Guterres urges UN Security Council to curb resource exploitation and conflict

UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the UN Security Council in New York to treat natural resources as a tool for peace and development, not a source of conflict and violence. Speaking at a Council meeting on natural resources governance, he said governance failures and illicit exploitation have become major drivers of armed conflicts worldwide.

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Guterres said the control and exploitation of natural resources are altering the causes, dynamics and outcomes of conflict. He repeated: "No more exploitation.

No more plundering." He also said it is time to end the pattern in which resources are extracted, value is captured elsewhere, and impoverished communities are left to absorb environmental and socioeconomic damage. The UN chief said countries and communities "must benefit , first and most , from the resources in their own backyard." He said the UN is supporting national authorities to strengthen governance and institutions, improve regulatory frameworks, and ensure minerals contribute to development and peacebuilding.

He also said there is a need to close the gap between a state's recognised sovereignty over its natural resources and its sovereign rights in practice. Guterres outlined four urgent priorities: justice for countries and communities that have resources; curbing illicit flows and strengthening transparency across mineral supply chains; peaceful settlement of natural resource disputes; and taking climate analysis into account.

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He said cooperation among producing, transit and consuming states is vital to close regulatory and enforcement gaps. He also said critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements are becoming strategically important.

Guterres warned that rising demand is creating opportunities for development in producing countries but is also driving intense geopolitical competition, pressure on concentrated supply chains, and conflict with dire humanitarian consequences. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the surge in demand should be a chance for Africa and other resource-rich developing regions to build wealth, accelerate industrial development and raise living standards, but only if resources are managed transparently and equitably.

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