Unpacking the dynamics of natural resource conflicts: The case of African rosewood
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Dinko, Dinko Hanaan [1] ; Kansanga, Moses [2] ; Nyantakyi-Frimpong, Hanson [3] ; Luginaah, Isaac [4]
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[1] Department of Geography and Geology, Mount Holyoke College, 50 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075, USA
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[2] Department of Geography, George Washington University, 2036H St. NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
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[3] Department of Geography, University of Denver, Boettcher West, 2050 East Iliff Avenue, Denver, CO 80208, USA
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[4] Department of Geography, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada
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- Localización: Land use policy: The International Journal Covering All Aspects of Land Use, ISSN 0264-8377, ISSN-e 1873-5754, Nº. 136, 2024
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
Fueled by surging demand in Asia, the exploitation of African rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) has become a lucrative venture in sub-Saharan Africa that has sparked widespread resource conflicts over the last decade. While some of these conflicts have produced fatal outcomes, little is known about the nature of these conflicts and the underlying drivers. Drawing on empirical evidence from four communities in northern Ghana where African rosewood extraction is rife, this paper unpacks the drivers and dynamics of African rosewood conflicts. We find that violent conflicts over African rosewood exploitation are driven by negative othering, engrained power differences, and resource appropriation by external actors. These drivers are connected in complex ways to the flow of transnational capital and commodity chains beyond local politics. This paper contributes to the broader literature on natural resource conflicts, especially the ongoing debate on why resource conflicts turn violent. Given the potential for resource conflicts to contribute to unsustainable resource exploitation, environmental policy must pay attention to these multi-scalar dynamics and drivers.
