1. OIL, LAND, LEMURS, AND AFRICAN POLITICS
Africa’s Natural Wealth Is Immense
Puzzle: Rich Continent, Poor People
Explanations
Distribution
Human Pressures
Politics
Conclusions

4. OIL

5. AFRICA’S OIL 3.8 m barrels per day (2005) 38% US and Canada
35% Asia-Pacific
20% Europe
5% Latin America
2% Africa

7. FORESTS

8. Africa’s Forests: Significance
Fuel wood
Building Materials
Income
Agricultural land
Medicine
Spirituality and Cultural Survival
Biodiversity
Recreation
Carbon Sequestration
Climate Regulation

9. Biodiversity Hotspots & Environmental Services

10. DEVELOPMENT POLITICS: POLITICS OF ALIENATION
Welfare
(Security, Prosperity)
Foreign Actors
State
(Governments)
Policies
Polity
Legitimacy
Compliance with the laws of the land
Resources (Human + Financial)
Natural Resources
Taxes

11. THE POLITICS OF PREDATION, DEPRIVATION, & VIOLENCE
Foreign Interests
Policies
Polity
Natural Resources
State
(Governments)
Rebels/Warlords
Neighboring States
CONFLICTS

12. Will Reno on Warlordism:
One of the unpleasant realities of contemporary conflicts is that in many
parts of the third world, wars are no longer being fought to win, but rather
are fought to create and maintain environments of lawlessness and
violence from which certain groups and individuals profiteer. Over the course of the 1990s, this phenomenon has come to be called “warlordism.” In Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo, Colombia, Angola, Somalia, Sudan, and elsewhere, war is waged mainly to enable the protagonists on all sides to loot and profit from extralegal control of trade in everything from diamonds to timber to diverted food relief. The key to these protracted armed conflicts is that, despite public appearances, neither rebel nor “government” forces have an interest in ending the war, and even less of an interest in a return to rule of law. In some instances governments and rebels even collude to perpetuate the wars from which they profit.

13. SS AFRICA’S REGIONAL CONFLICTS

14. CONFLICTS & BLOOD DIAMONDS

15. (… and the African people?)

18. Deforestation: State Actors’ Perspective
Community
Actors
Forests
The state has “rational” goals:
Revenue generation
Economic development
Biodiversity conservation
(scientific research + aid)
Communities are a hindrance
because of
Poverty
Population growth
Ignorance
are not used in a
sustainable manner
(deforestation)

19. Deforestation: Communities’ Perspective
Forests
State
Actors
Communities
are a hindrance because of
Rules poorly enforced (no consistency)
Abuse of power (no arguments)
Corruption (no transparency; unpredictable)
Lies/betrayal (not trustworthy)
Permits to loggers (playing favorites)
have legitimate need for forests:
Subsistence
Preservation of identity
(production systems
and fomba)
are taken away
Rules and state’s authority illegitimate