Natural resources have long been a major source of financing for armed conflict across the world, including civil wars and regional conflicts. By leveraging the profits from their sale or exploitation, belligerents are often able to acquire and maintain the weaponry, manpower, and infrastructure needed to sustain campaigns against their adversaries. Despite international and domestic efforts to create peace and stability, the role of natural resources continues to play an outsized role in fueling, prolonging, and exacerbating armed conflict.

What Natural Resources Are Used to Finance Armed Conflict?

Natural resources come in a variety of forms, including minerals, oil, timber, and agricultural crops. All of these have been used to finance armed conflict around the world, as each has its own distinct advantages to any warring group.

Minerals

Minerals, such as diamonds, gold, and copper, are among the most commonly used natural resources to finance armed conflict, largely due to their size and relative value. These minerals can be found throughout many conflict-prone regions, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Syria. The ease with which they can be mined, smuggled, and sold all add to their utility as a source of financing for conflict. Furthermore, diamonds in particular can be used to purchase weapons on the black market as they are relatively untraceable and lack serial numbers, making them attractive for financing conflict.

Oil

Oil is widely recognized as a significant source of financing for armed conflict. Oil-rich countries such as Iraq and Syria saw the proceeds from its sale in the 1980s and 1990s provide huge savings to armed groups, who were then able to use them to purchase the weaponry, equipment, and manpower to maintain their campaigns of violence. These resources can be very lucrative to insurgent groups, and receive a huge premium compared to standard crude oil due to their illegal status.

Timber

Timber is an important natural resource used to fund armed conflict as it can be found in large swaths of contested land. Moreover, illegal logging is more difficult to detect and can sometimes go unnoticed for long periods of time, providing warring factions with a steady and largely untraceable income stream. The use of timber to finance conflict has been documented in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia to sustain their conflicts with government forces.

Agricultural Crops

Agricultural crops can also be used to finance armed conflict, as insurgent groups often commit crop theft as a way to finance their activities. This is especially prevalent in regions with violent insurgencies, such as in Colombia, where the profits from the sale of illegally acquired crops often serve as the main source of income for rebel groups.

Impact of Natural Resources on Armed Conflict

The sale or exploitation of natural resources can have a significant impact on the ongoing conflict and its respective belligerents. In particular, the use of natural resources to finance armed conflict can prolong conflicts and exacerbate human rights violations, as the resources are often appropriated without the consent of the host population or the international community. Furthermore, the presence of large amounts of natural resources also serves to attract additional arms, fighters, and capital to the region, increasing the violence and duration of the conflict. Additionally, natural resources have also been used to finance genocide and other mass atrocities, prolonging these horrific crimes and diminishing chances of an early resolution.

International Action Against the Use of Natural Resources to Finance Armed Conflict

Recognizing the immense harm that natural resources can cause in conflict-ridden areas, there have been numerous international efforts to combat their diversion or misuse to fund armed conflict.

United Nations

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has passed a number of resolutions that address this problem, including Resolution 1970, which sanctioned the illegal exploitation of natural resources in Cote d’Ivoire and Resolution 2206, which imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan due to its use of oil exports to finance violent conflict. The UNSC has further established a number of special mechanisms tasked with inspecting shipments of materials entering and leaving conflict zones.

Regional Bodies

Regional bodies, such as the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have been active in the prevention of natural resources from being misused to finance armed conflict. The AU first addressed this issue by endorsing the 2003 African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, which prohibited natural resources from being used to finance conflict. In 2017, ECOWAS also developed its Conflict Prevention and Action Plan to prevent countries in the region from using natural resources as a tool of conflict.

Domestic Action Against the Use of Natural Resources to Finance Armed Conflict

In addition to international efforts, many countries have developed their own domestic regulations and strategies to combat the diversion of natural resources to finance armed conflict.

Regulations and Sanctions

Most countries have implemented comprehensive regulations or laws to criminalize the use of natural resources to finance armed conflict, allowing the government to impose strict sanctions and even jail terms in the event that these regulations are not respected. Some countries, such as the US, have even enacted tougher regulations that go beyond their national borders. The US Dodd-Frank Act, for instance, requires government disclosure of any payments made to foreign governments for access to natural resources, and imposes criminal penalties for any instances when these regulations are breached.

Monitoring and Inspecting Vessels

Many countries have taken steps to ensure that vessels carrying natural resources do not enter conflict zones, implementing tracking and monitoring programs, as well as thorough inspections of vessels entering and leaving the region in question. Furthermore, countries may train and deploy personnel to conduct on-site inspections of vessels and their contents, allowing them to quickly detect any unauthorized trade of natural resources.

Natural resources play an inextricable role in financing armed conflict in all corners of the world, providing a source of funding for warring groups and prolonging conflicts that would otherwise be resolved or have simply ran out of steam. Domestic and international efforts, such as regulations and inspections, have had some success in curbing the use of these resources to finance conflict, however, much more needs to be done in order to ensure that these resources are not misused and are instead used for beneficial purposes.