Obasesam Okoi – författare

This book examines the dynamics of natural resource conflicts in Africa and explores the different governance approaches for securing sustainable peace.

One of the most prominent challenges facing Africa today is the consequences of natural resource extraction. While these resources hold the potential for economic transformation across Africa, their extraction also comes with a range of environmental, social, and economic consequences, including issues related to governance. This book assembles a unique cohort of peacebuilding, environmental justice, and sustainable development scholars and practitioners from Africa and beyond to examine the dynamics of natural resource conflict and explore the governance approaches that offer pathways for sustainable peace in Africa. Drawing on case studies and empirical lessons from the Horn of Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, East Africa, and the Central Sahel region, along with the African Union, the multidisciplinary contributors offer fresh insights into the nature of natural resource conflict in Africa, delve deeper into the complexities of natural resource governance, and highlight the interplay between resource governance and sustainable peace. By shedding light not only on Africa’s experiences and vulnerabilities but also on the challenges of natural resource governance, this book fills a crucial gap in understanding the connection between natural resource governance, conflict, and pathways for sustainable peace in Africa.

Drawing on a range of disciplinary perspectives, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of natural resource governance, peace and conflict studies, environmental policy and justice, sustainable development, security studies and African studies more widely.

This book examines the dynamics of natural resource conflicts in Africa and explores the different governance approaches for securing sustainable peace.

One of the most prominent challenges facing Africa today is the consequences of natural resource extraction. While these resources hold the potential for economic transformation across Africa, their extraction also comes with a range of environmental, social, and economic consequences, including issues related to governance. This book assembles a unique cohort of peacebuilding, environmental justice, and sustainable development scholars and practitioners from Africa and beyond to examine the dynamics of natural resource conflict and explore the governance approaches that offer pathways for sustainable peace in Africa. Drawing on case studies and empirical lessons from the Horn of Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, East Africa, and the Central Sahel region, along with the African Union, the multidisciplinary contributors offer fresh insights into the nature of natural resource conflict in Africa, delve deeper into the complexities of natural resource governance, and highlight the interplay between resource governance and sustainable peace. By shedding light not only on Africa’s experiences and vulnerabilities but also on the challenges of natural resource governance, this book fills a crucial gap in understanding the connection between natural resource governance, conflict, and pathways for sustainable peace in Africa.

Drawing on a range of disciplinary perspectives, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of natural resource governance, peace and conflict studies, environmental policy and justice, sustainable development, security studies and African studies more widely.

This book examines the extent to which peacebuilding processes such as disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration are possible in the attempt to demilitarize Nigeria’s oil region and establish a stable post-conflict environment for nurturing durable peace. The book argues that the failure of the peacebuilders to address the structural tensions at the heart of insurgency, along with competition for access to the material benefits of peacebuilding, have revived violence at repeated intervals that punctuates the progression of peace. The author’s analysis shows how the interventions pursued by peacebuilders have been successful in stabilizing the oil region by taking arms from insurgents, paying them monthly allowances, and building their capacity to reintegrate into society through a range of transformational processes. While these interventions are praiseworthy, they have transformed the political realities of peacebuilding into an economic enterprise that makes recourse to violence a lucrative endeavour as identity groups frequently mobilize insurgency targeting oil infrastructure to compel the state to enter into negotiations with them. There was little consideration for the impact corruption might have on the peacebuilding process. As corruption becomes entrenched, it fosters exclusion and anger, leading to further conflict. The book proposes pathways to positive peacebuilding in Nigeria’s oil region.