A quantitative review of the representation of forest conflicts across the world: Resource periphery and emerging patterns

The ubiquitous nature of forest conflicts lends themselves to quantitative analysis on a global level which could help facilitate the further development of conflict management tools. The aim of this work is to present a quantitative review of the representation of forest conflicts across the world, developing an analysis of the geographical components of forest conflicts using the contested resource periphery theory as a framework. The analysis was based on a database covering 303 forest conflicts identified in academic literature and reports from international forest organisations and environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs). The analysis includes a methodology to geographically define the economic cores at different scales, and the location of the conflicts regarding a core–periphery continuum. The results found that forest conflicts are located in resource peripheries on global levels, but not necessarily on regional or local levels, as the type of conflict adds additional complexity to the analysis. Finally, it was found that international ENGOs targeting the operations of forest industry focus mainly on resource peripheries, which is a reflection of the resource's location, but also target the markets and financiers, usually found at the economic cores. The work provides additional tools for the analysis of the geography of forest conflicts, and the implications of the work not only feeds into the understanding of how conflicts develop, but also helps in verifying the theory of contested resource periphery.