Would you look to tropical forests to find solutions for the international security problems that the world is suffering today? If your answer is no, then you may want to consider the ideas presented in "Extreme Conflict and Tropical Forests," a new book written by scientists from the Center for Integrated Area Studies at Kyoto University. Their conclusion: Tropical forests have a lot to do with civil wars.
Civil wars have become the most common armed conflict worldwide over the last fifty years, and often they occur inside or near tropical forests, according to editors Wil de Jong, Deanna Donovan, Ken-ichi Abe, and the authors who contributed to this book. A staggering three-quarters of Asian forests, two-thirds of African forests and one-third of Latin American forests have been affected by civil wars.
Warring groups sell timber, diamonds, or other materials from tropical forests to purchase arms for use in civil conflicts. The same forests are also where resentment grows among marginalized ethnic groups or youths who are bombarded by television and cinema with stories and images of prosperity and a more affluent lifestyle. Lacking education, modern skills and job opportunities, they have little chance to escape their world of deprivation. Furthermore, they are stuck in archaic social relations with traditional leaders, who control their lives and feel threatened by their youthful aspirations. Where these factors come together, civil war is very likely, according to the chapter by Ruben de Koning, on the "forest wars" in West Africa.
In Cambodia, the desire to control lucrative timber has caused a low level civil war to continue for many years after this country emerged from the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime. Political elites struggled fiercely for power and had no qualms about delaying peace so that they could pillage the country's vast forest wealth. Opponents in the civil war, they cooperated in their business dealings, using the proceeds to buy arms and political allegiance, as shown by Philippe Le Billon and Simon Springer in another chapter.
David Kaimowitz, former director of the Center for International Forestry Research, summarizes the situation most pointedly in the foreword to the book. He says that unless politicians pay more attention to the role of tropical forests in civil war, these regions will continue to be breeding grounds for violent conflict, banditry, and illicit crops. This book will help politicians and others better understand the combatants, the contribution of tropical forests to civil war, and what can be done about forest wars and their negative impacts.
Wil De Jong, Deanna Donovan, Ken-ichi Abe
Extreme Conflict and Tropical Forests
Springer 2007, 184 pp.
Hardcover, EUR 79.95, £61.50, $99.00, sFr 131.00
ISBN: 978-1-4020-5461-7