Environmental Degradation, Livelihood and Conflicts: A Focus on the Implications of the Diminishing Water Resources of Lake Chad for North-Eastern Nigeria

Onuoha, Freedom C.

doi:10.4314/ajcr.v8i2.39425

Cited by 37 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The competition for land resources is resulting in conflicts between members of different communities and economic sectors. Earlier studies already identified the potential for such conflicts as environmental conditions change [15]. Cumulative data on the number and causes of conflicts of conflicts reported by the people over the last decade from the three districts of Darak, Blangoua and Hilé Alifa is presented in Table 2.…”

Section: Growth In the Practice Of Off-season Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such new human pressures may compound existing environmental pressures associated with phenomena such as climate change [14,15]. While the geographical extent and severity of these pressures remain unclear in the Lake Chad region, it seems likely that such combination of pressures may eventually reduce the land's ability to sustain the agricultural, livestock, and ecosystem functions as they once did.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal Migration and Settlement around Lake Chad: Strategies for Control of Resources in an Increasingly Drying Lake

Zieba

Tom

2017

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Abstract:The Lake Chad Basin has for a very long period supported the livelihoods of millions of peoples from the different countries that share this transboundary water resource. Its shrinking over the decades has meant that many of those who depend on it for livelihoods would have to adjust to the changing resource environment of this lake basin. This study sets out to examine the seasonal migration of people in search of water, pasture, fuelwood and cultivable land, and how this movement affects access and use of basin resources. The study made use of survey data obtained from 220 household heads on the Cameroon side of the Lake Chad basin, and secondary data from Cameroon ministries in charge of agriculture, the environment, and that of livestock. Our findings show that while fishing and livestock rearing continue to feature among the oldest determinants of population movements in the Lake Chad basin, increasingly the search for new farming opportunities made available by a shrinking lake and the political instability emanating from Nigeria are also becoming an important determinant. The increasing population in the lake region is compounding pressures created by a shrinking lake on access to water, fuelwood, pasture, and farmland. While there is potential to develop and benefit from the agricultural possibilities emerging from a shrinking lake, the impacts of poor agricultural resource management (especially land degradation, loss of agricultural biodiversity, and poor water management) may hamper the sustainable practice of agriculture if proper efforts are not made to address them. This study contributes to the scientific understanding of the changing nature of environmental resources in Africa. It specifically contributes to understanding the exacerbating threats to the sustainability of natural resources (water, agricultural and grazing land) caused by environmental changes, diversification of rural actors (fishers, farmers, breeders), weak resource management, and since 2013, by an armed conflict.

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Section: Growth In the Practice Of Off-season Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Migration and Settlement around Lake Chad: Strategies for Control of Resources in an Increasingly Drying Lake

Zieba

Tom

2017

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“…This informs why discussions about the Lake's shrinking state often make reference to this period. (Onuoha, 2008). Between 1970 and 1990, the average water discharge from the Chari-Logone River to the basin was 55 % of the average of the period 1950-1970(Olivry et al, 1996.…”

Section: Lake Chad and Its Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflicts about water in Lake Chad: Are environmental, vulnerability and security issues linked?

Okpara

Stringer

Dougill

et al. 2015

Progress in Development Studies

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This paper builds on the growing literature that explores the relations between environmental change and non-traditional security, defined as non-military threats that challenge the survival and well-being of peoples and states. The Lake Chad basin in Africa is used as a case study for analysis. Focusing on a set of questions that has dominated recent theoretical debates, the paper investigates if conflicts resulting from water scarcity are as much about the broader vulnerability of the Lake Chad region as they are about changes in the Lake system and its environment. It argues that conflict is a probable outcome only in locations that are already challenged by a multitude of other context-specific factors beside resource scarcity. In the Lake Chad context, the likelihood of scarcity-driven conflict depends on whether vulnerability increases or decreases in the face of a declining water supply. The paper provides perspectives for a nuanced understanding of how the receding Lake Chad has led to conflict and outlines an integrated, forward-looking research agenda for linking environmental change, vulnerability and security issues in integrated human-environment systems.

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“…Average annual rainfall is approximately 200-500 mm with maximum rainfall observed during July-September, while average temperature is approximately 27°C, ranging from 21 to 36°C throughout the year (Amaral et al 2013). Since the 1970 s, intense droughts have impacted water supplies and, in turn, have intensified aggression and conflicts around the Lake for which several hundreds of lives have been lost (Onuoha 2009). …”

Section: Study Area and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Using a novel climate–water conflict vulnerability index to capture double exposures in Lake Chad

2016

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Climate variability is amongst an array of threats facing agricultural livelihoods, with its effects unevenly distributed. With resource conflict being increasingly recognised as one significant outcome of climate variability and change, understanding the underlying drivers that shape differential vulnerabilities in areas that are double-exposed to climate and conflict has great significance. Climate change vulnerability frameworks are rarely applied in water conflict research. This article presents a composite climatewater conflict vulnerability index based on a double exposure framework developed from advances in vulnerability and livelihood assessments. We apply the index to assess how the determinants of vulnerability can be useful in understanding climate variability and water conflict interactions and to establish how knowledge of the climateconflict linked context can shape interventions to reduce vulnerability. We surveyed 240 resource users (farmers, fishermen and pastoralists) in seven villages on the southeastern shores of Lake Chad in the Republic of Chad to collect data on a range of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity variables. Results suggest that pastoralists are more vulnerable in terms of climate-structured aggressive behaviour within a lake-based livelihoods context where all resource user groups show similar levels of exposure to climate variability. Our approach can be used to understand the human and environmental security components of vulnerability to climate change and to explore ways in which conflict-structured climate adaptation and climate-sensitive conflict management strategies can be integrated to reduce the vulnerability of populations in high-risk, conflict-prone environments.

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Environmental Degradation, Livelihood and Conflicts: A Focus on the Implications of the Diminishing Water Resources of Lake Chad for North-Eastern Nigeria

Cited by 37 publications

References 7 publications

Seasonal Migration and Settlement around Lake Chad: Strategies for Control of Resources in an Increasingly Drying Lake

Seasonal Migration and Settlement around Lake Chad: Strategies for Control of Resources in an Increasingly Drying Lake

Conflicts about water in Lake Chad: Are environmental, vulnerability and security issues linked?

Using a novel climate–water conflict vulnerability index to capture double exposures in Lake Chad

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