Climate Change to Further Escalate Violence in Western Africa

Oct 28, 2019 | Rabiya Jaffery
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Nearly 50 million people in west Africa rely on agriculture and livestock for their livelihood but the land available for pastoral use has been rapidly shrinking.

While a part of this is because of growing population, climate change has also been a major contributor to this, says George Stacey, an analyst working with Norvergence*, an environmental advocacy NGO.

According to the United Nations, nearly 80% of the Sahel’s farmland has been negatively impacted by temperatures rising – which they are at a rate that is 1.5 times faster than the global average.

“As droughts and floods continue to increase in frequency and duration, food production in most of the Sahel region remains highly insecure,” Stacey told IPS. 

“And for a region with such a high dependence on agriculture that is also already suffering from food shortage, this has extremely far-reaching consequences.”