Climate-Induced Resource Conflicts and the Development Dilemma In the Global South

Although countries in the Global South contribute the least to the climate crisis, they currently bear its most severe consequences. Increasing droughts, erratic rainfall, floods, and other climate-related events have accelerated desertification, undermined agricultural systems, intensified resource scarcity, and disrupted local and national economies across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. These environmental shocks directly and indirectly heighten competition over land, water, and mineral resources. In turn, they exacerbate existing poverty, food insecurity, social inequalities, and migration pressure that often trigger violent conflict and further weaken states’ adaptive capacities and development efforts.

This session examines the intersection of climate change, natural resource conflicts, and development. It interrogates the drivers of these conflicts and explores how local communities and states in the Global South navigate this complex nexus. We invite theoretical and empirical contributions from Africa, South America, and Asia that address issues such as:

1. Conflicts over land, water, and minerals, involving farmers and herders, communities, and states and their development implications.
2. Community resistance to resource extraction, resource grab, and the role of Indigenous conservation practices.
3. Renewable energy development and the challenges of energy justice.
4. Other innovative community resilience strategies and the obstacles they face.