Rethinking Resource Curse? Neo-ecological Approach and Natural Resource Conflict Management in Communities of the Niger Delta in Nigeria

This article challenges the resource curse theory. It investigates to what extent the resource curse thesis applies to resource conflict management (CM) at a community level in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Alternatively, “neo-ecology”, a more socially, ethically and ecologically friendly system is proposed. Given the complex interaction of the drivers of local resistance to globalized oil extraction, dispossession of nature by accumulation, scarcity of renewable resources, and the inequitable distribution of resource extraction benefits, the resource curse theory becomes inappropriate if the responses of communities to globalization are critically examined. Using a multi-method approach, an assessment of environmental dynamics using satellite imageries and qualitative data, we conclude that the future studies on natural resource conflict should go beyond the resource curse theory. The natural resources and CM nexus requires linking local case studies with research on global Megatrends, in this case, “neo-ecology”