Fighting Climate Change-Breaking the barrier between Conflict and Food security.
The footprint of farming has been growing across Africa, bringing the continent to a crossroads.
The first road leads us towards conflict between people and the planet; while the second puts us on the path to enriching Africa without impoverishing nature.
Encouragingly, Africa is estimated to be home to percent of the world’s remaining arable land, but expanding into it creates many additional threats to nature.
As global and regional populations grow, this land will be at the forefront of the tension between balancing short-term food production and long-term investment in natural capital.
In recent years, few African regions have been immune to climate-driven resource pressures. Erratic rainfall has contributed to communal conflict across sub-Saharan Africa.
In Eastern Africa in particular, drought and livestock diseases have sparked ‘range wars’. A 2009 UNEP report stated that “the potential consequences of climate change for water availability, food security, prevalence of disease, coastal boundaries, and population distribution may aggravate existing tensions and generate new conflicts.
In 2009, a Columbia University study found a strong correlation between temperature and conflict in sub-Saharan Africa between the years of 1980 and 2002, with a 50 per cent increase in the likelihood of conflict for every 1°C above the average temperature, a correlation stronger even than that between conflict and diminished rainfall.
With temperatures on track to rise by at least 1°C by 2030, the continent faces a very serious threat of prolonged civil war in the decades to come.
Climate change is best thought of as a “threat multiplier”, not necessarily a catalyst of conflict, but rather an accelerator.
Rampant conflict and emerging crises dictate that it is imperative to amplify our efforts in achieving and sustaining peace.
For the continent to move forward, we need to create stronger mechanisms linking food security and nutrition to peace and security.
National governments in Africa, together with global investors, whether private or public (aid donors), must include conflict-prevention considerations in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of development programs and projects.
They should calculate savings from conflict avoidance as part of the returns to development spending. Such an approach can help break the links between conflict and food insecurity.
Destiny is on our hands and therefore we need to create more opportunities and robust economies.
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