Determining forest conflict hotspots according to academic and environmental groups

Conflicts regarding natural resource management are ubiquitous. The present paper aims to present ways to analyse the location of forest conflicts, based on systematic screening and location of cases, and examines the focus of academic research as well as ENGOs regarding forest conflicts. A large sample of 300 identified forest conflicts are located, categorised according to conflict type and analysed using kernel associations. The results revealed a high concentration of forest conflicts (hotspots) in richly ecological regions of South-East Asia, Central Africa and several areas of South America. Additional areas in Central Europe and North America were also identified. Concerning the focus areas, there were important differences in the areas covered by the ENGOs and the academic literature, in terms of location, as well as conflict type. Although more cases are possibly needed to get more solid conclusions, the methods and results of this paper can serve as a basis of further research, in order, for example, to identify common socio-economical factors that can be linked with the conflicts.