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ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCE SECURITY Fall 2011 --- Tuesdays 3:30 6:10 Instructor: Jodi Liss Email: jrl211@nyu.edu Office Hours: By appointment Course Description: We live in a world where the need for development and a higher standard of living require increasing amounts of natural resources. National governments seek to secure their access to energy, timber, food, land and water. Contemporary environmental problems, rooted in the overuse and mismanagement of natural resources and the subsequent degradation of ecosystems, often do not respect state boundaries and so present challenges that are local, international, and in some cases even global in nature. Since 1990 at least 21 violent conflicts have been fuelled by the exploitation of natural resources. According to the United Nations Environmental Program, recent research suggests that over the last sixty years at least forty per cent of all intrastate conflicts have a link to natural resources. Civil wars such as those in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo have centered on "high-value" resources like timber, diamonds, gold, minerals and oil. Other conflicts, including those in Darfur and the Middle East, have involved control of scarce resources such as fertile land and water. As the global population continues to rise and the demand for resources continues to grow, the competition for natural resources will intensify in the coming decades, increasing the risk of conflict. We will examine acquisition and depletion of key natural resources, and the policies and practices to protect those resources, as well as the options for alternative approaches to managing complex development. Our work as a class will explore linkages between natural resources, environmental degradation, development and security issues.
Course Objectives : Course Assignments The course is designed as an advanced high-level graduate seminar. This means you are required to come to class prepared with questions, critical insights from the readings and a willingness to fully engage in discussions and debate. I have designed this course to be theoretical and practical. We will cover a wide array of material and also engage in debate, policy prescription exercises, and scenario-building work and in depth research of critical issues. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Policy/Briefing Paper (20%) Mid-term Presentations (25%) Op-Ed (15%) Final Research Papers (25%) Participation (15%) To learn the research methods, ethical dimensions, historical knowledge bases, and contemporary challenges and opportunities of the issues under study To understand the issues and be able to apply policy and practices from multiples sectors: Government, Private Sector, and Civil Society Sectors. To exercise the highest integrity in all aspects of your work, especially in the tasks of collecting, analyzing, and presenting research data To engage in high-level writing, research, analytical inquiry and discussion at the intersection of energy, environment and national/global security
****You are responsible for one-policy memo: For helpful hints and wise advice on how to approach the writing of a policy memo, please review the following two sites:
Tips on Writing a Policy Memo, Peter J. Wilcoxen. http://wilcoxen.maxwell.insightworks.com/pages/275.html How to Write an Effective Policy Memorandum (East West Center) http://www2.eastwestcenter.org/research/popcomm/pdf/8_Writing_a_Decision_Memo_ and_Giving_a_Policy_Briefing/Policy_memorandum.pdf
Student Responsibilities
1. Mandatory attendance at all class sessions: Attendance at all class sessions is expected and required. If you will be absent, late, or have to leave early, please email or call me as soon as you know that this will be the case. No more than two absences are allowed no exception. Incompletes are only granted in extreme cases such as illness or other family emergency and only where almost all work for the semester has been successfully completed. A
students procrastination in completing his/her paper is not a basis for an Incomplete. 2. Completion of all assignments by the indicated due dates: No exceptions. See Grade Rubric for clear overview of requirements and guidelines for achieving stellar work in the course. 3. Preparation for and participation in class dialogue and activities, including completion of all reading assignments and exercises: Active participation is an essential part of learning in this class. Participation means listening as well as talking, helping others develop their ideas, and expressing your own thoughts in whole-group discussions and small-group work. 4. Being proactive: Please contact me if you have questions about the class, your assignments, or related concerns BEFORE the final weeks of the semester. 5. Academic Integrity: Standards as specified in the Student Handbook will be followed in response to plagiarism, cheating and other compromises of academic honesty. a. Plagiarism is presenting someone else's work as though it were one's own. More specifically, plagiarism is to present as one's own a sequence of words quoted without quotation marks from another writer; a paraphrased passage from another writer's work; creative images, artwork, or design; or facts or ideas gathered, organized, and reported by someone else, orally and/or in writing and not providing proper attribution. Since plagiarism is a matter of fact, not of the student's intention, it is crucial that acknowledgement of the sources be accurate and complete. Even where there is no conscious intention to deceive, the failure to make appropriate acknowledgment constitutes plagiarism. Penalties for plagiarism range from failure for a paper or course to dismissal from the University. Course Outline and Schedule of Readings The course will be divided into three sections: 1) an introduction to the issues and the actors; 2) issues of scarcity and security which will address topics of water, forests, land, and food; and 3) energy, which will include energy security, energy scarcity, mining, climate change and alternative energy.
TEXTS: Required book: Friedman, Thomas L.; Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America 2.0; 2009
Week 1, September 6: Introduction Guiding Questions --- Is Geography Destiny? --- Answering the So What Question Prioritizing Resources Required:
Gareth Hardin; The Tragedy of the Commons http://www.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243.full (starting at "Tragedy of Freedom in a Commons" through How to Legislate Temperance?) Friedman, Thomas L.; Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America 2.0; 2009. From Core Argument (p.56?) through Our Carbon Copies (or, Too Many Americans) Keohane and Martin. The Promise of Institutionalist Theory. International Security, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer, 1995), pp. 39-51 Managing energy security risks in a changing world' by Coby van der Linde. EIB PAPERS Volume12 N1 2007 http://www.eib.org/attachments/efs/eibpapers/eibpapers_2007_v12_n01/eibpapers_20 07_v12_n01_a03_en.pdf Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2010 http://sefi.unep.org/fileadmin/media/sefi/docs/publications/UNEP_GTR_2010.pdf through page 14 Matthew, R.A. Resource Scarcity: Responding to the Security Challenge. International Peace Institute. through page 15 http://www.ipacademy.org/media/pdf/publications/rscar0408.pdf Revenue Watch publication; Covering Oil; Chapter 2 http://www.soros.org/initiatives/cep/articles_publications/publications/covering_2005080 3/osicoveringoil_20050803.pdf Yergin, Daniel; Its Still the One; Foreign Policy; Sept./Oct 2009 http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/17/its_still_the_one?page=full Scott Borgerson; The Great Game Moves North; Foreign Affairs; March 25, 2009
Recommended:
Li, Quan and Rafael Reuveny. 2006. Democracy and Environmental Degradation. International Studies Quarterly 50 (4): 935956. Global Resource Security: Scanning the Horizon on Food, Water, Energy and the
Environment:http://csis.org/event/global-resource-security-scanning-horizon-foodwater-energy-and-environment --- Dumaine powerpoint Toman Michael et.al. Environment, Energy and Economic Development, 2008, available at http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2008/RAND_TR580.sum.pdf
Week 2, September 13: The Lead Actors, and The Nuts and Bolts Required:
Goldman Sachs Dreaming with BRICs http://www2.goldmansachs.com/ideas/brics/book/99-dreaming.pdf Revenue Watch publication; Covering Oil; Chapters 3,4 http://www.soros.org/initiatives/cep/articles_publications/publications/covering_2005080 3/osicoveringoil_20050803.pdf Oxfam America; Dirty Metals: Mining Communities and the Environment; 2004 http://www.oxfamamerica.org/files/dirty-metals.pdf through page 13 Jill Shankleman; Going Global: Chinese Oil and Mining Companies and the Governance of Resource Wealth report by the Woodrow Wilson Center Pages 1-13, Parts 2 and 3 http://zunia.org/uploads/media/knowledge/DUSS_09323Shnkl_rpt06261251124522.pdf Emerging Risk: Impacts of Key Environmental Trends in Emerging Asia World Resources Institute 2009 p4-29 http://pdf.wri.org/emerging_risks_emerging_asia.pdf Ebel, Bob; The Geopolitics of Russian Energy, pages 1-16, 52-60 http://csis.org/files/publication/090708_Ebel_RussianEnergy_Web.pdf
Recommended:
Andrew B. Kennedy; "China's New Energy-Security Debate"; Survival, Volume 52, Issue 3 June 2010, pages 137 - 158. The Rise and Fall of Resource Nationalism Ian Bremmer, Robert Johnston; Survival, Volume 51, Issue 2 April 2009, pages 149 - 158 ---- The Changing Role of National Oil Companies in International Energy Markets; April 2007 http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/BI_PolicyReport_35.pdf David R. Mares; Resource Nationalism and Energy Security in Latin America: Implications for Global Oil Supply; January 2010 http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/EF-pubMaresResourceNationalismWorkPaper-012010.pdf
SELECTION OF PRESENTATION TOPICS ***Assigning Research Groups for Mid-term Presentations: 1) China, 2) India, 3) South America 4) Europe 5) Asia (not including China and India) and 6) Africa each regional group is responsible for researching scarcity, climate change or energy policy and perspective in their assigned region.
Required: Thomas Homer-Dixon; Environmental Scarcity and Violent Conflict http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pcs/evidence/evid1.htm http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pcs/evidence/evid2.htm http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pcs/evidence/evid3.htm Ross, Michael; The Natural Resource Curse: How Wealth Can Make You Poor; Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: Options and Actions; Ian Bannon and Paul Collier, editors; The World Bank, 2003. http://wwwwds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2004/05/24/0000120 09_20040524154222/Rendered/PDF/282450Natural0resources0violent0conflict.pdf McCartan Humphries, Natural Resources, Conflict and Conflict Resolution: Uncovering the Mechanisms. Journal of Conflict Resolution The Woodrow Wilson Center; Minerals, Forests and Violent Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Katunga12.pdf Timura, Christopher; "Environmental Conflict and the Social Life of Environmental Security Discourse"; Anthropological Quarterly Vol. 74, No. 3 (July 2001) pp. 104-113 Fredericksen, Harald; Israeli Strategy, Implications for Peace and the Viability of Palestine; Middle East Policy, 12/1/2003. Kraska, James; Sharing Water, Preventing War --- Hydrodiplomacy in South Asia; Diplomacy and Statecraft; September 1, 2009; 30:515-530. Gleick, Peter; World Water Conflict Chronology; Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security; 2000; www.worldwater.org/conflict.html Recommended Nils Petter Gleditsch; Henrik Urdal , Ecoviolence? Links between population growth, environmental scarcity and violence, Journal of International Affairs; Fall 2002; 56, 1 Nostrum, E., Walker, R. and Gardner, R. Covenants With and Without a Sword: SelfGovernance is Possible. The American Political Science Review, Vol. 86, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 404-417 USAID; Minerals and Conflict: A Toolkit for Intervention (2005) http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-
Week 4, September 27: Water --- Managing and Protecting Fresh Water/Dams BRIEFINGS ON WATER Required
Charting our Water Future: Economic Frameworks to Inform Decision-Making: The 2030 Water Resource Group. (2009) Executive Summary UN Human Development Report 2006. Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis. Available from http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/ (Please read the full summary report). Water in the Middle East (Website) http://www.al-bab.com/arab/env/water.htm UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (UNESCO-WWAP) 2003: Water for people, water for life (The United Nations World Water Development Report). UNESCO Publishing and Berghahn Books. Executive summary available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001295/129556e.pdf For Want of A Drink (water) http://www.economist.com/node/16136354 Water and irrigation http://www.economist.com/node/16136280 Charles Duhigg; Cleansing the Air at the Expense of the Water; New York Times October 12, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/us/13water.html?scp=1&sq=coal%20scrubber&st =cse Dam building http://www.economist.com/node/16136364 World Commission on Dams: Dams and Development: An Overview, p. 5-7, 11-13 http://www.rivernet.org/general/wcd/welcome.htm
Recommended
Richard Cronin; Mekong Dams and the Perils of Peace. Survival, Volume 51, Issue 6 December 2009, pages 147 - 160 Irna van der Molen & Antoinette Hildering, Water: cause for conflict or co-operation? Journal on Science and World Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2005 133-143 Mike Hightower, Energy Security-Water Resource Drivers: Journal of Energy Security; http://www.ensec.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=248:
energy-security-water-resourcedrivers&catid=106:energysecuritycontent0510&Itemid=361 Kolars, John F. Hydro-imperative of Turkeys Search for Energy. Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 40 (1): 5367. Donald G. MacNeil; Poisoned Wells: In Asia, Cutting Arsenic Risk in Water Through Well-Drilling Techniques; The New York Times; May 31, 2010. Vorosmarty, Charles; Battling to Save the Worlds River Deltas Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 3/09 --- About the impact of human population on worlds major river deltas (short)
Week 5, October 4: Water --- International Threats and Disputes/The Oceans/ The Gulf Spill
OP-EDS DUE
Required
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, Read the convention http://www.un.org/Depts/losconvention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf John Temple Swing; What Future for The Oceans? Foreign Affairs, Sept/Oct 2003; Nemat Sadat; Small Islands, Rising Seas; UN Chronicle 2009 Neena Bhandari; 75 Million Environmental Refugees to Plague Asia-Pacific; IPS; Aug 4, 2009 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47944 Alcock, F. Bargaining, Uncertainty, and Property Rights in Fisheries. World Politics. 54 July 2002. Pp. 437-461. Sobel, Beverly G., Smith, Isaac; and Rosencranz, Armin; The Melting and Partitioning of a Global Commons; Environmental Law and Policy. 37/6 2007. Benvenesti, E. Collective Action in the Utilization of Shared Freshwater: The Challenges of International Water Resources Law. The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Jul., 1996), pp. 384-415
Recommended
ICE Case Study: The Nile http://www1.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/ice/NILE.HTM SPECIAL REPORT BY THE ECONOMIST http://www.economist.com/node/16136302?story_id=16136302
Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Water, Conflict, and Cooperation: Lessons from the Nile River Basin , Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Navigating Peace no 4 (January 2007) http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/NavigatingPeaceIssuePKM.pdf Friends of the Earth Middle East, Environmental Peace-building Theory and Practice: A Case Study of the Good Water Neighbors Project and in depth analysis of the WadiFukin/Tzur Hadassah Communities, January 2008, http://www.foeme.org/index_images/dinamics/publications/pub193_1.pdf Zawahri, Neda A. International rivers and national security: The Euphrates, Ganges Brahmaputra, Indus, Tigris, and Yarmouk rivers: Natural Resources Forum Volume 32, Issue 4, Pages 280-289; 12 Nov 2008 Levy, Jean-Pierre; "The Need for Integrated Ocean Policies"; Environmental Policy and Law; 2-09; BOOK: Greenberg, Paul; Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food Resources: Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database 2002: Atlas of international freshwater agreements. UNEP, FAO, University of Oregon. Available at http://www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu/publications/atlas/ Water Conflict and Cooperation Bibliography http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/digitalcollections/tfdd/ 2010 FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA)
Recommended
Indonesia: Timber Corruptions High Cost, Human Rights Watch, Nov. 2009 (3 pages) http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/11/24/indonesia-timber-corruption-s-high-costs World Bank/WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Use (3 p) http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/forests/WWFBinaryitem7335.pdf Mitigating Climate Change through Responsible Forestry, (2 pages) http://www.fsc.org/cop15.html Kathleen McNutt and Adam Wellstead, Policy & Internet: Virtual Policy Networks in Forestry and Climate Change in the U.S. and Canada: Government Nodality, Internationalization and Actor Complexity www.psocommons.org/policyandinternet Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 3 (2010) Global Witness; Principles for Independent Monitoring of REDD; 2010 http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/983/en/report_independent_mo nitoring_vital_in_us4_billion
Recommended
Timmer, Peter C., A World Without Agriculture? American Enterprise Institute, May 2009 (6 pages) http://www.aei.org/docLib/01%20DPO%20May%202009g.pdf Steve Wiggins and Stephanie Levy, Rising Food Prices: Cause for Concern, Overseas Development Institute, July 2008 (4 pages) http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/nrp/NRP115.pdf Gates Foundation - Agriculture Development Fact Sheet (4 pages) and Agriculture Development Strategy Overview (10 pages) http://www.gatesfoundation.org/agriculturaldevelopment/Pages/default.aspx Cynthia Rosenzweig, Matthew Livermor , Climate Change, Global Food Supply and Risk of Hunger, Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, Vol. 360, No. 1463, Food Crops in a Changing Climate (Nov. 29, 2005), pp. 2125-2138 Thurow, Robert; The Fertile Continent Foreign Affairs; Nov/Dec 2010 Menkhaus, Ken; Somalias Starvation; Foreign Affairs; Sept/Oct 2011.
Evan Fraser and Andrew Rimas; The Psychology of Food Riots; Foreign Affairs; January 30, 2011.
Week 9, November 8: Mid-term Presentations Week 10, November 15: Energy Security/Scarcity Sustainability Week 11, November 22: Energy BRIEFINGS ON ENERGY Required
International Energy Agency; World Energy Outlook 2010 Factsheet; http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2010/factsheets.pdf Miller, Gregory D.; The Costs of Energy Security; The Washington Quarterly; April 2010; http://www.twq.com/10april/docs/10apr_Miller.pdf CRS Report for Congress: Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: A Summary of Major Provisions. Dec. 21. 2007. Deutch, John; The Good News about Gas: the natural gas revolution and its consequences; Foreign Affairs; Jan-Feb 2011. Ebel, Bob; Energy and Geopolitics in China; http://csis.org/files/publication/091116_Ebel_EnergyGeoPolChina_Web.pdf Pages 1227, 63-65 Rosner, Kevin; Energy and National Security, Journal of Energy Security, May 18, 2010 http://www.ensec.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=245:closingthe-gap-between-energy-aamp-national-securitypolicy&catid=106:energysecuritycontent0510&Itemid=361 Frank Verrastro and Sarah Ladislaw; Providing Energy Security in an Interdependent World, Washington Quarterly Autumn 2007 http://www.twq.com/07autumn/docs/07autumn_verrastro.pdf Runge, C. Ford and Benjamin Senauer; How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor; Foreign Affairs; May/June 2007. International Energy Agency; Energy Poverty: How to make modern energy universal? http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2010/weo2010_poverty.pdf Debate Offshore Oil and Energy Security
Recommended:
African Rural Energy Enterprise Development AREED II http://www.areed.org/ Gilinsky, Victor; Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown; Foreign Affairs; March 21, 2011.
CLASS SIMULATION --- A Mine for Azuna--- Students will be assigned parts to simulate a series of negotiations between actors to start a mine in the developing world
Required
---; Lidartector: How to tell if countries are cheating on their conservation commitments; The Economist; May 26th 2011 Leven, Rachel; Letter from Delhi, Foreign Affairs; August 15, 2011. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/features/letters-from/letter-from-delhi Energy for a Sustainable Future --- UN publication; up to page 12 http://www.un.org/chinese/millenniumgoals/pdf/AGECCsummaryreport[1].pdf Sanderson, Steven; Where the Wild Things Were; Foreign Affairs; November 19, 2009.
Recommended:
Economy, Elizabeth; The Great Leap Backward?; Foreign Affairs; September-October 2007.
Required:
Levi, Michael; Copenhagens Inconvenient Truth; Foreign Affairs; Sept/Oct 2009. Victor, David and Kassia Yanosek; The crisis in clean energy: stark realities of the renewables craze, Foreign Affairs; July-Aug 2011 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report, Sections 1-3; History and Working Groups/Task Force (3 pages) http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.htm Totty; Michael; The Long Road to an Alternative-Energy Future; WSJ DATE???? Galbraith, Kate; Dark Days for Green Energy; New York Times; February 3, 2009. Julien Talpin, Deliberating Environmental Policy Issues: Comparing the Learning Potential of Online and Face-To-Face Discussions on Climate Change COSTECH, University of Technology, Compigne, France Stphanie Wojcik, CEDITEC, University of Paris-Est Crteil, France Policy & Internet Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 4 (2010) www.policyandinternet.org Mac Chapin, A Challenge to Conservationists, Worldwatch Institute, Nov/Dec 2004, p. 17-30 http://www.worldwatch.org/node/565
Recommended:
Sundgren, J. Lateral Pressure Theory as Applied to Global Warming: An Initial Assessment. International Political Science Review / Revue internationale de science politique, Vol. 14, No. 1, International Political Economy and the Global Environment. L'conomie politique internationale et l'environnement plantaires (Jan., 1993), pp. 87102.
Required
Kramer, Andres; Gas Dispute Runs Deeper Than Pipes, Experts Say; New York Times; January 13, 2009
Chadwick, John; China's enormous appetite for mining assets; Mineweb; July 30, 2011. Homans, C. Are Rare Earth Elements Actually Rare? Foreign Policy. June 15, 2010. Bradsher, Keith, Challenging China in Rare Earth Mining; The New York Times; April 21,2011. Bradsher, Keith; China Seizes Rare Earth Mine Areas; New York Times; January 20, 2011 ---; Central questions: United in the cause of undermining Russian pipeline monopolies; The Economist; Mar 4th 2010 Shiyom, Seth; India battles China to tie up African mineral wealth; Mineweb; 23 May, 2011. Bradsher, Keith; Security Tops the Environment in Chinas Energy Plan; New York Times; June 17, 2010. ---; Trying to pull together: Africans are asking whether China is making their lunch or eating it; The Economist; Apr 20th 2011
Class Preparation Hints When reading course materials, take notes. Pay attention to titles and topic headings in readings these indicate main themes. Afterwards, you might ask yourself these questions: What is the authors argument? Can it be summed up in a sentence? What evidence does the author use to back up her/his argument? Stepping back from the reading, what is missing from this argument? How does this reading fit with, contradict, or exemplify other course materials/themes? How does this reading fit with, contradict, or exemplify your own experience?
Bring your texts to class and be prepared to discuss your answers to these questions. Also, be prepared to make linkages between the course readings and current events.