International Resource Politics - New Challenges Demanding New Governance Approaches for a Green Economy

Germany, the EU, the United States, and many others have formulated raw material strategies that put concern over access and supply at center stage – but the environmental and the socio-political dimensions are widely neglected in these strategies.

This paper underlines a new dimension of international relations and pleads for new approaches, called international resource politics. What is new and will be stressed throughout the paper is the interconnectivity across critical resource shortages and with two challenges:

• The environmental challenge to cope with impacts from using resources along their life-cycle
• The social-political challenge to cope with human rights, poverty and freedom internationally.

The publication attempts to raise awareness for an international resource politics as a new element for ongoing debates around a green economy and transition strategies. Authors are Raimund Bleischwitz, Bettina Bahn-Walkowiak, Felix Ekardt, Heidi Feldt and Lili Fuhr. It is available dor be download at the website of Heinrich Böll Foundation.