How environmental degradation fuels conflict

This observation was made at the just concluded 5th African Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction organised by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risks Reduction (UNISDR) and hosted by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to articulate the African position on the Hyogo Protocol for Action.Devastation of the environment comes into focus at the conference […]

This observation was made at the just concluded 5th African Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction organised by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risks Reduction (UNISDR) and hosted by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to articulate the African position on the Hyogo Protocol for Action.
Devastation of the environment comes into focus at the conference which also looked at the effect of disasters on the human population and generates conflicts among communities or even nations in some instances.
From flooding to draughts, sudden and rapid changes to the environment have the tendency to put humans to the edges.
According to a report by the World Meteorological Organisation, every year natural disasters caused great loss in human lives and destroy gains made in terms of development.
The report stated that “from the ten most commonly reported disasters, nine are directly or indirectly related to weather or climate.”
It also said that vulnerability to disasters is fast increasing as the number of people living in high risks areas increased.
“Since 1970 the world’s population has grown by 87 percent. During the same time, the proportion of people living in flood prone river basins increased by 114 percent and on cyclone exposed coastlines by 192 percent. Rapid urbanization and the growth of mega cities will increase exposure to natural hazards. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of the most severe weather related hazards in the decades to come” the report said.
However, the report noted the availability of climate information and prediction has increased the early warning effectiveness and mechanisms to inform people to avoid disasters and to prepare well before a predictable disaster occurs.
In Nigeria, flooding and desert encroachment have presented a great challenge to the government.
The 2012 flooding which was the most challenge in the history of the country devastated many communities, all over the country, washing away farmlands and settlements and led to loss of lives and properties.
The Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Muhammad Sani Sidi had, in a speech during the conference, noted that disasters that are linked to climate change, especially where people were being forced to relocate to other areas, have contributed to rising violence between communities in Africa.
He said: “Increasing occurrence and complexity of natural and human induced disaster which are constantly being exacerbated by climate change and global warming have made the world a challenging place to live in. Disasters and their attendant humanitarian consequences have created a recipe for crises and insecurity in several countries in Africa.”
Another report by the United Nations revealed that apart from conflicts, drought has remained the highest killer disaster in Africa since the 1980s.
The report said draught and famine has claimed over 558,000 lives and affected 1.6 billion people.
It said poor land use practice and excessive deforestation triggers desert encroachment in the fringes of the African Savannah and wetlands, where the largest percentage of Africa’s farming population lives brought about massive migration of people further inland where the rain is heavier.
The report said this brings about a steep competition to use the land between the people, adding what has been happening in recent times between farmers and herders in Nigeria can be attributed to the destruction of the cattle grazing route or its disposal to the rich which has deprived the herders with a place to graze and forced them to compete with the farmers for space.
These places where the conflicts have been frequent are the places where people are engaged in farming activities and has a fairly large population of the farmers and the herders living in mutual suspicion over land use issues by different sides, and the same conflicts are reflected all over the continent.
A report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicates that the dry lands populations depend on natural resources to live. It said, as at present, half of the one billion people living there remain poor, which accounted for almost half of the world’s poor.
“It will be impossible to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving the poverty and hunger by 2015 unless life is improved for the people of the drylands,” the report indicates.