Environmental Peacebuilding Lessons from Niger and Mali (IN FRENCH)

Mohamed A. Dicko, Boya Consulting (Mali)

Mali and Niger stand at the confluence of converging crises: accelerating environmental degradation, the intensifying effects of climate change, and protracted insecurity. Deforestation and desertification shrink the resource base on which rural communities depend, while recurrent droughts deepen food insecurity and economic precarity. These pressures intensify longstanding tensions between farming and herding communities, and — compounded by political instability and armed group activity — create a self-reinforcing cycle of poverty, displacement, and ecological decline that severely undermines peace efforts.

Entry points for enhanced cooperation and peacebuilding in Mali rely on a holistic approach and cross-border collaboration. Collaborative management of natural resources (water, pastures) through cross-border consultation frameworks is crucial to defuse conflicts and institutionalize dialogue. Developing cross-border projects for economic and environmental resilience (reforestation, agroecology, synchronized pastoral policies) helps combat desertification, create green jobs, and anticipate climate crises. Involving youth and women in these processes is essential to ensuring lasting peace, particularly in the face of insecurity and climate change, which know no borders. Drawing on experience from Mali and Niger, this contribution reflects on opportunities and constraints for such inclusive environmental peacebuilding, and on what lessons it may offer for the wider West African region.