Schrijver, Nico. "Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Development", In The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations, edited by Sam Daws and Thomas G. Weiss. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Schrijver, Nico. "Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Development", In The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations, edited by Sam Daws and Thomas G. Weiss. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

• The role of the UN in management of natural resources has been determined by four trends: a post-war concern about the security of resource supplies, protection of sovereign benefits of resources spearheaded by post-colonial countries, sustainable development beginning in 1972, and the recent study of connections between resources and conflict (592-592).
• The author has delineated five distinct phases of resource management in the history of the UN:
• The resource shortages caused by the Second World War spurred the Allies to include provisions of guaranteed access to raw materials in the framework of the UN. International institutions created during this early period often focused on the rational exploitation of natural resources (593-594).
• The creation of many institutions were driven directly by the resource shortages during the period of post-war reconstruction in Europe. The impetus to create the FAO, for example, came from severe timber shortages in Europe during the 1940s (594).
• Beginning in the 1950s with the first stage of decolonization, countries began to assert a nationalism around control of natural resources. Developing countries emphasized their rights to use natural resources as they pleased, including through nationalization of those resources (595-596).
• In the 1970s, the vested interests of the developed world came into conflict with the newly empowered developing world during the oil crisis caused by OPEC to protest the Yom Kippur War. The position of developing nations was further strengthened during this period, as they proclaimed the right to form cartels and generally conduct the resource trade in any manner they saw fit (597).
• Conflict between developing and developed countries declined from its height during the oil crisis, and issues of international commerce and development came to the fore by 1980 (598).
• Concern over the sustainable use of natural resources began in the 1960s, but only became firmly established in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration. Early issues in the 1960s were perceived conflicts between issues of sustainability and the right of sovereign states to use resources how they saw fit (600).
• The breakout of a number of civil wars in the 1990s, and increased attention following the end of the Cold War, brought into public question the benefits of natural resources. In particular, the role of natural resources in wars in Angola and Liberia highlighted the negative political effects that the 'resource curse' could bring (602-603).
• A UNGA resolution in 1982 established the causal link between conflict and resources, framing conservation of natural resources as a method reducing one instigator of conflict (601).
• Initially, regulation of nature resource usage was under the jurisdiction of ECOSOC, which by 1970 had passed responsibility for resource management to a standing committee responsible for coordinating the activities of UN agencies, especially those created by the UNGA, like the FAO and UNDP It was eventually replaced by the Commission for Sustainable development (603).
• The UNSC has occasionally played a role in natural resource management when it was observed that natural resources were a driving factor in conflict: such as those in West Africa or the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. To this effect, it has pursued measures to try to prevent the illegal exploitation of those resources (604).
• The World Bank has become increasingly aware of environmental concerns associated with development and incorporated sustainability requirements into its process for selecting and pursuing projects (605).
• The pattern of increased national sovereignty over resources, fully recognized by the 1980s, has been followed by increase obligations of states to use those resources for the benefit of the population, to treat foreign investors with respect, and practice sustainable development (606).