Does climate change drive land-use conflicts in the Sahel?

Tor A Benjaminsen, Koffi Alinon, Halvard Buhaug and Jill Tove Buseth
Additional contact information
Tor A Benjaminsen: Norwegian University of Life Sciences & Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Koffi Alinon: Centre for the Study of Civil War, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Halvard Buhaug: Centre for the Study of Civil War, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Jill Tove Buseth: Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Journal of Peace Research, 2012, vol. 49, issue 1, 97-111

Abstract: While climate change scenarios for the Sahel vary and are uncertain, the most popularized prediction says there will progressively be drier conditions with more erratic rainfall. According to some, an increase in violent conflicts over scarce resources should also be expected. This article investigates the climate–conflict nexus in detail, focusing on a distinct area at the heart of the Sahel, the inland delta of the Niger river in the Mopti region of Mali. Two complementary analytical approaches are applied. The first consists of collection and analysis of court data on land-use conflicts, 1992–2009, from the regional Court of Appeal in Mopti. A comparison of the conflict data with statistics on contemporaneous climatic conditions gives little substance to claims that climate variability is an important driver of these conflicts. Second, we carried out a qualitative analysis of one of the many land-use conflicts in the region. Again, we find that factors other than those directly related to environmental conditions and resource scarcity dominate as plausible explanations of the violent conflict. We argue that three structural factors are the main drivers behind these conflicts: agricultural encroachment that obstructed the mobility of herders and livestock, opportunistic behavior of rural actors as a consequence of an increasing political vacuum, and corruption and rent seeking among government officials.

Keywords: climate change; conflicts; Mali; Sahel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://jpr.sagepub.com/content/49/1/97.abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:joupea:v:49:y:2012:i:1:p:97-111

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Peace Research from Peace Research Institute Oslo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().