Resource pressures could spark conflicts with global impact – report
ROME, Feb 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Illegal deforestation in Southeast Asia, conflicts over water in the Nile Basin and China’s growing dependence on South American food are some of the resource challenges facing emerging nations with the potential to cause strife, a risk analysis group warns.
Interconnected supply chains means environmental conflicts can spread across borders, undermining economies far from where initial problems occurred, according to a report by the Earth Security Group, which evaluates risks in emerging markets.
Global commodities such as rice, soybeans, palm oil, petroleum, timber and cocoa are increasingly exposed to supply chain pressures, and a conflict in one country could reverberate across the globe due to increasing integration.
Companies and governments that can build international resilience in the face of sustainability pressures and future disruptions in the global supply of resources will find new opportunities, Alejandro Litovsky, the report’s author and CEO of the Earth Security Group, said in a statement.
Multinationals that cannot anticipate or mitigate international risks to their supply chains could suffer.
Earth Security Group: full report