Lake Chad Crisis: Food Insecurity and Conflict are Creating a Feedback Loop of Destruction

May 22, 2019 | Phoebe Sleet
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A report, recently released by Adelphi, has examined the linkages between climate change and conflict in the Lake Chad Basin. According to the report, conflict and climate change interact to create a “pincer movement” of forces, disrupting vulnerable communities. The two forces create a feedback loop, in which climate change aggravates the economic and political conditions that gave rise to violence in the past, while conflict reduces the capacity of communities to adapt to the effects of climate change. The region is in a negative spiral, but the authors of the report have been able to identify a number of interventions, which could ultimately restore peace and return the Lake Chad Basin to its former status as an economic and social hub for the communities it serves.