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Real or Hyped? Linkages Between Environmental / Climate Change and Conflicts – The Case of Farmers and Fulani Pastoralists in Ghana

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Human and Environmental Security in the Era of Global Risks

Abstract

Violent conflicts between farmers and pastoralists are reported in national media and public discourse to have increased in Ghana and are intricately linked to human security related issues. Some media and research reports attribute farmer-pastoralist conflicts to resource scarcity, environmental and climate change, thus reiterating the environmental scarcity/security and neo-Malthusian postulations. These conflicts accordingly are induced by pastoralists’ migrations southwards mainly due to poor climatic conditions from Northern Ghana and the Sahel. This work examines the perceptions of farmers and Fulani pastoralists in Ghana on the role of environmental/climate change in triggering conflicts between them. To do this, the analysis compares data sets (of climate change indicators, especially rainfall data and temperature) and primary data taken from field studies in the Agogo (southern Ghana) and Gushiegu (northern Ghana) districts of Ghana to assess if environmental/climate change has contributed to conflicts between farmers and Fulani pastoralists. Based on the analysis of interview outcomes, farmer communities and pastoralists perceive environmental and climate factors as indirectly influencing conflicts between them, especially through increased pastoralists’ migrations and competition for pasture lands. The data sets (of rainfall), however, reveal that despite climate variability, there were basically no major changes in rainfall figures. We also found that the abundance of resources and increases in the value of land in Agogo were major drivers of conflicts between farmers and pastoralists.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Fulani, which is derived from Hausa, is the English term for the Fulani. Fula is derived from the Manding languages and is also used in English. Fulƥe is the original term for the people. This has been adopted into English, often spelt Fulbe. In French, Fulani are called Peuls. See Davidheiser and Luna (2008).

  2. 2.

    Study communities in Agogo are Ahomaporawa Beposo, Nyamebekyere, Bebome, Abrewapong, Kowereso, Bebuso, Kwame Addo, Onyemso, Mankala, Matuka, Kansanso and Kowereja.

  3. 3.

    Study communities in Gushiegu are Bulugu/Nawuni, Kpasinga/Kpatinga, Damdaboli, Offini, Sugu, Zamanshagu, Zamashiegu, Lamalim, Zanteli, Toti, Jingbani, Timya, Nnagmaya, Makpedanya, Kpakpaba and Kpug/Yawungu.

  4. 4.

    The period of the dry season is called the Harmattan. This is where the north-east monsoon winds blow dust from the Sahara Desert into much of West Africa from the end of November to the middle of March. See more at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255457/harmattan

  5. 5.

    Some parts of the land in Agogo have had features of savannah land after the 1983 bush fires that destroyed much part of it. See Sect. 3 for more details.

  6. 6.

    Based on FGD with herders in Bulugu - Gushiegu, 22/11/2013.

  7. 7.

    Herders take the weather and climate to be identical. These terms are of no difference to them mainly because it difficult to distinguish them in their language.

  8. 8.

    Shea and Dawadawa are valuable to farmers especially women since their nuts and seeds respectively are sources of income to them because they are sold out for export whilst locally used for making cooking oil, pomade and local meat.

  9. 9.

    He was the coordinator at the time of the statement. He has since left WANEP.

  10. 10.

    See IRIN (29 April 2010). Ghana: Police crackdown on migrant Fulani herdsmen. http://www.irinnews.org/report/88957/ghana-police-crackdown-on-migrant-fulani-herdsmen (Accessed 24/10/2014).

  11. 11.

    See, for instance, Dakurah C. (August 17, 2012), The FULANI menace: a product of climate change, education and misconception. http://opinion.myjoyonline.com/pages/articles/201201/79940.php. (Accessed 24/10/2014).

  12. 12.

    Ibid.

  13. 13.

    UN News Service, “Scientists Meeting in Tunis Called for Priority Activities to Curb Desertification”, 21 June 2006.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Kaderi Noagah Bukari & Papa Sow

  2. Head of the Research Group Climate Change and Security (CLISEC), Institute of Geography, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Jürgen Scheffran (Researcher Professor)

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  1. Kaderi Noagah Bukari
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  2. Papa Sow
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences, Center for Research on Environment, Human Security and Governance (CERES), Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco

    Mohamed Behnassi

  2. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Himangana Gupta

  3. Environmental Solutions, SCENSO GbR - Scientific, Sankt Augustin, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Olaf Pollmann

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Bukari, K.N., Sow, P., Scheffran, J. (2019). Real or Hyped? Linkages Between Environmental / Climate Change and Conflicts – The Case of Farmers and Fulani Pastoralists in Ghana. In: Behnassi, M., Gupta, H., Pollmann, O. (eds) Human and Environmental Security in the Era of Global Risks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92828-9_9

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