Trade, Aid and Security: An Agenda for Peace and Development

The link between trade in some natural resources and conflict is now well established – particularly in the cases of oil, timber and diamonds. Less studied are the linkages between farmed and gathered natural resources – agricultural and marine commodities – and security. These agricultural commodities already form the focus of many community-level and intra-states disputes concerning land-ownership, access to resources, environmental degradation and others.

It is also important to investigate the links between the trading interests of countries in the developed world and their aid policies. If not managed carefully those aid policies themselves can have a negative impact on security.

In the upcoming publication “Trade, Aid and Security: An Agenda for Peace and Development”, the authors focus on the way in which the exploitation of natural resources for international commerce can contribute to violent conflict at the national and international level, and on the role of development assistance and trade policy – in tandem or in isolation – in fuelling or alleviating this downward spiral.

The book, published by Earthscan will be released at the beginning of February. The foreword by Dr. Lloyd Axworthy and the introduction by Duncan Brack are now available online [PDF].

For more information:

Sonia Peña Moreno, email: sonia.pena-morenoiucn.org; www.iucn.org