Natural resources are the material, energetic, and spatial basis of our standard of living. However, disputes over the ownership, use, and extraction of natural resources often play a disruptive role in peace and security (Brown & Keating, 2015). Several types of natural resources, such as metals and industrial minerals, are reaching their availability limits due to an increase in the world’s population and global prosperity. However, resources such as forests, water, pastures, and land might be subject to competitive usage claims. Resource scarcity is recognized to be one of the greatest structural risks for differences or conflicts in the 21st century, and resource use is changing ecosystems, often permanently. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2005) underlined the types of differences that can lead to conflict situations: a) there is competition over material goods, economic benefits, property, or power; b) parties believe that their needs cannot be met; and c) parties perceive that their values, needs, or interests are under threat. The United Nations (2012) promoted the strengthening of the capacity for conflict-sensitive natural resource management in order to promote and support the non-conflictual use of resources. The extraction and processing of non-regenerative raw materials are often energy-intensive, involve considerable interventions in the natural and water balance, and lead to emissions of pollutants in water, soil, and air. Furthermore, the production and extraction of renewable raw materials is often associated with a high degree of energy, material, and chemical use that is sometimes water-intensive and might be associated with a wide range of pollutant emissions. In order to obtain new production areas, natural land is converted and, in some cases, entire ecosystems are destroyed. In addition to the environmental impact, the use of natural resources also has a variety of social impacts as it is connected with further issues such as the distribution of raw materials, safe access to fresh water, and food security for people worldwide. The per capita consumption of raw materials in the industrialized nations is currently estimated to be four times higher than that in less-developed countries. While a large proportion of the added value of raw material use is produced by industrialized countries, less-developed countries are often disproportionately affected by the ecological and social effects of raw material extraction. The competition for resources has become the second most common cause of disputes and conflicts with a broad range of dimensions and scales that range from community stakeholder involvement to transboundary resource access competition.
This Special Issue aims to provide interdisciplinary input to the further development of approaches to the non-conflictual use of resources at all scales. We welcome contributions that: address the mitigation of resource disputes and conflicts at all scales and levels; explore the potential of a circular economy to decrease the use of non-renewable resources and quantify the overall risk reduction potential; explore the role of responsible mining in the context of the non-conflictual use of minerals; or address the usually complex causes of conflictual resource use, which often lie primarily in political issues. This Special Issue further aims to unlock the economic dimensions of peace-building in resource conflicts as proposed by Maphosa (2012).