While the Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone (RUF/SL) ”blood diamond war” (1991-2001) brought widespread attention to conflict associated with mining, low-level conflict is inherent in all mining regions of Sierra Leone. The most important cause of conflict is unequal access and control of natural resources in mining environments where national government sanctioned policies, agreements, and laws supersede indigenous people’s customary rights to land and water. Issues generating discord include involuntary relocation from traditional village sites, environmental degradation, loss of ecological resources and livelihoods, and desecration of sacred places. Water is central to conflict. Local perception of resource development projects like mining link to cosmological ideas underpinning the relationships between humans, land resources, prosperity or failure. Drawing on case studies from the rutile mineral industry in historical and contemporary context, this study uses a political ecology framework to explore ongoing low-level conflict in Sierra Leone mining locales. Examined are customary belief systems around land rights and use and how they influence behavior and feed into conflict between mining companies, indigenes, and "strangers," in-migrants to Sierra Leone mining areas who have no usufruct rights to land.
Acqua, cultura e conflitti nelle aree minerarie della Sierra Leone / D'Angelo, L. - (2012), pp. 51-78.
Acqua, cultura e conflitti nelle aree minerarie della Sierra Leone
D'ANGELO L
2012
Abstract
While the Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone (RUF/SL) ”blood diamond war” (1991-2001) brought widespread attention to conflict associated with mining, low-level conflict is inherent in all mining regions of Sierra Leone. The most important cause of conflict is unequal access and control of natural resources in mining environments where national government sanctioned policies, agreements, and laws supersede indigenous people’s customary rights to land and water. Issues generating discord include involuntary relocation from traditional village sites, environmental degradation, loss of ecological resources and livelihoods, and desecration of sacred places. Water is central to conflict. Local perception of resource development projects like mining link to cosmological ideas underpinning the relationships between humans, land resources, prosperity or failure. Drawing on case studies from the rutile mineral industry in historical and contemporary context, this study uses a political ecology framework to explore ongoing low-level conflict in Sierra Leone mining locales. Examined are customary belief systems around land rights and use and how they influence behavior and feed into conflict between mining companies, indigenes, and "strangers," in-migrants to Sierra Leone mining areas who have no usufruct rights to land.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.