Sahel: How Climate Change Fuels Conflicts in West Africa

Oct 4, 2022 | Obiora Ikoku, International Politics and Society
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With the recent spate of coups in West Africa, the Sahel has once again become the focus of global attention. Since 2020, at least six coups have taken place in Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Chad, and Burkina Faso. The Sahel, regarded as the most vulnerable area to climate change, is a semi-arid region comprising some of the world's poorest and most fragile states (e.g. Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mauritania). Due to the effects of global warming, the Sahelian belt has long been known as a hotspot for conflict over land and water resources. For quite the same reason, the region is also a reference point for climate change discourse. The first ‘climate change conflict’ took place here in 2003, when the war in Darfur laid bare how the convergence of environmental and political factors can lead to conflict. Since then, the region has continued to influence climate change discourse and climate-security.