When Water Dries Up, Violence Thrives: The Link Between Climate, Conflict, and Migration in Africa. The Environmental Challenge and Its Consequences.
“An AK-47 grows better than millet in the Sahel.” This chilling metaphor from a Nigerian farmer sums up the vicious cycle linking environmental degradation and instability. With 65% of Africa’s drylands already degraded (UNCCD, 2022) and Lake Chad shrinking to just 10% of its original size, competition for water and fertile land fuels tensions.
In Nigeria, Boko Haram recruits among fishermen who have lost their livelihoods due to Lake Chad’s shrinking waters, offering them wages and access to water. In Somalia, Al-Shabaab controls 60% of the wells in the south, turning water into a political weapon. These groups thrive in power vacuums left by absent or corrupt states.
