system. Conflicts have both positive and negative aspects.
Positively speaking, conflicts lead to progressive social change. Positive
conflicts aim at transforming the social order which is built on unequal,
unjust and exploitative relations. Such ‘conflicts arise when a group
or sections of a society try to redefine the dominant norms of the
society on the basis of which inequalities in privileges and power in
society are perpetuated’ (Bisaria, Sarojini and Sharma, Dinesh, 1984:
9). On the negative side, not all conflicts end with constructive
consequences. Such conflicts are generally waged by the people in
power to protect their interests. They fight to reinforce unequal, unjust
and hegemonic social relations. Environmental conflicts can occur
in both senses.
MEANING OF SOCIAL CONFLICT
Social conflict is ubiquitous across time and in space. It is a
natural and inevitable part of all human or group social relationships.
“Conflict as a social process refers to the relationship between two
members of a society or groups where the objective or interest of the
one is inconsistent with that of the other. Conflict may also arise because
of the inconsistency either of the methods that individuals and groups

27
employ in seeking their social objectives or because of the inconsistency
of the objectives or interests themselves” (Bisaria, Sarojini and Sharma,
Dinesh, 1984: 9).
Conflict is a generic phenomenon that knows no system
boundaries. It occurs at all societal levels – intra-psychic, inter-personal,
intergroup, intra-national and inter-national. Conflict is not necessarily
bad. The absence of conflict is not necessarily a good thing. As
mentioned above, conflict is not deviant behaviour. Conflict is not
sick behaviour or pathological per se. It can bring about progressive
changes in the society. It is also not necessarily opposite of order.
Disorder does not have a pattern. But conflict is highly patterned
and there is orderliness in conflict, although conflict at times can
become utterly chaotic. Conflict can be a very useful and helpful part
of social relationships. According to John W. Burton (1972: 137-38):
‘Conflict, like sex, is an essential creative element in human relationships.
It is the means to change, the means by which our social values of
welfare, security, justice and opportunities for personal development
can be achieved ... The existence of a flow of conflict is the only guarantee
that the aspirations of society will be attained. Indeed, conflict, like sex,
is to be enjoyed’.
James Laue (1987: 17) defines conflict as ‘escalated, natural
competition between two or more parties about scarce resources,
power and prestige. Parties in conflict believe they have incompatible
goals, and their aim is to neutralize, gain advantage over, injury or
destroy one another’. Wallensteen (quoted in Swain, Ashok, 1993:
20) defines conflict as ‘a social situation in which a minimum of two
parties strive at the same moment in time to acquire the same set of
scarce resources’. According to Lewis Coser (1956: 8): ‘Social conflict
is a struggle between opponents overvalues and claims to scarce
status, power and resources’. C. F. Fink (1968: 456) has defined
conflict as any ‘situation or process in which two or more social entities
are linked by at least one form of antagonistic psychological relation
or at least one form of antagonistic interaction’. From these
definitions, the following pre-conditions of conflict can be derived.
1. Interdependence: In conflict situation parties depend on one another.
Parties are considered interdependent if one party has the potential
to affect the other’s party’s ability to reach its goals.

28
2. Expressed struggles: Existence of two or more organised actors and
they are ready to undermine each other for the sake of achieving
the mutually incompatible goals.
3. Perceived scarcity of resource: Both parties perceive that there is scarcity
of resource in the society. They also believe that they can promote/
protect their interests by either obtaining the resource or by
denying their perceived enemy from acquiring or accessing the
resource.
4. Conscious behaviour of parties to achieve the mutually incompatible goal:
The perception is that only one party can achieve the goal and
that to at the cost to other party.
5. Perception of interference from another party: One party perceives that
the opposition party is interfering in its pursuit to achieve a goal.
PROCESSES OF CONFLICT
Conflict is a social process. It takes place between competing
actors in a society. In general, social systems are characterized by two
or more organised actors. Those who are better off (or are in power)
would like to keep the system the way it is. For them, conflict is a
disruption in the stability of the system and a possible threat to the
current organisation of power and resources. Parties with status quo
orientation try to suppress conflict when it occurs.
Those who are negatively located in the society tend to be change
oriented. They support conflict as a means to change the current
distribution of power and resources. Social conflicts result from this
clash of opposing interests. In the process, both parties attempt to
undermine each other in relation to the sharing of scarce resources.
To undermine one’s opponents is to prevent them from achieving
their objectives. When parties attempt to undermine each other
through fights, the process tends to involve some degree of
suppression of one actor by another. The higher intensity of
suppression would give rise to more severe frustration. This is a
situation of conflict in the sense of not only disagreement but also
in the sense of subjugation of one actor by another.

29
At a very fundamental level, conflicts could be inter-personal,
intra-personal and inter-group. The main causes of conflict may be
briefly stated.
1. Individual difference: In any given society, all individuals are not alike
in their nature, attitudes, ideal, interest and aspirations. Due to
these differences, a person or group might fail to accommodate
other persons or groups. This very fact may cause conflict among
them.
2. Cultural difference: Culture is the way of life of a group. It differs
from society to society. The culture of one group differs from
the culture of another group even within one society. These
cultural differences among the groups may cause tension and
conflict.
3. Clashes of interests: Clash of interests between different people
makes conflict inevitable. For example, interests of workers may
clash with those of their employers. It may result in conflict
between them.
4. Social Change: Conflicts may also arise due to the difference between
groups over the rate of social change. Change is the moral norms
of the society. Hopes, aspirations and demands of individuals
living in a society may lead to conflict. For example, conflict
between the old and new generations owes itself to the differences
in the attitude towards speed of life in Indian society. Here, conflict
may be viewed as an expression of social disequilibrium.
TYPES OF CONFLICTS
Michael T. Klare (1994: 97) has identified the following types
of conflicts on the basis of issues involved:
1. Regional conflicts between local rivals, or between a rising Third
World power and one (or most) of the established major powers.
2. Resource wars, sparked by conflicts between states or groups over
the control or possession of vital resources like water, energy or
mineral supplies.

30
3. Separatist and nationalist conflicts, involving attempts by
subordinated ethno-nationalist groups to establish their own
nation-state.
4. Irredentist conflicts, involving efforts by a particular ethno-
nationalist group to expand the boundaries of its current state to
encompass neighbouring areas inhabited by members of the same
group.
5. Ethnic, religious and tribal power struggles, entailing conflicts
within states over the distribution of land, jobs, aid funds and
other national resources.
6. Revolutionary and fundamentalist struggles, involving efforts by
ideological ly motivated movements (including religi ous
fundamentalists) to impose a particular type of social system on
a country through the use of force.
7. Pro-democracy and anti-colonial struggles, entailing efforts by
unrepresentative or colonized peoples to achieve freedom and
democracy. A related phenomenon is the struggle of indigenous
people to gain greatest rights and autonomy.
Who are the actors in conflicts? Conflict can arise at socio-
spatial scales – from individual to groups (formed on the basis of
race, language, religion, caste and class). Conflicts can also happen
between villages, between regions, between states or between two
groups of states. At each level, reasons of conflict vary considerably.
What are the causes of conflicts? Basically, the existence of
conflict in a society is an indication of continuing inter-group social,
political or material inequality. There could be several interrelated
causes of conflict. To an extent, it depends on the types of actors
involved in conflicts. For example, interstate conflicts are caused by a
combination of economic, territorial, cultural or any other issue of
national interest. On the other hand, inter-personal conflicts can
involve clash of immediate interests of persons. Identity conflicts
along racial and ethnic lines are quite common in the contemporary
world.

31
What are the consequences of conflict? Conflicts can lead to
overt violence that kills people through weapons or what is called
‘battle deaths’. But military conflicts can also have deaths that are
due to deaths from disease, starvation and malnutrition found
commonly during inter-state wars or civil wars.
Conflicts can also have social consequences unfolded through
what is called ‘structural violence’. Johan Galtung (1969: 167-191 )
uses the term ‘structural’ to refer to the systematic ways in which
social structures harm otherwise disadvantaged individuals by not
allowing them to lead a life in which their basic needs are satisfied.
This may be done in a society through prescribing religious or other
sanctions or setting up institutions that discriminate between people
and block access of particular groups to essential commodities and
services such as food, water, healthcare, education etc.
Conflict, as mentioned above, has both negative and positive
functions. Conflict can lead to progressive social transformations.
Conflicts can also give rise to a society which is built on unequal and
unjust order. If conflict is violent it may result in death and injuries.
On the other hand, non-violent conflict can achieve the same thing
without loss of any life and property. Conflict, as social action, is
both an integrative and disruptive force. Conflict can unite people
against a common enemy. For example, during the freedom
movements in many developing countries, people of different races,
religions, language speakers and regions united with each other to
fight against the colonial governments. Conflict can be a divisive force
as well. For example, frequently occurring violence along communal,
caste and linguistic lines tend to undermine national solidarity.
Who are the objects or referents of conflict? Conflicts between
nations can take place to safeguard citizens, territories, resources,
environment, and other national interests. Conflicts can also occur
when there is a potential threat to a nation from other nation or
group.
What are the instruments of resolving conflicts? There are many
techniques of resolving conflicts. However, conflict resolution
techniques generally depend on the nature of conflict. For example,
inter-state conflicts can be resolved by confidence-building measures,

32
track-one and track-two diplomacy. Conflicts are also managed by
means of establishment of institutions, legal statutes and conventions
whereby rules of the game are fixed and quantum of punishment for
lack of adherence to rules is agreed upon by various parties. Other
methods of conflict resolution are fact finding, negotiations,
bargaining, facilitation, mediation, arbitration, administrative and
legislative decisions, etc.
What are the needs of conflict prevention? Conflict prevention
is necessary to protect the loss of life and property. Conflicts
prevention is necessary to arrest the further escalation of conflicts.
What are the costs of conflict prevention? Conflict prevention
is a complex process. Sometimes a conflict can be prevented through
deterrence. For example, if a particular state possesses nuclear
weapons, other states fear from going to conflict with this state. Here,
nuclear weapons are used as deterrence. Conflict can also be prevented
by taking the dispute to a court of law for arbitration. It can also be
prevented by appointing a third party as arbitrator. Some of the major
approaches in dealing with conflicts are:
1. Negotiation: It incorporates involving the parties in a process of
discussion and bargaining. Negotiation seeks to bring conflicting
parties into voluntary agreement.
2. Adjudication: It includes using power by the state and its legal
system to provide an authoritative conclusion.
3. Mediation: It means using a third party to help the conflicting
parties come to a mutually acceptable agreement.
4. Arbitration: It means using a third party to decide, through prior
mutual consent, the issues in dispute.
CONCLUSION
Conflict, as a social process, occurs in every society. It has certain
social functions and dysfunctions. Disadvantaged people use conflict
as an instrument of social action to make the society more egalitarian,
just and free. On the other hand, people in power denounce conflict
as something which brings social instability.

33
In the post-cold war era, social conflicts have acquired centre-
stage with voices of women, minorities within nation-states and the
marginalized (subaltern) speaking out against those who have been
the centres of power within societies. This has indicated a paradigmatic
shift in the way conflicts were traditionally conceptualized. In case
of women, conflicts have meant questioning the patriarchal
institutions, practices and processes within societies. They have
successfully drawn attention towards issues relating to violence against
women, subordinated social as well as legal status of women vis-à-
vis men within societies. Similarly, issues of culture-power linkages
have been brought into centre through debates on multiculturalism.
Multiculturalists have questioned the way minority (marginalized)
cultures are to be placed in relation to the majority (mainstream)
cultures. The subaltern theorists on their part have focused on the
subjugated and suppressed voices within societies that have the
potential to stand in opposition to those voices that have traditionally
acquired the mainstream locations. All these are critical voices that
stress the presence of conflicts within societies.

34
CHAPTER 3
CONCEPTUALIZING ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
‘Industrialists and environmentalists, we suggest, inhabit different worlds
…. What is rational and reasonable from one perspective is irrational
from another.’
Stephen Cotgrove, 1982
INTRODUCTION
Defining the concept of environmental conflict is an uphill task.
The concept is not yet fully understood and therefore weakly
conceptualized. Ambiguities persist over the meaning of the terms
‘envi ronment’, ‘environmental crisis/scarcity/chang e’ and
‘environmental conflict’. The minimalist scholars define environment
in the sense of renewable resources. On the other hand, the
maximalists have treated the concept far more comprehensively to
take into account non-renewable resources as well as aesthetic and
spiritual significance of environment. Likewise, many scholars use
such terms as ‘environmental crisis’ ‘environmental change’ and
‘environmental scarcity’ interchangeably. This is in spite of the fact
that each of these terms has distinct meanings. One also comes across
scholars taking maximalist and minimalist positions while defining
the term environmental conflict. Some scholars take expansive
definition of environmental crisis by including under its ambit
traditional conflicts over non-renewable resources. On the other hand,
the purists define environmental crisis in a far restricted sense by
including conflicts arising out of destabilizing influence of the earth
eco-system. In view of differing interpretations of these concepts,
this chapter aims to present operational definitions of the concept
of ‘environmental conflict’ and identify its important traits.
DEFINITIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
A number of literature and research findings in recent years
have spawned up to demonstrate causal relationship between
environment and conflicts. In one of the path-breaking works in this

35
field, Thomas F. Homer-Dixon (1994: 5-40) has developed three
theoretical perspectives on environmentally-induced conflicts. First,
the decreasing supplies of physically controllable environmental
resources, such as clean water and good agricultural land, would
provoke interstate “simple -scarcity” conflicts or resource wars.
Second, large population movements caused by environmental stress
would induce “group-identity” conflicts, especially ethnic clashes. And
finally, severe environmental scarcity would simultaneously increase
economic deprivation and disrupt key social institutions which in
turn would cause “relative deprivation” conflicts such as civil strife
and insurgency (Figure 3.1).
The Toronto Group has presented eight key research findings on
linkage between environment and conflict and security.
1. Under certain circumstances, scarcities of renewable resources
such as cropland, fresh water and forests lead to civil violence
and instability. However, the role of ‘environmental scarcity’ is
often obscure.
2. Environmental scarcity is caused by the degradation and depletion

36
of renewable resources, the increased demand for these resources,
and or their unequal distribution. These three sources of scarcity
often interact and reinforce one another.
3. Resource capture and ecological marginalization in turn reinforce
environmental scarcity and raise the potential for social instability.
4. If social and economic adaptation is unsuccessful, ‘environmental
scarcity’ constrains economic development and contributes to
migrations.
5. In the absence of adaptation, environmental scarcity sharpens
existing distinctions among social groups.
6. In the absence of adaptation, environmental scarcity weakens
governmental institutions and states.
7. The above intermediate social effects of environmental scarcity -
including constrained economic productivity, population
movements, social segmentation, and weakening of institutions
and states- can in turn cause ethnic conflicts, insurgencies, and
coups d’etat.
8. Conflicts generated in part by environmental scarcity can have
significant indirect effects on the international community
(Homer-Dixon, Thomas F. and Blitt, Jessica, 1998: 223-228).
Elsewhere, Homer-Dixon (1991: 76-108) has studied the role
of environmental change in acute conflicts. He defined acute conflict
as a conflict involving a substantial probability of violence. His studies
(Homer-Dixon, Thomas F. et al., 1993: 38-45) point towards direct
causal relations between renewable resource scarcities and violent
conflicts in the developing countries. He considers environmental
change or scarcity as an independent variable. He (Homer-Dixon,
Thomas F., 1991: 77) argues that:
“Environmental changes may contribute to conflicts as diverse as war,
terrorism, or diplomatic and trade disputes. Furthermore, it may have
different causal roles; in some cases, it may be proximate and powerful
cause; in others, it may be only a minor and distant player in the tangled
story that involves many political, economic and physical factors.”

37
The Environment and Conflicts Project (ENCOP) (1992) under
the leaderships of Günther Baechler and Kurt R. Spillmann has
propos ed a comprehensive d efinition of the concept of
environmental conflict:
“Environmental crisis manifest themselves as political, social, economic,
ethnic, religious or territorial conflicts, or conflicts over resources or
national interests, or any other type of conflict. They are traditional
conflicts induced by an environmental degradation.
Environmental conflicts are characterized by the principal importance
of degradation in one or more of the following fields:
- Overuse of renewable resources;
- Overstrain of environmental sink capacity (pollution);
-Impoverishment of the space of living.
The focus of the research program lies in violent conflicts, actual or potential,
low and high intensity. The approach has to happen from two sides:
analysing actual conflicts if environmental factors are relevant for them;
analysing regions with serious environmental degradations if social
conflicts are resulting from them are leading or could lead in future to
violent conflicts”. (Libiszewski, Stephan 1992: 14)
Simon A. Mason and Kurt R. Spillmann (2003: 2) have linked
environment and conflict as follows:
‘...scarcity of renewable resources and degradation of the environment
can cause conflict when they interact with certain political and socio-
economic conditions. Such conflicts can turn violent in the intra-national
setting, often in the context of politica l instability and poverty.
International environmental conflicts, however, very rarely result in
military action. Yet lack of international cooperation over internationally
shared resources does hinder the adequate development of these
resources, thus leading to resource over-use or under-use, or unmitigated
‘natural’ catastrophes such as droughts and floods. These negative
impacts, in their turn, can be co-responsible for poverty, migration and
conflicts’.
Arthur Conacher (1979: 157-461) has argued that environmental
problems nearly always lead to conflicts amongst groups of people
over the use of land and resources, and that an important immediate
objective of environmental management - to resolve such conflicts -
requires integrated land use and environmental management in rural
as well as in urban areas.

38
Raquel Pinderhughes (1996: 231-248) has examined the
emerging body of empirical and theoretical works that social science
is contributing to our understanding of environmental inequality.
There is mounting evidence that minority and low-income populations
are asked to bear a disproportionate burden of the country’s air, water
and waste pollution problems. She considers that the disproportionate
exposure to environmental hazards is part of the complex cycle of
discrimination and deprivation faced by minorities in the United States.
She argues for linking of environmental justice movement, which
seeks to confront the causes and consequences of environmental
inequalities, and social science research on environmental inequality.
Bruce Byers (1991: 65-76) has explored some of the
consequences of incongruities between the natural boundaries of
eco-systems and the political borders between states. He argues that
this mismatching has potential to stimulate conflict, and that mapping
such incongruities can be a tool for predicting conflicts in time for
preventive action.
Rudolf K. Molvaer (1991: 178-188) has studied environmentally-
induced conflicts in the Horn of Africa. He considers that the
worsening state of people, both physically and socially, is because of
factors in their environmental surroundings. He draws attention to
both the worsening state of the environment, and the rapid population
growth, which can have the same effect. Tobias J. Lanz (1996: 157-
182) had empirically demonstrated the existence of specific linear
relationships between environmental degradation, social degradation,
and social conflicts in the Northern Highlands of Ethiopia, in Tigray
and Wallo provinces.
The report of the World Commission on Environment and
Development has unequivocally established link between environment
and conflict:
“Environmental degradation is both a cause and effect of political
tension and military conflict. Nations have often fought to assert or
resist control over raw materials, energy supplies, land, river basin, sea
passages and other key environmental resources. Such conflicts are likely
to increase as these resources become scarcer and competition for them
will increase”. (WCED, 1987: 290)

39
Shaukat Hassan (1992: 79-95) has studied the environmental
sources of conflicts in the South Asian subcontinent. He has
considered three important aspects of environmentally-induced
conflicts - the nature of environmental stress and its role in inter-
state conflict; the nature of resource rivalry and its contribution to
interstate conflict; and ways in which environment related conflicts
can be resolved and prevented. Environmental or natural resource
conflicts can ‘revolve around access to, and control and use of, land,
water, forests, pasture, and related environmental features. Such
conflicts can occur at all societal levels – from the intra-household to
the global’ (Castro, Peter A. 2005: 4).
Ashok Swain (1993) has identified various types of social
conflicts which are likely to emerge in response to environmental
destruction. He has developed a conceptual framework of
environmentally-induced social conflicts in the developing countries.
Narottam Gaan (1995: 827- 41) has demonstrated causal relationship
between environmental degradation and conflict from the South’s
perspective. Norman Myers (1987: 15-22) study shows nexus between
population, environment and conflicts. He considers population and
environment within a general framework of development; and he
looks at conflict in broad terms, including both civil disorder within
nations and hostile relations between nations.
Some scholars adopt a maximalist position while giving a
definition of environmental security. They argue that environmental
conflicts and security should take into consideration the depletion
of both renewable and non-renewable resources. For example, Arthur
H. Westing (1986: 295) is of the following view:
‘Environmental security has two basic sub-components. The first of
these – environmental protection – has three parts: protection from
wartime and similar vandalism; protection from medically unacceptable
environmental pollution; and protection, for special areas, from all
perm anent hum an intr usions. The seco nd sub- componen t of
environmental security is the sane resource utilization, whether non-
extractive or extractive depends upon exploitation, use or harvesting of
at all levels and employing procedures that either maintain or restore
optimal resource services or stocks...exploitation of renewable resources
must be carried out strictly on the principle of sustained use or sustained
discard, with exploitation of non-renewable resources strictly on the
principle of frugality.’

40
However, Stephen Libiszewski (1992: 1-14) vehemently criticizes
the definition of environmental security proposed by Arthur H.
Westing. He claims that environment-conflict linkage cannot be used
as synonymous with the traditional conflict over non-renewable
resources, particularly energy resources. There is a difference between
resource war and environmental conflict. Conflicts over access to or
possession of non-renewable natural resources cannot be regarded
as environmental conflicts. It is because of the fact that their
exhaustion to the fullest is termed as depletion, not degradation. The
depletion of non-renewable resources causes traditional conflicts over
natural resources such as minerals and fuels. For example, access to
control strategically important oil and natural gas resources is an
important example of actual or potential conflict over non-renewable
resources. Libiszewski (1992: 6) claims that conflicts caused by
physical, geopolitical and socio-economic sca rcity are not
environmental conflicts but traditional conflicts over resource
distribution. Environmental conflicts, on the other hand, are caused
by the disrupting interferences of human beings in the equilibrium
of the earth’s ecosystems, which negatively affect human society.
Environmental conflicts are conceptualized essentially as social
conflicts over scarcity of renewable resources as well as degradation
of human habitats. These result in the destructions of economic and
ecological foundations of the people and the state. These destructions
may produce existential problems for individuals, communities and
the state. Therefore, they are forced to react in one way or the other
as curative measures.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL
CONFLICTS
From the foregoing definitions, the following generalizations
can be made about environmental conflicts. First, environmental
conflicts mostly occur in the developing countries. A large proportion
of population in the developing countries depends directly on
renewable resources for their survival and well-being. The decline in
the quality and quantities of these resources causes economic
depredation, a decline in the standard of living and an increase in
relative deprivation. Environmental crisis may also cause the loss of

41
human habitats. These conditions increase probability of incidence
of environmentally-induced conflicts in the developing countries.
These countries are also characterized by lack of technical ingenuity,
weaknesses of political, financial and legal institutions and the
existence of socio-economic cleavages.
Second, environmental conflicts in developing countries occur
at various socio-spatial levels – international, regional, inter-state and
local. International environmental conflicts occur on issues of
pollution or depletion of trans-national flow resources such as rivers,
sea coasts, lakes and winds. Local conflicts, on the other hand, occur
over small scale issues of pollution of ponds, tree cutting or disposal
of wastes.
Third, there could be multiple issues in an environmental
conflict. A particular change in the natural environmental could
adversely affect various aspects of human life – health, habitat, food,
etc. For example, deforestation can adversely affect food from trees,
health and habitat of local people. It can bring many unintended
negative environmental consequences such as soil erosion, siltation
and depletion of underground water.
Fourth, there may be multiple parties in an environmental
conflict. Different sections of society may be affected by an
environmental change. For example, a decline in the quality and
quantity of river water may adversely affect all those groups of people
(e.g. boatmen, fishermen, farmers and washermen) who may be
directly dependent on it for meeting their livelihood needs.
Fifth, in an environmental conflict, different stakeholders (e.g.
state, farmers, fishermen, industrialists, conservationists) exercise
different amounts and kinds of power and status. For example, farmer
may use their numerical strength, industrialist may use financial power
and the state may use coercive power to influence the result of an
environmental dispute.
Sixth, conflicts caused by environmental crisis may vary
considerably in term of their intensity - from simple non-violent
dispute to full-fledge war between states. People facing water scarcity
may start non-violent resistance movement against the state. Violent

42
conflicts often occur between farmers over water for irrigation whose
farms are located up-stream and down-stream with reference to a
canal. The up-stream farmers can control disproportionate amount
of water from canal for irrigation. This may be viewed by the
downstream farmers as the deliberate attempt by the up-stream
farmers to deny them their rightful claim of canal water for irrigation.
Seventh, an environmental conflict may involve a high level of
human emotions. People are intimately and emotional attached with
their surroundings. Degradation of their habitats results in their
displacement. Their displacement gives rise to emotional outburst.
People generally wish to remain in their habitat despite adversities
because of the intimate bond they have developed for generations.
Not surprisingly, they tend to maintain emotional feelings and
attachment with their places even after long years of separation.
Eight, there exists a high degree of uncertainty about the exact
causes and consequences of environmental conflicts. Experts often
fail to anticipate the occurrence of conflict over an environmental
issue in an area. The causes of environmental conflicts vary across
time and space. The consequences of environmental conflicts also
vary from region to region.
Ninth, environmental crisis generally becomes a cause of conflict
in combination with contextual factors, i.e. geography, history, society
and economy of a region. The most important cause in an
environmental conflict depends on the historicity and the socio-spatial
context. In a developed economy, such issues as over-consumerism,
scenic beauty of nature and health problems are more likely to produce
social conflicts. In the developing countries, on the other hand, the
principal causes of social conflicts could be habitat destruction,
degradation of renewable resource and depletion livelihood insecurity.
Last, environmental conflicts occur often in interaction with
certain political and socio-economic conditions. Therefore,
environmental conflicts generally manifest themselves as political,
social, economic, ethnic, religious or territorial conflicts. Because of
this it becomes a difficult task for researchers to ascertain the exact
environmental factors in a conflict.

43
CONCLUSION
The initial conceptual ambiguities in linkag e between
environment and social conflict are slowly vanishing. Currently more
and more empirical evidences in support of environmentally-induced
conflicts are emerging from different regions of the world. Globally,
there are now systematic attempts to document cases of
environmentally-induced conflicts. Environmental conflict is now a
fairly accepted and established concept in the peace and conflict
discourse. Yet complexities involved in defining environmental conflict
are enormous.

44
CHAPTER 4
PROCESSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
“If a nation’s environmental foundations are depleted, the idea goes,
the economy may well decline, its social fabric may deteriorate, and its
political structure may become destabilized. The outcome, all too likely,
is conflict, whether in the form of disorder and insurrections within
the nations or tensions and hostilities with other nations. One can expect
this new scope for conflict to expand as more people seek to sustain
themselves from declining resource stock.”
Norman Myers, 1987
INTRODUCTION
Environmental crisis is ubiquitously distributed on the earth’s
surface. No region of the earth is free from some kind of
environmental problems. However, the nature of environmental
problems and their intensity vary considerably from region to region.
Environmental crisis is caused by environmental degradation,
population growth, unequal access to resources and political economy
of development. However, in different regions there are different
causes of environmental crisis. Environmental crisis produces several
socio-economic effects, particularly in the developing countries. These
changes, in turn, endanger social, economic and health security of
people. Their right of access to food is denied. Due to lack of food,
safe water, sanitation, and environmental pollution, human health is
badly affected. Their habitats may become uninhabitable due to
continuing environmental degradation. Human beings respond to
these threats in various ways. Environmental crisis cause economic
decline which in turn weakens a state and its institutions. An
economically and politically weak state provides space for social actors
to achieve their goals violently.
HUMAN RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
The socio-economic, physical and psychological stresses which
arise from environmental crisis provide the stimulus for the direct
involvement of people in an environmental issue. Human reactions

45
to a range of different types of environmental problems vary along a
continuum of environmental stress (Park, Chris, 1991: 21-22 (Figure
4.1). There are three critical point along the spectrum - the awareness
threshold (below which we are simply not aware that the environment
might affect what we do or how we do it), the action threshold (above
which we consciously do something to cope with or minimize impacts
of environmental stress) and the intolerance threshold (above which we
change what we do, or move somewhere else to do it) (Park, Chris,
1991: 21).
In this context, it is important to emphasize that human
communities are heterogeneous. They may react differently to the
same event. Some (usually a minority) respond to environmental stress
by taking some action in an attempt to restore equilibrium; others
(the majority) are either indifferent or unaware; and yet others (another
minority) actively support the change (O’Riordan, T. quoted in
Conacher, Arthur, 1979: 158). The differences in responses of people
to environmental changes give rise to inter-group and intra-group
conflicts. Environmental conflicts take place over perceived scarcity
of resource, threat to group identity or relative deprivation. In extreme
cases, there could be coup d’état against a regime (Figure 4.2).

46
When the environmental stress crosses the intolerance threshold,
the affected people may react in two possible ways. First, due to
increasing competition, economic deprivation and frustrations, people
may remain on land but change what they do. Alternatively, they may
move somewhere else to seek livelihood. Both these processes have
larger socio-political ramifications. Both of them can cause social
conflicts.
REMAIN ON LAND BUT CHANGE
WHAT ONE DOES
As described above, environmental crisis may reduce per capita
availability of renewable resources. Purposeful and conscious actions
might be undertaken by the various social actors to work the situation
in their own favour. The situation might eventually destroy the
established resource sharing arrangement in the society. This may
cause competition among various actors of the society over the scarce
resources.
Environmental crisis causes deterioration in the standard of
living. The economic decline in a developing country increases scarcity
in that society by bringing a ‘sustained increase in the costs of essential
goods relative to income’ (Hadley, Cantril, quoted in Swain, Ashok,
1993: l6). The changed circumstance could lead to social frustration
or relative deprivation. As developing countries, because of
environmental stresses, face economic decline it will be increasingly
difficult for them to meet the material expectations of their citizens
(Swain, Ashok, 1993: l6-17). The disadvantaged groups would be more
frustrated than favoured one. It is because the elite of the country
would use their power to maintain, as best they can, access to a
constant standard of living despite economic decline. This may cause
social divide and cleavages in the society.
When stresses produced by environmental crisis reach above
intolerance threshold, characterized by extreme frustrations and
deprivation, people living in an area react differently to the situation.
The reactions of people would depend on the intensity of stresses
and the availability of social and political space in the society. Their
reactions may also be influenced by the level of political socialization
of individuals and groups. The affected people may react in either of
the following ways.

47
• they may accept their situation, become subservient to the state
and pray to the government for aid;
• they may start non-violent resistance movement;
• they may choose a violent path; or
• they may decide to align with forces against the state.
People look for solutions through cooperation and hard work;
but when this fails to yield the expected results, conflicts may be the
only way, some groups perceive, as a means of retaining their hopes
of life and life of quality of their own expectations (Molvaer, Rodulf
K., 1991:87).
Higher level of environmental stresses might produce higher
level of frustration, competition and economic deprivation among
the poor. Correspondingly, a higher level of environmental crisis and
social degradation would increase the likelihood of social conflict.
However, this trend reverses itself once a certain level of degradation
has been reached. Once the threshold of human subsistence and
survival has been crossed environmental crisis has an opposite effect
(Lanz, Tobias J., 1996: l76-77). The type of social outcome may change
from active (i.e. armed resistance) to passive surrender (i.e.
subservience to the state and in the extreme cases starvation and
death).
Environmental crisis can also weaken the state and its
institutions. The weakening of the state may offer opportunities for
challenger groups to denounce the legitimacy and normal authority
of the dominant social order and system of governance. It may
become easier for challenger groups to express their grievances
violently against the state or any other groups who is perceived as
responsible for their plight. In extreme situations, rebellion against
the government and regime may take place.
MIGRATION TO OTHER PLACES
According to Homer-Dixon et al. (1996: 6-9): “Environmental
scarcity can contribute to population movements, economic decline
and weakened states, which in turn can cause ethnic conflicts,
insurgencies and coup d’état.” Environmental crisis can lead to the

48
loss of sources of living. In the developing countries where agriculture
is the mainstay of people, its decreased production might result in
the loss of livelihood of millions of people. The depletion of fishing
and forest might lead to the closure of forest and fishing industries
and a subsequent loss of jobs. The depletion of fishing may cause to
socio-economic deg radation and pauperization of fishing
communities. The shrinking of green forests can lead to the loss of
sources of living of forest communities. Similarly, overpopulation
and unequal resource access may lead to loss of sources of livelihood
of poor people.
The loss of sources of living due to environmental crisis could
force the affected people to leave their places of residence or work.
The decision to abandon home is not always easy one. Human beings
develop a sentimental and moral attachment for places of their
residence, for the house in which they dwell in or for the place where
they make their ends meet. The sentimental and emotional attachment
of people to their habitat and land is sufficient to create resentment
among people against any proposal to acquire their land.
People generally choose to stay in their home land and struggle
to survive the impact of environmental crisis until their last hope of
survival wears out. In other words, when stress produced by
environmental crisis crosses a critical threshold, people start leaving
their homes and habitats. These people may opt from the following
alternatives.
• they may migrate to urban areas within the state;
• they may migrate to marginal lands;
• they may migrate to other countries, or
• they may seek shelter in refugee camps.
Wherever environmental refugees settle they tend to flood the
labour market, add to local demand for food and other basic necessities
of life which put pressure on society. Migration of people into
particular region might also cause shifts in class relations and upset
existing balance of economic and political authority. Due to migration
of people, ethnic and social divides may be manifested between various
groups in the state. It may in return cause political and civil strife and
conflicts in the recipient society.

49
Within a state, migration of rural people to cities for better
opportunities may result in rural urban conflicts and intra-region
conflicts. In cities, various ethnic groups, more or less segregated by
geography, are historically placed in one place. The concentration of
numerous ethnic groups in an urban area might lead to racial tensions,
communal riots, conflicts over locations, organized crimes, etc.
Migration of people to urban areas leads to formation of slums,
adverse increase in sex-ratios, vice and delinquency.
Lack of jobs in urban areas due to in-migration of rural people
might result in generating strong feelings of nativism among the
original inhabitants of the area. “Nativism is a claim by a group of
people that by virtue of its indigenous character, rooted in historical
claims, it has rights upon land, employment, political power and
cultural hegemony that are greater than those people who are not
indigenous” (Weiner, Myron quoted by Swain, Ashok, 1993: 32). In
many cases, such nativism has led to mobilisation of people of the
area to protect their real as well as imagined interests. This leads to
conflict between the nativists and migrants in the society. This feeling
of nativism is common in both rural and urban areas.
Migration of farmers from over-populated but high potential
areas, where arable land is in short supply, to the marginal lands, such
as arid & semi-arid, mountains and forested areas, leads to land use
conflicts.
Migration of people from one country to another can cause
inter-state conflicts. The famous 1969 Soccer War between El Salvador
and Honduras is one example of inter-state conflicts due to
environmentally-induced migration from one country to another.
Likewise, illegal migration of people to India from neighbouring
countries has strained relations between them.
The concentration of people in refugee camps is not an ideal
condition. Refugee camps are places of birth and propagation of
militant ideas and ideologies. These are potential epicentres of political
upheavals which can shake a state at any time.

50
PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT
The principal actors in environmentally-induced conflicts are
the groups and the states. The conflicts arising out of the
environmental crisis may take place at the following socio-spatial scales.
• group versus group;
• group versus state; and
• state versus state
Environmental conflicts could have trans-boundary, regional
or global dimensions. Its spatial spread depends on the nature,
intensity and scope of environmental problems.
The important point is that many a times the perceived
conflicting behaviour of various actors toward each other causes
environmental conflicts. But, how are these conflicting behaviour
formed? The formation of conflicting behaviour takes place only
when one of the actors in the situation perceives that his/her problems
are due to the actions of another actor. For example, the perceived
exploitation or over-use of common natural resources by one party
might help to organize new parties or persuade the already existing
parties to take up this issue with an intention to protect their interests.
The battle for protecting their own share of water, forests or arable
land, or acquiring those of others, can potentially create conflicting
groups in a society.
CONCLUSION
The following generalizati ons about the process of
environmental conflicts can be made as a conclusion. The loss of
environmental foundations of livelihood in a region often causes an
affected group to shift its allegiance from the centre to the periphery.
This increases the possibilities of political disorder, civil strife and
even insurgency. Environmental crisis can reduce economic
opportunities, which may result in population displacement within
the state or across the international borders. This may result in intra-
state and inter-state conflicts. If environmental degradation or
renewable resource decline faced by a state is caused due to activities
across its borders, it can deteriorate the bilateral or multilateral

51
relations. It could be detrimental to the regional secu rity.
Environmental issues can be politically manipulated to serve narrow
group interests. It may jeopardise the domestic inter-group power
balance, which in turn may result in political instability within a state
as well. Finally, a decline in the quality and quantity of renewable
resources such as fresh water and productive agricultural land may
lead to competing claims between or among various groups within a
state or between states.

52
CHAPTER 5
GEOGRAPHY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
‘The neglect of the environment {in political geography} is no accident:
there is a fundamental spatial mismatch between sovereign territories,
the focus of political geography, and ecological system.’
Taylor, P., 1996; cited by Steinberg, Philip E., 1997
INTRODUCTION
Environmental crisis is related to geography in three different
ways. First, there is geographical pattern in the distribution of
environmental crisis. It means different geographical areas experience
different kinds of environmental problems. Second, there is geography
of interaction of environmental crisis. It means an environmental
problem may originate in one place but its impact may be felt at
distant places. Finally, there are geographical factors (e.g. location,
distance, slope, wind direction, orientation, etc.) which influence the
occurrence and intensity of environmental problems at a particular
place. In this chapter, all three aspects will be considered.
While no region appears to be immune from environmental
problem, the most vulnerable areas include arid and semi-arid
rangelands, tropical rainforests, steep sloped mountains and hills, river
basins, coasted lowlands and islands, mining, industrial and urban
areas. It is the responsibility of geographers to identify and explain
the spatial pattern of environmental problems. There are some
geographical concepts which can be successfully applied to describe
and explain the distribution of environmental problems on the earth’s
surface. For example, concepts of spatial pattern and processes can
be used to explain why some areas are more vulnerable than others.
The concept of spatial process can be applied to understand the
influence of geographical factors on the nature and pattern of
environmental crisis. Finally, the concept of spatial interactions can
be used to explain how and why source areas (of environmental
problems) and problem areas (of environmental problems) are
spatially linked through movement of wind and water. Source area
and problem area will be defined later in this chapter.

53
REGIONAL PATTERNS OF ENVIRONMENTAL
CRISIS
As mentioned above, no part of the earth is free from some
kind of environmental crisis. However, there are some areas where
there is a heavy concentrated of factors causing environmental crisis.
It is these areas that experience environmental problems with higher
frequency and greater intensity. The following are the environmentally
most vulnerable ecological areas.
ARID AND SEMI-ARID RANGELANDS
Tropical arid and semi-arid areas experience an average of 100-
400 mm and 400-800 mm of annual rainfall, respectively. These areas
experience extreme temperatures. Summers and days are hot while
winters and nights are cooler. However, these areas display internal
differentiations in their geographical make up. The landscapes vary
from sandy deserts to prairie and steppe grasslands. These areas have
very fewer trees. Tropical arid lands cannot be cultivated without
irrigation. On the other hand, semi-arid lands can be cultivated without
irrigation. But low quantity of rainfall, its concentration in only a few
months of the year and its spatial, seasonal and annual variability
limit the range of crops that can be grown. The crop productivity is
also constrained by these factors.
According to the UNEP (1995: 13) report, ‘more than 6.1 billion
hectares, nearly 40 per cent of the earth’s land area, is dry land. Of
this about 0.9 billion hectares are hyper-arid deserts. The remaining
5.2 billion hectares are arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid lands, parts
of which have become deserts through human degradation. These
lands are the habitat and the source of livelihood for about one fifth
of the world’s population’. These areas have concentration of some
of the poorest people of the world.
According to the FAO (quoted in Bifani, P., 1992: 101.) about
65 million hectares of grazing land in Sub-Saharan Africa have been
turned into desert during the last 50 years, affecting the livelihood of
nearly 100 million people. At the peak of the crisis in 1984 and 1985,
30 to 40 million people in 21 African countries were seriously affected
by continuous droughts. Approximately 10 million people were
displaced as environmental refugees (El- Hinnavi, quoted in Tolba,
Mostafa K., 1992: 62).

54
Semi-desert areas suffer from excessive human and animal
pressure, poor management of farms and pastures and cultivation
of exotic cash crops. Desertification is mainly caused by over-
cultivation, over-grazing, deforestation, bushfires, wind and water
erosion and salinization. Desertification is closely related to severe
droughts. Droughts are caused due to fluctuations in climate, but are
aggravated by desertification. Desertification in one area may increase
pressure on nearby, more productive areas, endangering their
productivity and increasing the risk of further extension of
desertification. The expansion of cash crops implies a reduction of
land for food crops. In response, food crops are increasingly cultivated
in more arid and marginal lands of low productivity.
TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
Tropical rainforests are the richest ecosystem on the planet earth.
These regions experience high temperature and rainfall throughout
the year. Though tropical rain forests constitute only about 5 per
cent of the earth’s surface but they contain up to 50 per cent of the
earth’s biodiversity. Tropical rain forests are mostly found in the
Amazon Basin of South America, in Central Africa and in Southeast
Asia. Several indigenous communities directly depend on these forests
to make their living.
Roughly 0.6 per cent of the world’s rainforest (i.e. 4.6 million
hectares) is lost annually. Asia leads losses with 2.2 million hectares
per year. Latin America and the Caribbean convert 1.9 million hectares
and Africa 470,000 hectares of the rainforest per year (FAO, quoted
in The World Resource Institute, 1994/95: 132). Brazil and Indonesia
account for about 45 per cent of global rainforest loss (The World
Resource Institute, 1994/95: 132).
In the Brazilian Amazon, deforestation is moving from the edges
to the centre. The main causes of deforestation are building of roads
and conversion of land for grazing and other uses. The principal
underlying cause of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is the
concentration of land in large holdings. Brazil has 2.3 acres of
farmland per person. Taking potential farm land in account, but still
leaving aside Amazonia, each person could have 10 acres. Instead,
4.5 per cent of Brazil’s land owners own 81 per cent of the country’s

55
farm land. As a result, 70 per cent of rural households are landless.
The government views colonization of the Brazilian Amazon was as
a solution to resettling landless people. It does not want to implement
more difficult task of agrarian reforms. Thus, it is quite obvious that
the environmental crisis in the Amazon basin is produced by socially
unequal distribution of land resource in Brazil.
Deforestation has caused massive displacement of forest-based
communities. They have been forced to seek livelihood in other places.
It is estimated that in Haiti more than 100,000 people have migrated
as a result of deforestation (Tolba, Mustafa K., 1992: 71). In Indonesia,
more than a million people are reported to have moved out of
deforested areas of Java, and migrated to Borneo and other Islands
(Tolba, Mustafa K., 1992: 71).
STEEP SLOPED MOUNTAINS AND HILLS
The steep-sloped mountain and highland ecosystems are found
throughout the world, from the equator to the poles, occupying
approximately one-fifth of its land surface. Beyond their common
characteristics of having high relative relief (or very marked
topographic variation) and steep slopes, mountains are remarkably
diverse (Ives, J. D., Messerli, B. and Spiess, E., 1997: 1-15). Mountains
of varying heights are found in every continent and at each latitude
from the equator to the pole.
The availability of water, moderate climate and pockets of rich
soils has permitted relatively dense and stable human occupation of
tropical mountains and highlands. Although less hospitable, some
mountainous areas in temperate and cold regions have also been
settled. Many mountainous and highland areas have recently been
subject to considerable and sometimes conf licting types of
development activities. These include mining, tourism and recreation
and for hydropower generation and forest-based industries.
Rapid growth population in mountains and highlands of
developing countries is placing growing pressure on natural resources.
The introduction of intensive technologies in response to pressure
of population for agriculture, forestry and public works has led to
the over-use of steep sloped lands, increasing rate of deforestation,

56
over-grazing, excessively rapid runoff, gully erosion and the
aggravation of natural mountain hazards such as avalanches, mud
flows and landslides. Consequently, many mountain and highland
ecosystems are becoming increasingly hazardous for human
occupation. The deterioration of living conditions in mountains and
highlands is causing migration to low lying areas in many regions.
Migration has produced negative effects on health of in-migrants
whose physiology is adapted to life at high altitude.
The deterioration of highlands affects such areas as the
Himalayas; non-Hindu Kush Himalayan Mountains of China; the
high lands of Mexico and Central America; Central Africa and
Ethiopia; Central Myanmar; and the island mountain regions of
Indonesia, the Philippines and the Caribbean (Bifani, P., 1992: l02).
For instance, in the eastern hills of Nepal, 38 per cent of the land
area consists of fields which have had to be abandoned because the
topsoil has washed away (Tolba, Mustafa K., 1992: 59). As the forests
retreat, more labour is needed for gathering fuel wood and animal
herding. These tasks are performed more and more by woman and
children. It is reported that in Nepal woman spent as much time in
fuel wood gathering us they did in farm activities.
RIVER BASINS
River basins are complex ecosystems. They include both surface
and underground water. However, both are closely interrelated and
therefore must be considered together. River basins support dense
population by providing fertile soil and fresh water.
Many of the important river basins of the world are shared by
more than one country. Common basins make up about 60 per cent
of total area of Africa and South America (Tolba, Mustafa K., 1992:
182). The most common type of conflict on river waters occurs
between up-stream and down-stream users. Up-stream users claim
sovereign rights to use, store, divert and pollute river water that
originates or flows through their territory. On the other hand, down-
streams users demand that river water quality and quantity be
maintained in its normal condition.

57
Degradation of upland watersheds through landslides and soil
erosion also affects fertile agricultural lands in lowlands. For example,
deforestation in the Himalaya causes soil erosion and landslides, which
in turn produce disastrous floods and increase siltation in river beds
of the Ganga and Brahmaputra.
Rivers are key sources of hydroelectric power and irrigation.
However, the construction of hydroelectric and irrigation structures
to impound rivers cause displacement of population. Dams and huge
reservoirs are constructed to regulate the flow of water. Due to
submergence of valleys, local inhabitants are forced to leave their
habitats. Rivers are also important sources of fishery resource.
Degradation of river water causes deletion of fishes and thus deprive
the fishermen their most important source of their livelihood.
Human interventions have produced widespread physical and
ecological changes in river basins. These changes are variously
manifested in depletion of fresh water resource, degradation water
quality, loss of biological diversity, damage to fisheries and disturbance
of river transportation and so on. These socio-economic impacts are
producing grave threats to the security of the river basin dwellers as
well as that of the state.
COASTAL LOWLANDS AND ISLANDS
Coastal lowland and islands are important ecosystems from the
point of view of ecological and economic security of the state and
people. About two thirds of the world’s people live within some 50
kilometres of salt water whether on small islands or within coastal
corridors on the mainland, this high density of occupation and
intensive use of space and resources gives rise to the special
environmental problems of coastal and islands ecosystems (UNEP,
1988: 50).
Human pressure on coa stal and island ecosystems is
continuously increasing. There is growing demands and competitions
for space and resources in coastal belts due to rapid urbanization.
These belts are experiencing accelerating rate of industrialization and
urbanization, expansion of transport facilities, including ports and
transportation corridors, and development of infrastructure for
commercial fishing, recreation and tourism.

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Tourism is a rapidly growing industry. The coastal belts
throughout the world are primary sites for tourism. The increasing
pressure of tourism industry is responsible for destruction and
pollution of salt marshes, lagoons and other wetlands and mangroves,
the pollution of estuaries, beaches and the marginal seas nearby,
changes in shore currents and the erosion of coastlines. Other negative
consequences are elimination of rich varieties of fishes, destruction
of wildlife habitats and depletion of their population, loss of genetic
resources and degradation of leisure resources and scenic beauty. All
these changes are causing social conflicts.
Islands are unique ecosystems. Their hinterlands are limited.
Their locations are relatively isolated. Therefore, any environmental
problem in islands would have far more harmful effects compared to
the mainland. Small island ecosystems with limited fauna and flora
are usually highly vulnerable to human disturbances and exploitation.
Coral reefs are particularly vulnerable. Limitation in varieties and
volumes of resources are important constraints in the development
of many island communities. The scopes of development are
restricted to the fields of agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, trade and
tourism only. Global warming-induced sea-level rise would spell doom
for low-lying islands.
MINING AND INDUSTRIAL AREAS
Mining is indispensable for industrial development. Mining
activities produce vast changes in the physical landscape of the local
area. These changes include permanent marks and scars of mines
themselves. It produces new landscape features such as abandoned
shafts, surface subsidence, dumps and spoils, heaps of waste material
and abandoned mineral lines. Effects of mining activities include
alteration in local hydrology and water tables, contamination of surface
and grounds waters, sewage and mineral waste, destruction of habitats,
changes in landforms and land instability. For example, in Jharia (India)
coal mining activities often cause land subsidence which in turn
produces cracks in buildings and houses. The areas around mining
site become dangerous for human habitation. Mining causes the
destruction of natural ecosystems through removal of soil and
vegetation and burial beneath waste disposal sites (Cooke, J. S. and

59
Johnson, M. S. 2002: 41). Other negative effects include air pollution
from particles of gases and vapours, dust emission from sites near
living areas, release of methane from mines, air emissions in confined
spaces, exposure to toxic materials used on sites, noise pollution,
destruction of aesthetic value of the landscape and adverse socio-
economic and health effects on local population.
The developed countries account for most of the mineral
consumption. However, mining and processing occur mostly in the
developing countries. Moreover, in recent decades many developing
countries are experi encing ra pid industrial development.
Correspondingly, demands of raw materials for meeting needs of
industrial development are expanding in the developing countries
themselves. This has resulted in increase in mining activities in these
countries to the utter disregard for the ecology and human habitats
of mineral belts. Ironically, mining activities provide hardly any benefits
to local inhabitants. Mining activities are assuming characters of an
‘enclave’ economy.
The rapid growth of industrialization is a serious environmental
issue. The numerical growth and spatial spread of industries are
producing multifarious environmental problems. The two very critical
environmental problems associated with industrialization are acid rain
and disposal of solid and liquid wastes. Acid rain is produced by
transformation in the atmosphere of gaseous pollutants, principally
sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These gases are emitted mainly
from coal-fired power stations and vehicle exhausts. Acid rain causes
damage to crops and forests, lakes and rivers, and buildings and
structures. The problem is widespread and increasing. The areas
vulnerable to acid rain are the northeast of North America (straddling
north-east USA and Eastern Canada) and large parts of Western
Europe (including Scandinavia and Britain). Toxic wastes produced
from industries are major threats to the ecological ad health.
URBAN AND PERI-URBAN AREAS
The world is fast becoming urbanized. It is estimated that about
77 per cent of people in the developed world live in urban areas. By
the year 2025, it is anticipated that a single generation from now

60
about 4 billion people will be living in urban areas. Urbanization also
means the concentration of various ethnic groups and people of
different social status and economic class in a well-defined
geographical space. The urban rich class occupy the spacious posh
areas. While the poor occupy the least expensive urban areas which
are devoid of drinking water, sanitation, health care facilities, schools,
etc. They are generally situated near industrial sites, dump sites and
areas with high pollution. When poor people become concentrated
in geographically confined areas their problems grow manifolds. There
is mounting evidence that minority and low income population are
asked to bear a disproportionate burden of air, water and waste
pollution problems. ‘Three out of five Americans (15 million
individuals) live in communities with abandoned toxic waste sites.
Three out of the five commercial hazardous waste landfills are located
in predominantly African-American or Latino communities and
account for 40 per cent of the nations’ total estimated capacity’ (Lach,
Denise, 1996: 213). African-Americans are heavily over represented
in cities with the largest number of abandoned toxic waste sites
including St Louis, Houston, Cleveland, Chicago, and Atlanta (Lach,
Denise, 1996: 213-14). The disposal of toxic wastes in a geographically
well-defined space and associated environmental inequity may produce
unhealthy living conditions and create conditions for ethnic conflicts.
Peri-urban areas are dynamic zones of land use and demographic
changes located on the edge of cities. The urban centres in developing
countries are heading for rapid horizontal expansion and in the process
ecologically and socially transforming the surrounding villages. Urban
expansion is a powerful and ruthless process. Fertile agricultural lands
are being acquired from farmers ‘illegally’ and ‘forcefully’ by
‘terrorizing’ them. Forced land-use transformations in peripheries
of metropolitan cities for dumping of garbage, sewage, development
of new colonies, industries and erecting of walls to stop ‘intruders’
are creating ecological and health miseries for the villagers. Conflicts
are inherent in such a process of urban expansion.
SPATIAL INTERACTIONS OF
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Environmental crisis arises at various spatial scales from the
local and regional to the national and ultimately international. In fact,

61
it represents a continuous spectrum of space from where a particular
environmental problem originates to the areas where its impacts are
felt. But before explaining the nature and flow patterns of
environmental problems on the earth’s surface, it is imperative to
introduce two important concepts. These are ‘source areas’ and
‘problem areas’. Source areas may be defined as those areas where
the sources of environmental crisis are located. The problem areas
are areas of environmental crisis. These two areas are linked through
movement of air and water pollutants. Water and air move from area
of origin. The pollutants in water and air easily mix and move with
them. These pollutants are potentially harmful to people, plants and
animals.
Movements of polluted air and water produce spatial patterns
which are shaped and controlled by natural environmental system,
such as prevailing direction of winds in the atmosphere, downstream
flows within river systems, and tidal currents and general circulations
of ocean water. The flows of air and water have no respect for political,
administrative or economic boundaries. Water and air pollutants ignore
national sovereignty and transcend state borders. On the basis of
spatial scales two types of spatial interaction of environmental crisis
is possible (Park, Chris, 1991: 21-35).
THE UPSTREAM-DOWNSTREAM INTERACTIONS
In this pattern of interactions, upstream and upwind countries
benefit from the natural export to downstream and downwind of
polluted water and air, respectively. Down-stream and downwind
countries receive pollution from nearby countries. Winners and losers
are determined by fortune and misfortune of geographical locations
in relation to natural environmental flows and pathways. Upstream
donors have little incentive, other than political good will, to control
their pollution. Downstream recipients have no control over the
pollution they receive. For example, population growth in the Himalaya
induces deforestation as cultivators extract multiple resources, thereby
causing soil erosion and landslides, which in turn leads to disastrous
floods and increasing siltation in the lower basins of the Ganga and
Brahmaputra. In this process, sources of environmental crisis originate
in one region or country, while problems occur in another region or

62
country. While most or all the benefits of pollution activities may
accrue to one state but its environmental and social costs may be
mostly or entirely borne by the state across the border. The upstream-
downstream interaction can be further subdivided on the basis of
how many countries are involved.
Bi-national Interaction
This involves the movement of pollutants across a national
border, from one country to an adjacent country. Only two countries
are involved. Such problems reflect the geography of the situation.
In this situation, one country may be downwind (downstream) in
relation to another one. Acid rain which blows north words from the
eastern USA across Ontario in Canada is a good example of the
down-wind situation.
Multinational Interaction
This involves movement of pollutants between a numbers of
adjacent states. In this process more than one state may be down-
wind or down-stream in relation to more than one upstream or upwind
state. For example, water quality and quantity in the River Nile is
affected by land use in parts of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. Similarly,
land use practices in Nepal and India affect Ganga river water in
Bangladesh. In this type of interaction, all or most of the benefits
due to pollution activity accrue to one or more than one county. But
most or all of the social and environmental costs are borne by more
than one country located down across the border.
RECIPROCAL INTERACTION
In this case, the entire costs and benefits of pollution are
scattered through a number of countries including the source country
or countries. These problems are world-wide in scale and distribution,
and affect most if not all individual countries, directly or indirectly,
even if they are not contributors.
The two important global environmental problems are ozone
depletion and greenhouse gases. These problems are likely to affect
large number of countries. The rise in sea-level would affect most
countries directly or indirectly. Acid rain may become a global problem

63
in near future because it is an incremental problem. It builds up slowly
through time. Damage to forests, lakes and buildings has been reported
mostly in industrial countries of the world. But the worst affected
areas are Scandinavia, parts of Western Europe, Eastern Canada and
the United States. Reciprocal interactions are global scale and they
affect source areas as well as neighbouring countries.
Some of the developing countries, in order to meet the
requirements of the international markets, have evolved their
economies towards cash crops production. For example, in the
Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa cultivation of millet and sorghum
for consumption have been replaced by the cultivation of groundnuts
for exports. The expansion of cash crops implies a reduction of land
for food crops. It may result in food crisis. Deforestation in tropical
countries to a large extent can be explained in terms of its demand in
the developed countries. In this way, some of the environmental
problems in the developing countries are due to over consumption
of resources in the developed world. The pattern of excessive
consumption in developed countries creates pressure on the ecosystem
in the developing countries.
CONCLUSION
Environmental problems are concentrated in certain
geographical areas of the earth. These are desert and semi-desert
lands, coasts and islands, steep sloped highlands and mountains, urban
and peri-urban areas, mining, industrial and urban areas. Each of
these regions has specific locations and is characterized by unique
environmental processes. Therefore, environmental problems faced
by each of these regions are distinct.
The effects of some of environmental problems originating
from one country are not confined to that country only. It is also felt
in nearby countries. Examples of such environmental problems are
acid rain and global warming. Even though developing countries are
least contributors to the phenomenon of sea level rise, its impact is
most severely felt in the low lying coastal belts and islands of these
countries. In other case, economic activities in one country cause
environmental degradation in other countries. Such pollutants are
transported between countries who share borders, rivers and
coastlines.

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CHAPTER 6
GEOGRAPHY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
‘However big the pie, there is sure to be some haggling over the size of
the slices. Limited resources meant that some goals must be given priority
and that some sections within a group are likely to be treated more
favourably than others. But conflict also springs from natural differences
of opinion. A nomadic tribe must decide collectively when it is time to
move on; a modern nation-state must decide collectively whether it
should go to war. When the group as a whole is involved, there can be
only one decision. Thus the content of politics involve setting goals
and taking decisions for a group as well as deciding how resources should
be distributed within it.{But} The mere existence of a collective problem
is not enough to generate the political will needed for a collective
solution.... The larger the group, the more difficult a solution becomes.
Consider the issue of environment as an example ... {wherein} the
entire world forms the relevant group.... {Thus} One problem of politics
is to explain why some massive gaps exist between acknowledging a
collective problem and agreeing a collective solution.’
Hague, R., Harrop, M., & Braeslin, S., 1994:
quoted by Dikshit R. D. 2000
INTRODUCTION
Geography and environmental conflicts can be related in two
different ways - there are regularities and order in the geographical
distribution of environmental conflicts and there are geographical
determinants of violent environmental conflicts. In this chapter, both
the aspects have been analysed. Conflicts over renewable resources
are geographically ubiquitous. Environment crisis, which are
characterized by a decline of renewable resources and loss of human
habitats, becomes an important cause of conflicts between state,
between state and people and between people. Ecological boundaries
and political boundaries are incongruent in many parts of the world.
As a result, states have to share some common resources like river
waters, lakes and coasts lands. Disputes between states often arise
when one of the co-sharers of these resources feels that it is not
getting the share of trans-boundary resources it deserves. Conflicting
interpretations of international legal provisions by the stakeholder

65
countries over share of trans-boundary resources as well as excessive
politicization over these resources at domestic front exacerbate the
existing disputes and conflicts.
In the previous chapter while describing the spatial patterns of
environmental crisis, certain vulnerable regions were identified. These
are the regions where environmentally-induced conflicts are most
likely to be concentrated. There are some areas of the earth which
are experiencing high population grown, rapid environmental
degradation and over-consumption of goods and commodities. There
are also areas which are witnessing large-scale developments projects
in the fields of mining, infrastructure and industries. In these areas,
large amount of foreign capital are being invested. As a result, tribal
communities and farmers are losing their habitat - land, water bodies,
forests and hills. These people look upon their surrounding
environment with very high regard. They feel uncomfortable with
large-scale changes. No wonder, when faced with question of
livelihood and survival, they rise in peaceful/armed protest against
the state and corporate houses. In this chapter, the distinctiveness of
environmental conflicts has been described in the following
geographical regions.
ARID AND SEMI-ARID RANGELANDS
Arid and semi-arid lands are habitats and sources of livelihood
of about 20 per cent of the world’s population. Due to continuous
drought and rapidly growing population, these people are among the
poorest in developing countries. In arid and semi-arid rangelands,
water is the main constraints in development. Therefore, water is the
main point of dispute between groups and states. There are problems
of desertification, soil erosion, deforestation, salinization, excessive
human and animal pressure on farm land and the degradation of
grasslands.
State vs. State
Environmental crisis in the Sahel has generated unprecedented
inter-state migration of people with their herds. It has led to conflicts
in various parts of the savannah belt. The large-scale trans-boundary

66
migration of environmental refugees in Africa has made the whole
region exposed to inter-state conflict. The situations in Ethiopia,
Sudan, Kenya and Ivory Coast have already shown signs of conflicts
between receiving and donor countries.
State vs. Group
Drought-induced environmental crisis in rural areas of
developing countries has been forcing the rural population to
eventually migrate to nearby urban areas. For example, when droughts
hit Sudan for three years from 1983/84 to 1986, an estimated four
million people migrated to towns. The Khartoum Government came
to regard these internal refugees as a security risk; they demolished
their houses on the outskirts of towns and chased them back to their
homes by the use of police and the army (Molvaer, Rudolf K., 1991:
181).
Group vs. Group
Surrounding the productive highlands of Kenya there is an arc
of arid and semi-arid land. This land is characterized by low and
variable precipitation, sparse vegetation and shallow soil. It is inhibited
by the pastoral groups of Nandi and Masai. In spite of the climatic
harshness and ecological limitations, these dry lands have been the
destination of large streams of migration. The advent of colonialism
led to the dispossession of lands of local people. Their lands were
acquired either forcefully or by deceit for the European settlement.
Later, the creation of game parks and biosphere reserves deprived
the people of their pastures. At the same time, the colonial regime
did maintain a strict market quarantines to prevent the spread of
animal diseases from outside into the pastoral areas. This policy
restricted the selling of surplus animals. This accelerated the over-
stocking and over-use of rangelands. When pastoralists moved their
cattle to the European controlled grazing areas or when stock diseases
in pastoral areas threatened settlers’ ranches, conflict arose between
pastoralists and the Europeans (Little, Peter D. et al., 1987: 197).
The onset of independence in Kenya in 1963 brought a new
dimension of land use conflicts in the pastoral areas. The spread of

67
scientific medicine, food and hygiene led to accelerate population
growth in Kenya. Population growth soared at a pace exceeding 3 per
cent annually. This rapid growth strained the capacity of the area to
provide enough food even in the best years and led to unprecedented
land pressures. Farmers started colonizing the grazing areas of pastoral
groups having rich water resources. Such changes restrict pastoral’s
territory and it results in the over use of certain range areas and
increasing tensions/competitions between herders and farmers
erupted at time into violent conflicts (Little, Peter D., 1987: 197).
TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
Tropical rainforests are to the earth what lungs are to human
beings. Their continued existence is essential for the ecological security
of not only the tropical belt but also of the entire world. Therefore,
deforestation is the most important point of contestation locally as
well as globally. The main ecological concerns are deforestation and
forest fires. Due to rapid population growth, socio-economic
inequality and colonial history, these regions have remained backward.
These regions are experiencing problem of population displacement
due to large scale development projects and deforestation. Though
this region is rich in natural resources but in absence of adequate
capital and technologies these resources have remained under-utilized.
State vs. State
The protection of tropical rainforests has been one of the
principal issues of environment related disputes between the North
and the South. Deforestation of tropical rainforest has been a focus
of concern in the North. It is partly because of fear that the loss of
such a vast genetic storehouse would foreclose options for the
development of new medicines, crops, and other goods and services
of value for humanity. In addition, deforestation of tropical rainforests
would threaten habitats of many indigenous communities. This issue
has stirred the consciousness of human right activists and
conservationists in the North. Most importantly, tropical rain forests
are also one of the stabilizers of global atmospheric temperature. Its
destruction would cause earth temperature to rise. In view of these,

68
political pressure is exerted by the developed countries of the North
to stop deforestation of the tropical rainforests.
State vs. Group
Deforestation has caused large-scale displacement of people.
The displaced people are forced to seek livelihood in newer places.
‘It is estimated that in Haiti, more than 100,000 people have migrated
as a result of deforestation. In Indonesia, more than a million people
are reported to have moved out of deforested areas of Java, and
migrated to Borneo and other islands’ (Bifani, P., 1992: 105). Such
forceful migration of people has been a cause of conflict between
the state and affected people.
Group vs. Group
Marianne Schmink and Charles H. Wood (1992) have analysed
environmental changes in Amazon Basin by looking at patterns of
resource use among Indians Cobaclos, immigrant peasants and
commercial ranchers (Little, Peter D., Horowitz, Michael and Nyerges,
Endre A., 1987). While the impact of both Indians and Cobaclos on
the environment is modest, but peasants and commercial ranchers
follow land use strategies that are ecologically very damaging. The in-
migrants peasants, who over-cultivate and thereby degrade their small
plots to earn much needed cash, usually come directly into conflict
with the wealthy farmers. The capitalist rich farmers wish to transform
the forests into grazing land for cattle. Conflicts between peasants
and the capitalist farmers often result in further movement of peasant
along the frontier. This gives rise to shifting cultivation. The whole
system is reinforced by a capitalist ideology of growth mania.
However, successive governments have hardly given any attention to
the environmental consequences of economic expansion into the
rainforests, especially by ranchers and other commercial enterprise.
STEEP SLOPED MOUNTAINS AND HILLS
Mountains are unique ecosystems. About 10 per cent of the
world’s population derives their livelihood support directly from
mountains. Mountains are also critically important for the people

69
inhabiting the nearby lowlands. They are the principal source of most
of the important rivers of the world. They provide water for
downstream lands for meeting domestic needs, as well as for
agricultural, industrial and fishery production. Mountainous rivers
are source of hydro-electric power. The local people earn income
from tourism industry. Mountains are also important source of
timbers and other forest products, including medicinal plants. Most
importantly, mountains and highlands are ‘hotspots’ of biological
diversity.
However, steep sloped mountains and hills are ecologically
amongst the most fragile regions of the world. These regions face
problems of soil degradation, land slide, and deforestation, which in
turn cause of sedimentation and floods.
State vs. State
In Bangladesh, large number of people from the coastal belts
and river basins, whose habitats were destroyed by recurring floods
and storms, have settled over the years in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
(CHT) situated in the southeastern part of the country. This process
has completely altered the demographic balance of various ethnic
groups in the region. The continued movement of Bangla speaking
coastal and plain-dwellers has generated fear about the continued
sanctity of their distinct society among local tribal communities. The
tribal resentment led to the rise of insurgency in the region. The
insurgents found sanctuary, training and arms in India. Thus, what
was an internal response to rehabilitate an environmentally ravaged
people became a trans-boundary issue affecting the security of and
worsening relations between India and Bangladesh (Hassan, Shaukat,
1992: 82).
State vs. Group
Bhutan’s concerns with ecological degradation in its southern
province have been one reason for expulsion of thousands of illegal
immigrants from its territory. Many of those evicted, however, later
joined with the Gurkha separatist movement located just across the
border, heightening the security concern for Bhutan and India

70
(Hassan, Shaukat, 1992: 82). The construction of the Tehri and many
other dams on the river Ganga has led to population displacement
and conflict between the local people and the state.
Group vs. Group
Exploitation of forest by outside entrepreneurs with
government approval has been the source of conflict between the
villagers and the contractors in Uttarakhand state of India. Effects
of timber contractors have been devastating and are evident on local
ecosystem and communities. This often gives rise to frequent
confrontations between villagers and social workers on one hand and
timber contractors and their employees on the other.
RIVER BASINS
The construction of large dams and reservoirs for generation
of electricity and for irrigation of land has remained the most
controversial environmental and livelihood issues globally. There are
many examples of conflicts between supporters and opponents of
such gigantic projects. In future, the issue of land acquisition and
associated conflicts may increase as the state has been increasingly
taking up the role of agency that acquires land on behalf of the
industrial and business houses. River basins are generally densely
populated thus making large-scale displacement.
State vs. State
If a downstream riparian state threatens to go to war against
the upstream riparian state because the latter pollutes river water so
gravely that it cannot be used by the citizens of the downstream
riparian state who are highly dependent on this water then the
environmental character of the conflict is very much evident. In the
wake of deforestation in the Himalayas, the annual flows of the
Ganges river system are now characterized by flooding followed by
reduced flows. This causes damages worth billions of rupees and
loss of life in Bangladesh, which co-share the river. There have been
clashes of interests between the two counties over the share of the
Ganga water. In fact, this is the principal source of conflict between
the two countries.

71
State vs. Group
The World Bank supported Chico Dam Project in the
Philippines threatened to displace 80,000 tribal people from their
ancestral lands. When the local people protested against the project,
the Macros regime responded with brutal violence. It led to an
escalating conflict. Many tribals took to the hills and joined the New
People’s Army to oppose the dam. The conflict endured long after
the World Bank pulled out of the project. As a result, villagers were
repeatedly bombed and subjected to counter insurgency programmes.
In India, the river valley projects of Hirakund, Rihand, Bhakra,
Ukai (Gujarat), Pong (Himachal Pradesh), Nagarjun Sagar, Tawa,
Jayakawadi, Kadana, Srisailam, Tehri and Narmada Valley (Narmada
Sagar and Sardar Sarovar Dams) and many other river valleys have
caused submergence of habitats of people, forest and cultivated land
and thereby displacing the local population (Venkateswaran, Sandhya,
1992: 122). Disputes and conflicts between the affected people and
the state are quite common on these sites.
Group vs. Group
A chemical plant is located in the Apennine Mountains on the
border between Liguria and Piedmont and at the head of the Bormida
River Valley (Italy). The valley with the total area of 1550 square
kilometers has a population of 2,20,000. The local economy in the
down-stream is largely based on agriculture, especially vineyard. With
800 workers, the plant annually produces 30,000 tons of pigments
and intermediate organic products for the chemical industry and
discharge organic effluents into the river. Downstream farmers and
communities have been protesting to stop the pollution of the river
since the beginning of the century. Recent monitoring has found
high concentration of toxic and carcinogenic substances in the river
water. However, the upstream communities, for whom the factory is
an important economic asset, are in favour of keeping the factory in
operation (Liberatore, Angela and Lewanski, Rudol, 1992: 14). This
issue has become a major cause of conflict between the upstream
and the downstream communities.

72
COASTAL LOWLANDS AND ISLANDS
Coastal belts play a vital role in the economy of a state due to
the availability of rich resources, productive habitats and biodiversity.
In coastal belts, various human and economic activities are performed.
The urban centres in this belt are centres of convergence of various
modern activities such as shipping facilities, trade, tourism and
generation of solid and liquid wastes from domestic and industrial
sources. These activities exist side by side with traditional resource-
based activities such as coastal fisheries, aquaculture, forestry and
agriculture.
Islands of oceans and seas are characterized by unique maritime
environment. Islands, particularly those with smaller size, have limited
resources. Supplies of water, food, building materials are major
constraining factors. The critical environmental concerns are soil
erosion, coastal erosion, fresh water shortage, solid waste disposal,
toxic chemicals, sea level rise, endangered species, etc.
State vs. State
The developing countries mostly catch their fish from their own
exclusive economic zones, while the developed countries intrude into
the exclusive economic zones of other states with their distant-water
fleets. As the demand for fish is growing in the developing countries,
it is plausible to believe that this could generate conflicts between
coastal states and states with distant-water fleets over the right to
harvest. There are instances of tensions between India and Sri Lanka
and India and Pakistan on the issue of crossing of fishermen into
the territorial waters of one another.
State vs. Group
If the present trend of global warming remains unaltered, there
is a serious concern that low-lying Maldives and Bangladesh might
lose substantial amounts of their territory to a rising sea, with harmful
effects on fresh water aquifers, agricultural lands and inland fisheries.
Rising sea level can create millions of environmental refugees. Finding
a home in the subcontinent would be a political nightmare for them.
The movement of these refugees to the largest country of the region
(i.e. India) could become a cause of conflict.

73
Group vs. Group
Marine aquaculture is a major cause of coastal habitat
destruction which undermines marine fisheries. One of the principal
reasons why people cut down mangrove forests, half of which have
already been destroyed worldwide, is to make artificial shrimp ponds.
Coastal wetlands are essential nurseries for wild fisheries. Their
destruction directly undermines marine fishing. In Honduras tensions
between shrimp fishers and shrimp farmers have led people on both
sides to arm themselves; some believe that a conservation-minded
fisherman was murdered by the vigilant hired shrimp farmers (Wille,
Chris quoted in Weber, Peter 1995: 45). Similar conflicts over shrimp
farming have increased in the coastal belts of India and Bangladesh.
MINING AND INDUSTRIAL BELTS
The mineral rich belts in the developing countries have been
attracting several domestic and international mineral companies.
Large-scale mining operations in these belts are not only destroying
forest and water resource base and landscape but also denying the
accessibility of local people over resources. Large number of people
has been adversely affected in these belts. Rampant mining activities
have become an important cause of conflict in the mineral belts
between the local people, who have inhabited the land for centuries,
and the state, which is in support of big companies.
Industrial belts of both industrialized and developing countries
have become highly polluted. The pollutant industries are polluting
surface and underground waters, coastal areas and the atmosphere.
The underground water is also getting polluted or depleted. The
pollution of environment is responsible for many health related
problems as well as the decline of economic productivity.
State vs. State
Wind-borne export of acid rain has been a source of friction in
the relationship between Britain and Central European countries as
well as between the USA and Canada. The accumulation of
greenhouse gases due to industrial emissions is an important cause
of inter-state disputes. Rapid industrialization in the world is causing

74
atmospheric pollution with serious health, social and economic
repercussions. If some countries become convinced that their way
of life or survival is truly threatened by other countries due to
unrestricted use of energy, they might become aggressive and try to
impose definite actions.
State vs. Group
Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) had planned to invest
millions of rupees for bauxite mining in the Gandhamardhan Hills
of Sambalpur (Orissa). The tribals like Kandha, Binjhal, Gond and
Sahara of the region depend on the minor forest produces for their
subsistence. Large number of trees including their totemic plants
has already been cut down which in turn have dried up the hill streams
traditionally used for irrigation. Subsequently soil erosion has damaged
the agricultural fields. The affected villagers constituted youth fronts
to consolidate their anti-BALCO agitation. The administration
responded by arresting large number of agitators including women.
The anti-BALCO movement generated strong social support and
inspired many other such movements.
Peaceful protests, violent clashes, bloodsheds and killings have
taken place in Kalinganagar (over setting up of steel hub by the Tata
Steels), Jagatsinghpur district (over setting up of plants by POSCO, a
South Korean steel manufacturing company), Niyamgiri (over setting
up of bauxite mining project by the Vedanta Group), along the coast
of Puri-Konark (over setting up of a university by the Vedanta Group).
Similarly, the acquisition of land for industrial development at Singur,
Nandigram and Lalgarh in the state of West Bengal has caused
protracted and violent conflicts between various stakeholders.
Thousands of villagers, including women and children participated
in protest movements. They were also joined by civil society members
and political parties in solidarity.
There is mounting evidence that minority and low-income
populations are asked to bear a disproportionate burden of the
country’s air, water and wastes pollution problems. Three out of five
African-American - 15 million individuals - live in communities with
abandoned toxic wastes sites. Three of five largest commercial
hazardous waste landfills are located in predominantly African-

75
American or Latino communities and account for 40 per cent of
America’s total estimated capacity (Lach, Denise, 1996: 213).
The environmental justice movement grew out of grassroots
struggles to confront environmental inequities at the local level.
Activities have been organized to confront local and regional hazards,
challenge federal regulations and policies, get federal and local officials
to clean up hazardous areas and push the mainstream environmental
movement to focus on the causes and consequences of environmental
inequities (Pinderhughes, Raquel 1996: 243).
Group Vs. Group
In mineral belts of India, many mafia groups are operating
clandestinely. They are involved in both legal and illegal mines. The
mafia groups are supported by private mercenaries. These mercenaries
help in illegal mining. There are several instances of inter-group
conflicts owing allegiance to rival mafia groups over ownership and
occupation of mines. Such mafia groups operate in coal mines of
Dhanbad, Jharkhand and iron-ore mines of Bellary, Karnataka.
URBAN AND PERI-URBAN AREAS
Regional disparities in levels of development many developing
countries have increased enormously since 1990s when most of them
adopted policies of liberalization, privatization and globalization.
There is also an increase in inter-sectoral disparity in economic growth,
with rapid decline of contributions of agriculture to national economy
and employment. On the other hand, contributions of industry and
services have increased. There is also increase in rural-urban disparity
in social and infrastructural facilities. All these factors have resulted
in urban growth and expansion.
In urban areas there is accumulation of facilities (e.g., electricity,
transport, health and education, entertainment, malls and markets,
etc.). The rural elite are migrating to urban areas as producers and
consumers. On the other hand, the rural the rural poor are migration
for employment. In the process, rural labourers are becoming urban
labourers. The rapid rate of urbanization is posing new kinds

76
challenges for urban planning and development. New kinds of
conflicts are emerging in spaces of all the metropolitan cities.
The peri-urban areas of metropolitan cities have acquired
dynamic character as several development projects like SEZ, residential
complexes and townships, power plants and other infrastructure
projects are being undertaken. These projects are being established
on productive agricultural land and thereby dislocating farmers and
labourers from their traditional occupation and displacing them from
their traditional habitation. The displaced people are not only losing
their land but also experiencing employment uncertainty, socio-cultural
and economic insecurity and uncertain future. It is worth emphasizing
that people develop emotional attachment with their land. In India,
land is also known as matribhumi (motherland). Land is not only a
source of livelihood but also a chain which connects them with their
ancestors. It gives them an identity and provides sustenance.
State vs. Group
A case related to land-use conflict in villages surrounding
Varanasi city of Uttar Pradesh has been studied by Anand Prasad
Mishra (2008: 93-104). Unitech, a company involved in township
development, plans to develop a hi-tech city in the peri-urban space
of Varanasi. For this purpose, the company had planned to acquire
2200 acres land belonging to nine villages (Tulachak, Maniyaripur,
Uchgaon, Daudpur, Korauta, Pilkhani, Ghatimpur, Udairajpur and
Balirampur) for developing 25,000 plots for residential purposes.
About 1800 households (13000 people) would lose their land, homes,
their habitats and traditional occupation if the plan is implemented.
The land on which the plan is based is very fertile. Two to three
crops are grown per annum. The proportion of landless labourers
varies between 20 to 30 percent in these villages. The people of these
villages under the banner of Khet Bachao Kisan Sangharsh Samiti have
taken several protest marches against the state government and the
Unitech Company for the cancellation of the proposed hi-tech city.
Group vs. Group
The Indian state of Assam has been a site of protracted violent
ethnic conflicts due to in-migration and immigration of people from

77
outside. Millions of people have migrated from Bangladesh to Assam.
Large numbers of people from Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar
and Uttar Pradesh have also migrated to Assam. These in-migrants
have permanently settled here and occupied large tracts of land. The
local people are fearful that they would be reduced to a numerically
and economically marginal position in their own state. It is feared
that the ‘outsiders’ could adversely affect their culture and identity.
Their fear and discontent accompanied by the failure of the central
and the state government to stop the continuous inflow of population.
These feelings have given rise to anti-migrant movements in Assam.
The continuing illegal immigration of population from Bangladesh
has generated a host of destabilizing political, social, economic, ethnic
and communal tensions in many states and union territories of the
country (Government of India, 2001: 13). Several cases of ethnic
clashes and communal riots have occurred in areas settled by
Bangladeshi immigrants. One of the major driving forces behind this
type of movement of people seems to be the environmental crisis in
rural areas of Bangladesh (Alam, 2003: 423). Violent protests and
use of violence against migrants from north Indian states in Assam
are also very common.
FUTURE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY-INDUCED
CONFLICTS
Michael S. Teitelbaum (1992/93: 64) has described the present
world demographic trends as “revolutionary”. Though human species
emerged perhaps 150,000 years ago but most of its growth has been
in the last forty years. The world population took tens of thousands
years to reach one billion mark around 1820, over a century to achieve
the second billion mark in 1930, about 30 years to the third billion
around 1960s, only 15 years to the fourth and 12 years to the fifth
billion in the year 1987. At present the world population is over 7.2
billion. By 1950, the planet’s human population would be 9.6 billion.
Almost the entire increase in the world population would be taking
place in the developing countries. The principal reason for the present
world revolutionary demographic trend is the increase in population
growth in developing countries at an unprecedented level since 1950.
This has happened due to decline in death rate which was made
possi ble with improvements in sanitation, food, nutrition,

78
communications and transportation, control of epidemics, and the
increasing availability of antibiotics.
As a result of this demographic trend, scarcities of natural
resources may increase sharply. The total area of highly productive
agricultural land would drop as would the extent of forests and the
biodiversity. Future generations might experience serious problems
of depletion and degradation of aquifers, rivers and other water
bodies, the decline of fisheries due to further stratospheric ozone
depletion and perhaps significant climatic change. As such these
environmental problems would become even more severe. This could
result in domestic as well as inter-state conflicts.
There are several reasons that can be attributed to the relatively
susceptible nature of the developing countries to the environmental
stress. The rate of population growth in most of the developed
countries has either become stable or is declining. According to the
World, Bank, 95 per cent of future growth will take place in developing
countries of Africa, Asia· and Latin America (World Bank, 1996: 26).
The high population growth in these countries will multiply pressure
on natural resources as most of them are highly dependent on their
natural resources to sustain their economic activity. For example, about
one-fourth of Central America’s gross domestic product is based on
renewable resources, and they also provide more than half of all the
employment as well as most export earnings (Myers, Norman quoted
in Swain, Ashok, 1993: 5). Lack of alternative sources of living may
force the poor and landless people to put unprecedented demand on
these resources in their struggle to survive. This may further aggravate
the existing environmental problems in these countries. The existing
material inequalities may become more acute which may result in
further widening and deepening of social cleavages and social unrests.
Most of the developing countries are weak states. They lack effective
bureaucratic, administrative, legal and financial institutions to deal
with problems arising out of environmental crisis. Therefore, in
coming decades, environmental problems could become more severe
in these countries. As a result, they may experience civil strife, inter-
group or inter-state conflicts with intensity and scale unprecedented
in their histories.

79
CONCLUSION
Examples of environmental conflicts described in this chapter
clearly indicate that they usually take place in environmentally
vulnerable areas of the earth. Each of these areas has somewhat
distinct bio-physical environment and geo-historical setting. Different
areas of the earth experience different types of environmental
conflicts. However, even if two similar areas experience similar level
of environmental problems, it would not result in similar intensity
of conflict. It is not even certain that there would be environmental
conflict in the similar situation. This fact clearly indicates that the
reasons for conflict lie in the society – the level of political socialization
of people and availability of political space in the society.
Geographers can play an important role in the process of
environmental conflict resolution. With their skills, they can precisely
delineate those areas and identify the underlying causes of
environmental crisis and associated social conflicts. This could well
be the starting point of any plan proposed for not only reducing the
frequency and intensity of environmental conflicts in the future but
also for peacefully resolving the existing conflicts.

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CHAPTER 7
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION
“Conflict ‘resolution’ implies that there is joint participation of the parties
in reaching the outcome. There is also an assumption that the outcome
is - at least to extent - satisfactory for all the parties involved.”
James Laue, 1987
INTRODUCTION
The preceding analysis shows that there is a widespread
prevalence of conflicts over renewable environmental resources
particularly in developing countries. Environmental conflicts typically
involve many different types of parties, issues and resources (Dukes,
E. Franklin, 2004: 1991). These conflicts are occurring at various
socio-spatial scales. They not only undermine the security of human
beings but also that of the state. There is probability of increase in
incidence of these conflicts in the future. Most of these conflicts
would be occurring in the developing countries. Therefore, peaceful
resolution of these conflicts is vitally important for the wellbeing
and security of people as well as the states.
RESOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
The study clearly hints that environmental conflicts are different
from conventional social and political conflicts. Before discussing
the kinds of processes that might be undertaken for resolving
environmental conflicts, it is important to discuss some distinct
characteristics of environmentally-induced conflicts.
First, unlike other conflicts, environmental conflicts do not
explode suddenly. An environmental crisis is generally a slow process.
Therefore, conflicts over environmental issues do not emerge unless
it starts adversely affecting the population. In fact, in many cases an
environmental problem goes unrecognized till the very last when a
group starts feeling that the environmental foundations of their
livelihood are being undermined or threatened by other groups.

81
Second, environmental conflicts, like other social conflicts, are
very complex in nature. They take place at all socio-spatial scales.
The actors in environmental conflicts could be individuals, community,
state or a group of states. Its intensity may vary from non-violent
tensions to violent conflicts.
Third, environmental conflicts generally do not occur on their
own. They usually occur in combination with the existing socio-
economic processes. In fact, environment conflicts are found to occur
in combination with various other conflicts producing factors such
as economic, political and social. In many cases, causes of
environmental conflicts may not be even clearly noticeable. Therefore,
at times it becomes extremely difficult to locate the exact causes of
environmental conflicts.
Fourth, same environmental problems do not always give rise
to conflicts in all places. For an environmental problem to generate
conflict a particular type of socio-economic situations must exist.
For example, water pollution in a common river can cause conflicts
in the developing countries, but the same problem may not lead to
conflict in the developed countries.
Fifth, in environmental conflicts, one is dealing with the future,
the decisions are made that are going to affect generations which are
still to come. It is not known to us how to adequately represent
interests of the coming generations. This is clearly different from
labour and management settling on a contract which is good for the
two years and which cannot be renegotiated. In an environmental
conflict, unforeseen things may happen in the next few years, either
for good or for bad. Also, life-and-death decisions are common in
the environmental conflicts. Many environmental problems are
irreversible. For instance, once a particular area has been strip-mined,
it may not be possible to reclaim the land of that area.
Sixth, environmental conflicts are usually characterized by many
parties. In contrast, in the labour management model there tend to
be only two parties. Parties in environmental conflicts vary in their
degree of organisation and they represent diverse interests often
mutually contradictory to one another.

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Seventh, many of the environmental problems are either site-
specific or issue-specific because of the multiplicity of parameters
involved. Therefore, a solution technique tried elsewhere may not be
readily applicable in the specific circumstance.
Lastly, human perception to an environmental problem is a
complex phenomenon. It is connected to a number of unrelated
subjective factors such as attitudes, beliefs, values, prejudices and
emotions. As a result, different groups perceive the same set of
environmental problem differently. A major task in environmental
conflict resolution is to develop an understanding of these subjective
factors.
Mechanisms of resolving environmental conflicts need to take
into account these issues. In the subsequent section, an attempt has
been made to develop general framework for resolving environmental
conflicts in the developing countries.
APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT
RESOLUTION
Due to complexities in environmental conflicts, it is not easy to
resolve them. Environmental conflict resolution is an umbrella term
for wide range of processes. The following approaches may be
undertaken as useful steps in the resolution of environmentally-
induced conflicts.
Fact Finding
It is perhaps one of the least labour-intensive types of processes
that can be undertaken. Facts are not always accurately known. A
fact-finding analysis can be merely verifying what is true and
documenting it (Smith, Ethan T. 1987: 151). People reactions to an
environmental problem depend on their perception. Their perception
is affected by a number of unrelated subjective factors. Consequently,
different people perceive the same set of environmental problem
differently. Perception does not always represent the reality. Many
environmental conflicts can be resolved simply by removing the
misperception of what is true. Therefore, fact-finding which verify

83
the genesis, nature and the scope of the problem is the most important
aspect of conflict resolution process.
Conciliation
The object is to get the parties together to enable them to
recognize each other as human beings, that they are not demons, and
so on (Smith, Ethan T. 1987: 151). In this process, the parties are
made to feel better about being embroiled in an environmental
conflict.
Negotiation
In negotiation, the concerned parties try to educate and bargain
with each other. The negotiator helps in parties to negotiate.
Facilitation
It is also called cooperative problem solving. In facilitation, the
parties require someone from outside. The facilitator assists in the
development of a relevant definition of the problems, issues and
positions. He/she provides techniques to encourage parties to
communicate clearly and ensure that all parties are heard. He also
educates parties on collaborative problem solving.
Mediation
The mediator is similar to the facilitator except that he/she has
more power: the mediator can get involved with the substance, and
not just the process, of disputes (Smith, Ethan T. 1987: 151). The
parties generally require mediator when the number of issues is
unmanageable large, they are poorly organized or there are so many
parties with multi-cornered interests.
Arbitration
In arbitration, there is some kind of binding of decision on
parties made by an arbitrator. The appointed arbitrator has power to
tell the parties in dispute to abide by its decision even if one of the
parties or both of them may feel that they are losers.

84
These approaches to environmental conflict resolutions are very
general in nature. There is a need for much deeper insight and ingenuity
to resolve environmental conflicts. Since there are many complexities
in the environmentally-induced conflicts, the management team must
have multidisciplinary perspectives with expertise in areas such as
social structure, economy, polity and environment. There is also a
need of close cooperation among these experts.
Here, two points are worth noting - the status of environmental
conflict management in the developing countries and the role of
geographer in this profession. Environmental conflicts seem to be
escalating in number, scope and costs thereby reinforcing a public
lack of confidence in an uncertain and difficult future. In the
developed countries, institutions have been created to deal with this
kind of situation. Various frameworks have been developed by the
professionals in this field with varying degree of success.
CONCLUSION
In the developing countries, the future of environment crisis
and environmental conflicts seems uncertain. Despite this there are
no such things as institutions and professionals in the field of
environmental conflict resolution. For example, in India, there is not
a single institution where the training in the field of environmental
conflict resolution is imparted. The courts decide cases pertaining to
environmental disputes and conflict. But due to public pressure the
decisions are not implemented. The Cauvery River water dispute is
one of the most recent examples in which riots broke out in Karnataka
against the court decision to give more water to the downstream
state of Tamil Nadu.
The role of geographer can be very crucial in the field of
environmental conflict management. Geography forms a bridge
between fields of natural and social sciences, including humanities.
Human adjustment to his environment is one of the fields of study
for geographers. They study how and why human beings adjust to
various environmental systems differently. They also investigate

85
human reactions to changes in the state of the environmental
processes. The spatial patterns of environmental crisis and its spatial
interactions are mapped by geographers.
It would be ideal if services of geographers are taken in this
field. Each region has distinct environmental problems. Therefore,
conflicts associated with these environmental problems display some
degree of uniqueness. Geography has a long history of studying
society-environment relationships as well as regions of the world at
both theoretical and practical level. Therefore, geographers can ideally
perform a useful role in the field of environmental conflict resolution.

86
CONCLUSION
The connections between environment and conflict may be
investigated in various ways. In this study the role of environmental
crisis as a direct as well as indirect cause of conflict has been
conceptually and empirically established. It has also been found that
environmental crisis contribute to armed conflict in the sense of
exacerbating existing conflicts or adding new dimension thereto. Here,
environmental crisis has been a minor or triggering cause of conflicts.
Besides, environmental issues are often deliberately manipulated
politically to serve narrow group interests. Our analysis suggests that
that environmental crisis can cause domestic political instability. For
example, the Ganga water dispute between India and Bangladesh has
often been exaggerated by the opposition political parties in both the
countries to serve their narrow electoral gains.
In conflict and security studies, the term environment refers to
renewable resources. Environmental crisis means a decline in the
quality and quantity of renewable resources. There are various causes
of environmental crisis - population growth, unequal access over
resources, environmental degradation and political economy of
development. These factors cause environmental crisis either singly
or in combinations. Due to unequal exposure of people to
environmental crisis, the resource distribution in the society becomes
highly disorderly. Those communities, whose habitats have been
destroyed by ‘development projects’, they experience loss of their
homes and cultural identities.
What are the consequences of environmental crisis? It is a well
known fact that the poor people directly depend on renewable
resources for their well-being and survival. The overall economic
health and prosperity of developing countries crucially depend on
the performance of these resources. Therefore, a decline in the quality
and quantity of these resources not only adversely affect the economy
and health of the poor but also adversely influence the economy and
polity of the developing countries. Environmental crisis may also
cause a decline in the standard of living of people, disordering in the
distribution of resources, loss of habitats and sources of living and
deterioration of human health. These socio-economic impacts can

87
be partially explained by the structure of the society and polity within
a state.
But the question is how environmental crisis and conflicts are
causally linked. The initial conceptual ambiguities in linkage between
environment and social conflict are slowly vanishing. Now, more and
more empirical evidences in support of environmentally-induced
conflicts are emerging from different regions of the world. Globally,
there are now systematic attempts to document cases of
environmentally-induced conflicts. Environmental conflict is now a
fairly accepted and established concept in the peace and conflict
discourse.
The study suggests that the loss of environmental foundations
of livelihood in a peripheral region often causes an affected group to
shift its allegiance from the centre to the periphery. This increases
the possibilities of political disorder, civil strife and even insurgency.
Environmental crisis also reduces economic opportunities and destroy
human habitats. It can cause population displacement within the state
or across the international borders. This may result in intra-state and
inter-state conflicts. If environmental degradation or renewable
resource decline faced by a state is caused by activities across its
borders, it can deteriorate the bilateral or multilateral relations. It could
well be detrimental to the regional security. It has also been proved
that environmental issues can be manipulated politically to serve
narrow group interests. It may put at risk the domestic inter-group
power balance, which in turn may result in domestic political instability.
A decline in the quality and quantity of fresh water and productive
agricultural land may lead to competing claims between or among
various groups within a state or between states.
The study clearly suggests that environmental problems are
concentrated in certain geographical areas of the earth. These are
desert and semi-desert lands, coastal and islands, steep slope
mountains, urban and peri-urban areas, mining, industrial and urban
areas. Each of these regions has specific geographical characteristics
where different social and environmental processes operate and
interact among themselves. T herefore, cha racteristi cs of
environmental problems experienced by these regions vary
considerably.

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Effects of some of environmental problems originating from
a country may not be confined to that country only. It spreads to
nearby countries as well. Examples of such environmental problems
are acid rain and global warming. Even though developing countries
are least contributors to the phenomenon of global warming led sea
level rise, its impact is most severely felt in the low-lying coastal belts
and islands of these countries. In other case, economic activities in
one country cause environmental degradation in the neighbouring
countries. Such pollutants are transported between countries which
share borders, rivers and coastlines.
Cases of environmental conflicts cited in this study clearly
suggest that these conflicts usually take place in certain areas of the
earth. Each area has somewhat distinct social and bio-physical
environment and geo-historical settings. As a result, different areas
of the earth experience different types of environmental conflict.
However, in two similar areas if there are similar levels of
environmental problems, it would not result in similar intensity of
environmental conflict. It may not experience any environmental
conflict. It means that the reasons of conflict lie to a large extent in
the society – its ethnic and class composition and relations and the
nature of political space and culture.
The number and scope of environmental disputes and conflicts
are likely to increase in the developing countries in the future. A large
numbers of environmental disputes and conflicts related cases being
handled by already over-burdened judiciary in the developing countries.
Therefore, it would be only pertinent to develop a specialized
institution to address and resolve environmental conflicts. Since there
are many complexities in the environmentally-induced conflicts, the
management team must have multidisciplinary perspectives with
expertise in areas such as society, economy, polity and environment.
It would be imperative for the team members to have a grasp over
complex socio-economic structure and history of the developing
countries for resolving environmental conflicts.
Geographers are well equipped to delineate such areas and
identify the underlying causes of environmental crisis and associated
social conflict. This could well be the starting point of reducing the
frequency and intensity of environmental conflicts in the future as
well as for peacefully resolving such conflicts.

89
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101
A
Acid rain 14-16, 59, 62-63 ,
74, 88
Adjudication, 32
Africa, 5, 12, 38, 53-54, 56, 60,
63,66 ,75,78, 90, 95-96,
Alam, Sarfaraz, 77, 89
Amazon, 54-55, 68
Anti-colonial, 30
Arable lands, 14, 16, 23, 49-50
Arbitration, 32, 83
Authoritarian, 5
B
Baechler, Gunther, 37
Bangladesh, 2, 15, 62, 69, 70, 72-
73, 77, 86, 88
Behavioural environment,
7, 11-12
Bharat Aluminium Company, 74
Bifani, P., 19, 53, 56, 68, 89
Bisaria, Sarojini, 26- 27, 90
Blitt, Jessica, 36, 94
Boge, Volkar, 22,36
Border, 38,50, 61- 63, 69, 71, 87-
88
Braeslin, S., 64
Brazil, 1, 21, 54-55
Bryant, Raymond L., 1, 24, 90
Burton, 27, 90
Byers, Bruce, 38, 90
C
Canada, 59, 62-63, 74
Cantril, Hadley, 46
Castro, Peter A., 39, 90
Catastrophe, 22, 37,91
Cauvery river, 84
Chico dam, 71
Chittagong Hill Tracts, 69
Chris, Park, 16, 45, 61, 97
INDEX
Clash of interests, 29, 70
Class conflict, 3
Coastal low land, 5, 15, 57, 72
Cognition, 7, 9-10, 12
Colonizer, 4
Communal, 31,49, 77
Conacher, Arthur, 8, 37,
45, 91
Conciliation, 83
Conflict resolution, 31-32, 79- 80,
82- 85, 90, 92
Cooke, J. S., 58, 91
D
Damage, 1, 4, 15-17, 21, 57,59, 63,
70, 74,79
Deforestation,12, 16-18, 54- 57,
61, 63, 65, 67-70, 79
Democratic, 5
Deser tificati on, 16, 22 , 54,
65, 99
Destabilization, 22
Destructive development, 2, 5
Developmental projects, 25, 67,
76, 86
Dikshit, R. D., 64, 92
Distribution of resources, 5, 7,
20-21, 86
Diversity, 8, 14, 16-17,19, 54, 57-
58, 69, 72, 78
Downstream, 42, 56, 61- 62, 69-
72, 84, 96
Drought, 9, 18, 23, 37, 42, 53-54,
65-66
Dukes, E. Franklin, 80, 92
E
Ecological foundations, 4, 40
Ecological imbalance, 14
Ecological marginalisation, 20-21,
36

102
Ecological warfare, 1
El Salvador, 49
El-Hinnavi, 53
ENCOP, 37
Enemy, 1, 28, 31
Engels, Friedrich, 26, 96
Environmental foundations, 1,
23-24, 43, 50, 80, 87
Environmental management, 37,
90, 91, 95, 99
Environmental perception, 7, 9-
10, 92
Erosion, 16, 22-23, 41, 54, 56-57,
58, 61, 65, 72, 74
Ethiopia, 38, 56, 62, 66, 95
Ethnic, 4, 22, 24, 30, 35-37, 42,
47-49, 60, 69, 77, 88
Exclusive economic zones, 72
Expressed struggles, 28
F
Fact finding, 32, 82
Farmers, 7, 12, 20, 41-42,49, 60,
65, 67-68, 71, 73, 76
Food, 9, 15, 17, 19, 31, 41, 44, 48,
54, 63, 67, 72, 78
Forest, 1, 4, 5, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18,
19-21, 23-24, 35, 39, 48, 50, 52,
54, 56,
59, 63, 65, 67-68, 73, 78, 98
Fresh water, 12, 15-16, 19, 23, 35,
51, 56-57, 72, 87
G
Gurr, Robert Ted, 5
Gaan, Narottam, 39, 92
Galtung, Johan,, 31, 92
Ganga, 2, 57, 61-62, 70-71, 86
Geographical distribution, 2, 64
Geographical factors, 52
Globalization, 21, 76
Golledge, R. G, 10-11, 93
Grasslands, 53, 65
Guerrilla movement, 22
Gulf War, 1
H
Habitats, 3, 9, 13-14, 17, 21, 25,
40, 42, 44, 48, 57-59, 64-65, 67,
69, 71-72, 76, 86-87
Hague, R., 64
Hanley, Nick, 8, 93
Harrop, M., 64
Hassan, Shaukat, 39, 69-70, 93
Hazard, 3, 9, 14, 17, 18, 38, 56,
60, 75, 99
Hazardous, 17, 56, 60, 75
Heritage, 14, 18, 23
Highlands, 5, 38, 55-56, 63, 66, 69,
95
Hildyard, 4, 95
Homer-Dixon, Thomas F., 2. 13,
20, 35-36, 47, 93, 94
Honduras, 49, 73
Horowitz, Michael, 68, 95
Human life, 15, 41
Human reactions, 44
Human Response, 44
Human-induced, 14, 18
I
Identities, 24- 25, 86
Image, 7, 9-12
India, 2, 49, 58, 62, 68-69, 71-73,
75-77, 84, 86, 89, 92-94, 96
Indigenous communities, 14, 17-
18, 54, 67
Indonesia, 21, 54-56, 68
Insurgencies, 36, 47
Interference, 28
Islands, 5, 14-15, 52, 55, 57, 58,
63, 68, 72, 87-89
Ittelson, W. H., 11
Ives, J. D., 55, 94
Ivory Coast, 66

103
J
Johnson, M. S., 59, 91
K
Kenya, 66, 67, 99
Khet Bachao Kisan Sangharsh
Samiti, 76
Klare, Michael T., 29, 95
Knowles R., 8, 10, 95
L
Lach, Denise, 60, 75
Lanz, Tobias J., 38, 47, 95
Legitimacy, 4, 24, 47
Lewanski, Rudol, 71, 95
Lewis, G. J., 11, 99
Liberalization, 21, 75
Liberatore, Angela, 71, 95
Libiszewski, Stephen, 37, 40
Little, Peter D., 66-68, 95
Livelihood, 13, 15-17, 23-24, 41-
42, 46, 48, 50, 53, 55, 57, 65, 68,
70, 76, 80, 87
M
Maldives, 15, 72
Man-environment relationship, 7
Marginalized, 3-4, 9, 17, 33
Marx, Karl, 26, 96
Mason, Simon A., 37
Mediation, 32, 83, 97
Messerli, B., 56, 96
Militant ideas, 49
Mining, 5, 14, 17-18, 21, 52, 55,
58-59, 63, 65, 73-75, 87, 91
Mishra, Anand Prasad, 76, 96
Mitigating, 4
Molvaer, Rudolf K., 38, 47,
66, 96
Movements, 22, 24, 30-31, 35-36,
38, 41, 47, 52, 61-62, 68-69, 73-
75,
77, 97
Myers, Norman, 39, 44, 78, 97
N
National sovereignty, 61
Negotiation, 32, 83
Nomadic herdsmen, 12
Non-violent, 31, 41, 47, 81
Norton, William,, 14-16, 97
Nyerges, Endre A, 68, 95
O
O’Riordan, T., 45
Objective environment, 7, 9, 10-
12
Overfishing, 22
Ozone depletion, 14, 62, 78
Ozone layer, 9, 15
P
Pakistan, 72
Park, Chris, 16, 45, 61, 97
Pastoral groups, 66-67
Perceived scarcity, 28, 45
Peri-urban, 5, 64, 78, 89
Philippines, 21, 56, 71
Pinderhughes, Raquel, 38, 75, 97
Political instability, 2, 37, 52, 86,
87
Political socialization, 46, 79
Political upheavals, 49
Population displacement, 22
POSCO, 74
Privatisation, 21
Psychological well-being, 13, 18,
22-23
Q
Quarrying, 14, 17
R
Rainforests, 19-21, 51, 54, 67, 68,
Rangelands, 52-53, 65- 67
Refugees, 22, 48, 53, 66, 73, 94
Regional, 4, 6, 15, 29, 41, 50-51,
53, 60, 75, 87, 94, 96
Regional conflicts, 29, 96

104
Relative deprivation, 5, 7, 25, 35,
40, 45-46
Religious, 4, 22, 30, 31, 37, 42
Resource capture, 20, 21
Resource wars, 29, 35, 40
Revolutionary, 26, 30, 77-78
River Nile, 62, 96
S
Sanitation, 17, 44, 60, 78
Savannah, 65
Scarcities, 2, 35-36, 76, 93
Schmink, Marianne, 68
Sea level rise, 15, 22, 58, 63, 72,
88
Security studies, 6-7, 24, 86
Semi-desert regions, 12
Sharma, Dinesh, 26-27, 90
Singh, Savinder, 14
Skewed distribution, 13
Smith, Ethan T, 82-83, 92
Social segmentation, 36
Social transformations, 31
Socially unequal, 2, 55
Spatial interaction, 52, 60- 61, 84,
Spiess, E., 55, 94
Spillmann, Kurt R., 37, 96
Sri Lanka, 72
State capacity, 24
Stea, D., 10
Steep sloped mountains, 5, 52, 69
Stimson, R. J, 10-11, 93
Stresses, 44, 46-47
Subjective environment, 10
Sudan, 64, 66
Sustainable, 18-19, 89
Swain, Ashok, 22, 27, 39, 46, 49,
78, 98
T
Teitelbaum, Michael S., 77, 98
Threatening, 13, 22
Tolba, Mustafa K., 15, 17, 53, 55-
56, 99
Trans-boundary, 50, 64-65, 69
Tribal communities, 65, 69
Triggering, 1, 86
U
Underground water, 17, 41, 56, 73
UNEP, 15, 53, 57, 99
Unitech, 76-77
Upstream, 57, 61-62, 70-72
Urban, 5, 17, 37, 48-50, 57-58, 59-
60, 63, 66, 72, 75-76, 87, 89, 91-
92
USA, 1, 59, 62, 74, 91, 94, 98
Uttarakhand, 70
V
Vedanta, 74
Venkateswaran, Sandhya, 71, 99
Violence, 1, 31, 33, 35-36, 71, 77,
90, 92, 94
Violent conflict, 31, 36-37, 41, 67,
74, 81, 93- 94
Vulnerable, 5, 9, 52-53, 58-59, 65,
79
W
Wallensteen, 27
Walmsley, D. J., 11, 99
War, 1, 5, 29, 31, 33, 35-36, 40-
41, 64, 70
Warfare, 1
Waste, 9, 14, 17, 19, 22, 38, 41,
58, 59, 60, 72, 75
Weber, Peter, 73, 99
Westing, Arthur H., 39-40, 99
Whynne-Hammond, Charles, 10-
11, 100
Wille, Chris, 73
Wood, Charles H., 68, 100
World Bank, 71, 78, 89, 100