Resources Archive

As India continues to grow, the recent slowdown notwithstanding, its need for natural resources shows no signs of ebbing. With New Delhi increasingly turning to resource-rich developed countries for energy and food security, Canada’s profile in particular seems to have grown considerably. Significant unconventional hydrocarbon resources, high-quality uranium deposits, abundant land and a lack of geopolitical risk all make Canada a natural partner to feed India’s rise. However, there are still some issues that need to be resolved before an even deeper relationship can take root. The outlook was not always so rosy. Canada was the first country to withdraw […]

Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in both labor disputes and regulatory burden in the resources sector across the world. The ongoing mining sector unrest in South Africa, marked by widespread wildcat action and shocking levels of violence, suggests that these pressures continue to mount and that previous policy responses may prove insufficient. Moreover, there is a risk that the disorder seen in South Africa may presage a new, even more contentious phase of global resource exploitation characterized by a higher incidence of resource nationalism in both developing and developed economies. Resource nationalism can take many forms (.pdf). At […]

Last week, the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan signed an economic and security deal in which they agreed to resume oil exports from the newly independent South and create a demilitarized zone along their still-disputed border. Jon Temin, director of the Sudan and South Sudan Program at the United States Institute of Peace, told Trend Lines that in the weeks ahead he will be keeping an eye on the implementation of the agreements, which has been the downfall of so many deals between the two sides in the past. “Are the various committees and other bodies called for in […]

China’s aggressive approach to territorial disputes with its neighbors in the South China Sea has raised regional tensions in recent weeks, highlighting the volatile potential of conflicts over territory and border demarcation. But though border disagreements can at times lead to open violence, as between Thailand and Cambodia, they can also be resolved through slow and steady negotiations, as between Cuba and the Bahamas. This WPR Special Report examines approaches to territorial disputes through articles published in the past two years. East Asia Senkaku Dispute Reflects China-Japan Struggle for Regional PrimacyBy Richard WeitzSeptember 18, 2012 Involvement of Taiwan, Hong Kong […]