Nigeria: Borno State Woodfuel Supply and Energy Demand Assessment 2013-2018
Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
Date: 2019
Topics: Climate Change, Conflict Causes, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
Countries: Nigeria
Globally, the number of conflicts is increasing which is the main cause of much of the recent deterioration of the global food security situation. This situation is exacerbated by climate related shocks. Since 2009, a combination of man-made and natural disasters has disrupted livelihoods, threatened food security and forcibly displaced millions of people in northeast Nigeria. The conflict, in northeast Nigeria, takes on a central role in the ongoing food crisis by severely curtailing the ability of populations to access land and other natural resources such as woodfuel, the central object of this analysis. This situation is worsened by the prolonged character of the security crisis in the region, going now into its tenth year.
Furthermore, northeast Nigeria is facing an increasing number of climate-induced disasters such as droughts, erratic rainfall, soil erosion and flooding. The combined impact of these events has a severe impact on the lives of vulnerable populations. Drought has been recognized as the main natural disaster in the region, affecting a huge population that depends on crop and livestock production for their subsistence. The economic and social consequences of this phenomenon go beyond the geographical scope and focus of this assessment.
Access to energy is as basic to the exercise of human rights as access to food itself. A precondition to food security, both are often highly constrained during crises. The ways in which energy is produced and used, can aggravate the vulnerability of populations to a number of risks and challenges by exposing them to malnutrition and other health conditions, reduced resilience to natural hazards and to environmental degradation, a disproportionate work burden for women, protection risks, conflicts and unsustainable livelihood activities.