The previous post introduced the issue of natural
resources in Africa and its relevance in relation to territorial disputes.
Today’s post presents two documents referred to this point. The first study by
Chatham House about natural resources conflict introduces the reader to the
many elements embedded in differences about natural resources (exploitation and
exploration, ownership of the natural resources, ownership of the means for
exploration and exploitation, distribution the revenues, and others). The
second document is a policy brief centered on an issue mostly overlooked when
we discuss Africa and natural resources: maritime borders.
Resource disputes happen on all scales,
from the individual (neighbours arguing over a hedge) to the international
(neighbouring countries disagreeing about the sharing of transboundary water).
Natural resources – such as land, fresh
water, minerals and fishing rights – are critical for the livelihoods and
economic well-being of individuals and entire communities. Partly for this
reason, they often become loaded with concepts of identity and ethnicity. They
are also subject to rapid fluctuations in value or the interest of
multinational corporations in ways that can make them highly contentious. In
countries with weak governance or a history of conflict, resource disputes can
become violent and destructive, damaging development, affecting people’s lives,
and posing a significant threat to long-term peace and stability. Avoiding
violent conflict requires that national governments address resource disputes
more effectively, especially in states that are already fragile.
The natural resource itself is not the
only or even the ‘main’ issue. These disputes become bound up with the ethnic
differences between the protagonists, historical grievances, personal enmities
and so on. Ultimately, though, all are rooted in the power relations among different
stakeholders.
It is possible to disentangle four main
issues that are, in some form or another, at the heart of most resource
disputes: ownership of the resource, power to manage the resource, sharing of
revenues from the resource, and damage caused by the exploitation of the
resource.
Addressing
Natural Resource Conflict
Post-colonial African states have
faced numerous challenges in the process of consolidating their sovereignty.
Members of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) agreed that upon
independence, African states would retain their inherited colonial boundaries. This
froze the many boundaries in place. Issues regarding both maritime boundary
delineation and management formed a small, but largely neglected part of this
process. These issues were set aside or ignored at a time when competing priorities
existed with regard to land borders. The maritime domain took a long time to assume
the importance it is now perceived to have (a phenomenon often referred to as
‘sea blindness’).
A secure maritime domain is
becoming a vital part of a country’s overall sense of security and economic
consideration. It is seen as increasingly indispensable in the context of
heightened tensions over the exploration for and discovery of oil in Africa.
The interest of states in claiming
maritime areas is based on a number of factors. Firstly, improvements in the
technological ability to explore and access resources mean the economic
viability of such resources has improved. Second, there is growing interest by
established and emerging oil companies, and by African states, to open new oil
fields, which means that better deals can be secured. The third factor is the quality
of African oil and the advantageous geopolitical location of the continent’s
oil fields relative to Europe and the USA.
The location of oil fields and
natural resources deposits can result in considerable complications when states
unilaterally determine and apportion exploration blocks that infringe upon
areas of disputed ownership by a neighbouring state. Exploration blocks are
delineated by strict lines, yet oil fields often overlap maritime boundaries.
Africa
and the Maritime Boundary Disputes
Jorge
Emilio Núñez
Twitter:
@London1701
04th October 2018
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