Extractive Resources and Infrastructure

Geoengineering is an ineffective and irresponsible approach to the challenges posed by climate change. Its risks and potential impacts are global and extend far beyond the climate discussion. All of the proposed technologies carry large-scale risks for biodiversity, ecosystems, food security, human rights, health and democracy. It creates new threats to peace and security at the national, regional and global scales, both through the unintended but foreseeable exacerbation of underlying conflicts and through the potential for weaponization of geoengineering technologies. And it would further entrench our dependence on a fossil fuel economy.

This article looks at the current road infrastructure development in Northern Kenya. It demonstrates numerous instances of non-compliance with national laws, provisions of the environmental management plan and environmental impact assessment license, and illustrates the grave ways that the local community is being impacted by these violations. It points out the need to adhere to the rule of law, which is there to protect rather than deprive us of a prosperous nation.

Green Economy is a source of both hope and controversy. For some, it points the way out of permanent environmental and economic crises and promises to reconcile – a long cherished Utopia – ecology and economics. It fosters the hope that we can hang on to our current high standard of material prosperity.

From the extraction of tar sands in North America to large-scale land purchases in Africa and from China’s investment in the Mekong region to mining and soya production in Latin America – the global resources bonanza is a fact. But all this use of natural resources doesn’t respect the ecological limits of our world and it doesn’t result in a fair distribution of the profits.

In the Horn and East African region many conflicts arise over natural resources at community and even national level. Find here the Essay of the East and Horn of African Delegates.

The Future Workshop enabled young people identify topics and innovative approaches with regard to resource policy in three phases.