The least peaceful countries in the world are facing the most severe levels of resource scarcity, the Ecological Threat Register (ETR) finds.
Seventeen of the 28 most resource scarce countries in the world are located in sub-Saharan Africa, with another four in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and South Asia.
MENA is the least peaceful region and sub-Saharan Africa is the fourth least peaceful region, according to the Global Peace Index.
Resource scarcity highlights the vulnerability of countries and regions to increasing environmental stress and is particularly important in the context of low and lower middle-income countries, which are likely to have higher population growth.
Low-income countries also tend to be less peaceful with lower levels of Positive Peace.
The combination of lower income and lack of peacefulness indicate that most of these countries lack the resilience to address the high level of resource scarcity by themselves.
Less peaceful countries lack the coping capacities to address resource scarcity shocks. These countries have lower coping capacities due to unsustainable population growth, low or declining economic growth, high poverty rates and greater prevalence to food insecurity.
Nearly two thirds of the countries experiencing food insecurity, water stress and high population growth are either low or very low peace countries.
Resource scarcity issues threaten Jordan’s status as a relatively resilient country.
A shared experience of climate change has facilitated peacebuilding between the Turkana and the Dodoth.
Understanding ecological threats, resilience and peace.
