Showing posts by Sonia Schmanski.
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Rising Food Prices Destabilizing Dozens of Countries
›March 12, 2008 // By Sonia SchmanskiRising prices for staple crops like rice, wheat, and corn—driven by growing demand, poor harvests in some regions, the high price of oil, and the conversion of many crops to biofuel—have spurred recent protests in Mexico, Morocco, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Senegal, where people are becoming unable to afford to feed themselves and their families. Last week, the European Union announced its largest food aid package ever, dedicating $243 million to Africa, Asia, and the
Last month, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that skyrocketing food prices have caused 36 countries to need external food assistance, and noted that many of these countries have seen their food shortage difficulties exacerbated by extreme weather or violent conflict. Earlier this month, the FAO released a report showing that climate change will likely diminish agricultural output in the Middle East and North Africa. (Visit the FAO’s World Food Situation Portal for more valuable data and reports on food scarcity.)
Some developing countries have found it more economical to import food than produce their own, which has simultaneously decreased global food supply and increased demand. In addition, when developing countries like China and India do achieve greater prosperity, this generally leads to higher consumption of meat and dairy products, which require more grain—and eight times more land—to produce than vegetables and staples.
Experts and leaders agree that boosting agricultural production should be a top international priority. “It is clear,” said John Beddington, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, “that science and research to increase the efficiency of agricultural production per unit of land is critical.” In addition, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently suggested that a “Green Revolution” in Africa could help increase efficiency and food security. (Read more on prospects for a Green Revolution in Africa here.)
Speaking last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, World Bank President Robert Zoellick called hunger and malnutrition “the forgotten Millennium Development Goal” and argued that “increased food prices and their threat—not only to people but also to political stability—have made it a matter of urgency to draw the attention it needs.”
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Brazilian Security Forces to Help Curb Amazon Deforestation
›February 20, 2008 // By Sonia SchmanskiLast month, the Brazilian government announced it would step up measures to combat illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest, including deploying Brazilian soldiers and police officers to regions that have recently suffered heavy deforestation. Last week, it made good on that promise, as Brazilian police confiscated 353,000 cubic feet of lumber from eight illegal sawmills in the state of Para—one of the biggest loads ever seized.
The heightened enforcement follows a recent surge in illegal logging in the Amazon. Despite assurances from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that his administration had implemented successful policies to curb deforestation, 1,250 square miles of rainforest were cleared during the last five months of 2007. (It’s worth noting that this figure, provided by the government, is disputed, and as higher-resolution images become available, some expect it will as much as double.)
This isn’t the first time the Brazilian government has tried to utilize security forces to protect the Amazon. The System for Vigilance of the Amazon (SIVAM) was created more than a decade ago “(a) to monitor human movements and activities and their impact on the Amazon; (b) to increase knowledge about the region’s environment, biodiversity, climate, and geophysicalfeatures; and (c) to protect the Amazon’s environment while promoting local economic development there,” according to Thomaz Guedes da Costa. Several years into the program, he observed that SIVAM’s lack of transparency and failure to involve non-official organizations were seriously hampering its ability to achieve its objectives.
Some environmental experts doubt the new measures will do much to slow the pace of illegal logging in the Amazon. Roberto Smeraldi, head of Friends of the Earth Brazil, told Reuters, “The government raises a red flag with the left hand and chops trees with the right,” referring to the negative impacts of government infrastructure, mining, and landless peasant resettlement projects on the Amazon.
Rainforest destruction has been at the forefront of global discussion lately, with high-profile figures leading the way. In a speech to the European Parliament last week, Prince Charles argued for the creation of a global fund to preserve tropical rainforests, explaining that “in the simplest of terms, we have to find a way to make the forests worth more alive than dead.” International attention has likely put pressure on the da Silva government to undertake heightened measures against illegal forest clearing.
Roberto Mangabeira Unger, a Harvard law professor and Brazil’s new minister for strategic affairs, hopes to use his office to create a plan for Amazonian development that addresses both ecological and economic issues. “The Amazon is not just a set of trees,” he told The New York Times. “It is a set of 25 million people. If we don’t create real economic opportunities for them, the practical result is to encourage disorganized economic activities that results in the further destruction of the rain forest.” A recent Wilson Center event explored the challenges associated with balancing infrastructure development and environmental conservation in the Amazon. -
Land Distribution Fuels Complex Conflict in Kenya
›February 13, 2008 // By Sonia Schmanski“In Kenya’s highly competitive landscape, land has become the battleground,” argued Kenyan environmentalist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai in a recent op-ed in The Washington Post. Maathai joins a growing group of experts who emphasize that recent violence in Kenya stems not only from ethnic divisions, but also from longstanding tensions over resource allocation. Earlier this year, guest contributor Colin Kahl asserted that the struggles between the Kikuyu, Luo, and Kalenjin tribes are partly based on disparate levels of property ownership.
The media sometimes portray the violence in Kenya as a simple manifestation of ethnic friction, but many commentators note the importance of land distribution and other factors. Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and a visiting public policy scholar at the Wilson Center, told The New York Times, “You have to understand that these issues are much deeper than ethnic. They are political…they go back to land.” In a similar vein, Oxford University’s David Anderson told Newsweek, “If this violence is really driven by ethnic hatred, why is it that violence breaks out in specific places that are utterly predictable? This violence…is provoked in areas that have a history of violence because of other issues, like land.”
Looking forward, Harvard professor Calestous Juma says that if mediation talks are to be effective, they will have to avoid “the template [of thinking] about Africa in terms of ethnic differences.” Similarly, Maathai emphasizes that “ruling elites must devote time, energy and resources to ensuring…equitable distribution of resources.” -
New Report Outlines Impact of Climate Change on Law Enforcement
›January 30, 2008 // By Sonia Schmanski“The risks of climate change demand a rethink of approaches to security,” writes Chris Abbott in An Uncertain Future: Law Enforcement, National Security and Climate Change, a report released recently by Oxford Research Group. Climate change’s impact on security concerns has recently moved to the forefront of global dialogue, a development Abbott links to three trends: widespread acceptance of scientific evidence that climate change is real; increased attention to energy security; and growing awareness of nontraditional threats around the world.
Abbott claims that three likely socio-economic impacts of climate change—damaged infrastructure, resource scarcity, and mass displacement of people—could easily lead to civil strife, intercommunal violence, and international instability. For instance, he warns that major problems should be expected where small, affluent populations live next to large, poor ones—a contention U.S. and Mexican leaders, among others, should take note of.
Law enforcement and police should prepare for four key climate-related developments, says Abbott:- Demands for greater border security;
- Changes in rates and types of crimes, due to large-scale migration;
- The need to enforce newly enacted climate-related laws; and
- The need to respond to increasingly frequent natural disasters.
- Difficulties maintaining the soundness of equipment and weaponry and the health of military personnel in a changed climate;
- Loss of defense assets (for instance, military bases on low-lying islands or coasts that will need to be relocated);
- More frequent peacetime deployments, particularly for disaster relief; and
- Instability in strategically important regions, such as the Horn of Africa or the Persian Gulf.
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New Year Sees Heightened Violence in Niger
›January 18, 2008 // By Sonia SchmanskiHostility between the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) and the country’s government—brewing since government officials announced a sharp increase in mining project commitments in the northern region of Niger in early 2007—escalated this month. Violence reached Niger’s capital city of Niamey for the first time on January 8, 2008, when a landmine exploded under a car, killing a local radio director. The MNJ, which decries what it perceives as the unequal distribution of profits from uranium mining and oil drilling in Tuareg territory, has killed nearly 50 soldiers since early last year, earning the wrath of the Nigerien government. Although the group vehemently denies any involvement with the January 8 attack, many in Niger are skeptical of this claim.
Ethnic Tuaregs, who live mostly in northern Niger and account for eight percent of the country’s population, make up the majority of the MNJ. Politically marginalized following independence and devastated by the desertification of the Sahel and the droughts of 1968-74 and 1984-85, the Tuareg also suffered from the government’s refusal to assist the drought-stricken territories and government expropriation of international humanitarian aid. Following the droughts, many Tuaregs moved to urban areas, where they found themselves culturally isolated. Others were forced to move into refugee camps, while still others migrated to Algeria and Libya. In Niger, this social divide, coupled with economic hardship, manifested itself in violent rebellion between 1990 and 1995, when a peace deal was brokered in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The peace, however, was neither complete nor lasting.
Recently, lack of access to the economic benefits of oil drilling and uranium mining in Tuareg territory has led to increasingly volatile relations between the Tuareg and Niger’s government. Government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar’s announcement last May that Niger would seek to triple its uranium production in the near future only increased the tension. In addition, several instances of violence during 2007 have further strained relations between the MNJ and Niger’s government. On April 20, Tuareg rebels attacked uranium prospectors from the French-controlled Areva mining company in northern Niger, calling for increased benefits for the local Tuareg population and better implementation of the 1995 peace accord, which required companies to give preference to the Tuareg in their hiring processes. On July 6, rebels captured and held a Chinese mine employee for four days before releasing him.
The violence seems set to continue: On January 10, 2008, Nigerien Energy and Mines Minister Mamadou Abdulahi announced that Niger would award 100 new mining exploration permits over the next two years and seven new oil exploration licenses in 2008, and on January 13, Areva announced plans to undertake the largest industrial mining project ever in Niger. Areva will invest more than €1 billion in the project, which will produce nearly 5,000 tons of uranium a year.
The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) has long explored the connections between natural resources and security. ECSP’s January 9, 2008, meeting, “Innovative Partnerships for Peace: The Role of Extractive Industries in Resource-Based Conflict Prevention and Mitigation,” was the first in a series that will explore the links between conflict, natural resources, and human health.
