Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Climate Change and the Risk of Conflict in Africa

  • Chapter
New Security Threats and Crises in Africa

  • 208 Accesses

Abstract

As science has revealed the speed and scope of climate change, we have begun to realize that it holds potentially serious implications for international security. Climate change—by redrawing the maps of water availability, food security, disease prevalence, and coastal boundaries—could increase forced migration, raise tensions, and trigger new conflicts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. O. Brown and A. Crawford, “Climate Change: A New Threat to Stability in West Africa? Evidence for Ghana and Burkina Faso,” African Security Review 17, no. 3 (2008): 39–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. M. Boko, I. Niang, A. Nyong, C. Vogel, A. Githeko, M. Medany, B. Osman-Elasha, R. Tabo, and P. Yanda, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. M.L. Parry, O.E Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  3. B. Kimoon “A Climate Culprit in Darfur,” Washington Post, June 16, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  4. M. Kevane and L. Gray, “Darfur: Rainfall and Conflict,” Environmental Research Letters 3, no. 3 (2008): 1–1.0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. A. De Waal, “Is Climate Change the culprit for Darfur?” blog posting, June 25, 2007, Social Science Research Council, www.ssrc.org/blogs/darfur/2007/06/25/is-climate-change-the-culprit-for-darfur/.

    Google Scholar 

  6. K.M. Campbell, J. Gulledge, J.R. McNeill, J. Podesta, P. Ogden, L. Fuerth, R.J. Woolsey, A.T.J. Lennon, J. Smith, R. Weitz and D. Miz, The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Center for a New American Security (CNAS), 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  7. A. Nyong and C. Fiki, “Drought-Related Conflicts, Management and Resolution in the West African Sahel,” paper presented at international workshop on Human Security and Climate Change, Oslo, 2005

    Google Scholar 

  8. P. Meier, D. Bond, and J. Bond, “Environmental Influences on Pastoral Conflict in the Horn of Africa,” Political Geography 26 (2007): 716–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. C. Obi “Globalised Images of Environmental Security in Africa,” Review of African Political Economy 27, no. 83 (2000): 47–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. S.P.J. Batterbury and A. Warren, “The African Sahel 25 Years after the Great Drought: Assessing Progress and Moving towards New Agendas and Approaches,” Global Environmental Change 11, no. 1 (2001): 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. C.S. Hendrix and S.M. Glaser, “Trends and Triggers: Climate, Climate Change and Civil Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Political Geography 26 (2007): 695–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. J. Barnett and N. Adger, “Security and Climate Change: Towards an Improved Understanding” paper presented at international workshop on Human Security and Climate Change, June 21–23, 2005, Oslo.

    Google Scholar 

  13. CNA Corporation, National Security and the Threat of Climate Change (Washington: CNA Corporation, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  14. D. Garcia, “The Climate Security Divide: Bridging Human and National Security in Africa,” African Security Review, Institute for Security Studies 17, no. 3 (2008): 2–17.

    Google Scholar 

  15. J. Holmes, “The Need for Collaboration,” Forced Migration Review: Climate Change and Displacement, Issue 31 (October 2008): 4, Oxford Refugee Studies Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  16. The seven different climatic zones are: tropical rainforest; tropical wet and dry; tropical dry; mountain; Mediterranean; middle latitude dry; and humid subtropical. S. Eriksen, K. O’ Brien, and L. Losentrater, “Climate Change in Eastern and Southern Africa: Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation,” Global Environmental Change and Human Security, Report (2008): 2.

    Google Scholar 

  17. M. Hulme, “Climatic Perspectives on Sahelian Desiccation: 1973–1998,” Global Environmental Change 11 (2001): 19–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. D.A. Hudson and R.G. Jones (2002). “Regional Climate Model Simulations of Present Day and Future Climates of Southern Africa,” Technical Note 39 (2002): 42.

    Google Scholar 

  19. K. Ruosteenoja, T.R. Carter, K. Jylha, and H. Tuomenvirt, Future Climate in World Regions: An Intercomparison of Model-Based Projects for the New IPCC Emissions Scenarios (Helsinki, Finnish Environment Institute no. 644, 2003), 83.

    Google Scholar 

  20. WBGU, Climate Change as a Security Risk, German Advisor Council on Global Change, WBGU (London: Earthscan, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  21. M. Case, Climate Change Impacts on East Africa (Gland, Switzerland: WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  22. N. Brooks, “Drought in the African Sahel: Long Term Perspectives and Future Prospects,” Tyndall Centre Working Paper 61 (2004): 31.

    Google Scholar 

  23. A. Simms, Africa—Up in smoke: The Second Report fom the Working Group on Climate Change and Development (London: New Economics Foundation, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  24. C. Huntingford, F.H. Lambert, J.H.C Gash, CM. Taylor and A.J. Challinor, “Aspects of Climate Change Prediction Relevant to Crop Production,” Philosophical Transactions Of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences 360 (2005): 1999–2009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. UNFPA, State of World Population 2008 (New York: United Nations Population Fund, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  26. UN-HABITAT, The State of African Cities: A Framework for Addressing Urban Challenges in Africa (Nairobi: UN-HABITAT, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  27. UN ISDR, Water and Risk in Africa: A Community Leader’s Guide (Africa: United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  28. K.M. Campbell et al., The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change (Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Center for a New American Security (CNAS), 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  29. A. T. Wolf, A. Kramer, A. Carius and G. Dabelko, “Water Can be a Pathway to Peace not War: Global Security Brief #5,” State of the World 2005 (Washington: Worldwatch Institute, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  30. N.P Gleditsch et al., “Conflicts over Shared Rivers: Resource Scarcity or Fuzzy Boundaries?” Political Geography 25, no. 4 (2006): 361–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. C. Raleigh and H. Urdal, “Climate Change, Environmental Degradation and Armed Conflict,” Political Geography 26, no. 6 (2007): 674–694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. UNDP, “Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World,” Human Development Report 2007/2008 (New York: UNDP, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  33. H.G. Brauch, “Climate Change, Environmental Stress and Conflict,” in AFES-PRESS Report for the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  34. S.L. Kaplan, “The Paris Bread Riot of 1725,” French Historical Studies 14, no. 1 (1985): 23–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. I. Hewawasam, Managing the Marine and Coastal Environment of Sub-Saharan Africa: Strategic Directions for Sustainable Development (Washington, D.C.: World bank, 2002), 57.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  36. UN DESA, The Inequality Predicament: Report on the World Social Situation (New York: United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  37. F. Sindico, “Ex-Post and Ex-Ante [Legal] Approaches to Climate Change — Threats to the International Community,” New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law 9 (2005): 209–238.

    Google Scholar 

  38. O. Brown, Migration and Climate Change, IOM Migration Research Series (Geneva: International Organization for Migration, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  39. A. Nyong, “Climate-Related Conflicts in West Africa,” Environmental Change and Security Program Report 12 (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2007): 36–43.

    Google Scholar 

  40. D. Smith, and J. Vivekananda, A Climate of Conflict: The Links Between Climate Change, Peace and War (London: International Alert, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  41. N. Stern, “The Economics of Climate Change,” The Stern Review (London: HM Treasury, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  42. P Collier and A. Hoeffler, “Greed and Grievance in Civil War,” Oxford Economic Papers 56, no. 4 (2004): 563–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. E. Miguel, S. Satyanath and E. Sergenti, “Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach,” Journal of Political Economy 112, no. 4 (2004): 725–753.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. UNEP, Sudan: Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment (Nairobi: UNEP, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  45. C. Paskal, How Climate Change is Pushing the Boundaries of Security and Foreign Policy (London: Chatham House Briefing Paper, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Oli Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alec Crawford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Grand Valley State University, USA

    Jack Mangala (Associate professor of political science and African and African American Studies) (Associate professor of political science and African and African American Studies)

Copyright information

© 2010 Jack Mangala

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Brown, O., Crawford, A. (2010). Climate Change and the Risk of Conflict in Africa. In: Mangala, J. (eds) New Security Threats and Crises in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230115538_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation