Linking Global Climate Change and Local Peace

Abstract

"Is the relationship between climate change, increased political and social instability, and the consequent risk of conflict among vulnerable people sufficiently understood? Rather than focusing exclusively on cause and effect, the media should turn their attention to resilience – the capacity of local systems to withstand shocks and to respond to change. The relationship between climate change and conflict is interlinked and complex. The negative impacts of climate change are already being felt around the world – most strongly in already poor communities in unstable states, threatening simultaneously to reverse development gains and to amplify existing social, economic and political stresses. Under certain conditions, where there is poor governance and low institutional capacity, these climate impacts could interact with pre-existing vulnerabilities and grievances to contribute to political instability and conflict. One example of such tensions can be found in fisher feuds in Mali. Along the banks of the Niger River in Mali, relations between fishermen and pêcheurs de sable or sand-miners are becoming increasingly strained and in cases have become violent. The practice of extracting sand and gravel from the banks of the river is growing exponentially to satisfy the mushrooming market to service the construction boom in urban centres such as Bamako. More and more traditional fishermen, attracted by the higher prices commanded by sand compared with fish, and the greater year-round predictability offered by sand as opposed to the seasonal availability of fish, are switching from fishing carpe and Nile perch to “fishing” for sand and gravel. The process of extracting sand destroys the river bed and is highly disruptive to what remains of local fishing, significantly depleting yields. The process of unregulated extraction of sand from flood-prone river banks also diminishes natural flood defences and leaves riverside communities more exposed to floods. Anecdotal accounts from community members tell of violence erupting between sand-extractors and local communities who resent the phenomenon’s negative impacts on the villages, grazing lands and roads. Yet members of the same communities also see the benefits in switching from fishing or herding livestock to the more predictable and profitable livelihood of sand and gravel extraction. The grievances lie not so much in a problem with the act of sand extraction itself, but the lack of regulation of the process and absence of governance and dispute resolution mechanisms at the community or state level where conflicts of interest arise. Clearly, responding to climate change related security risks is not a climate issue alone. Furthermore, it is evident that the security implications of climate change are first felt at the local level, and this is where they need to be understood. The process of extracting sand disrupts the river bed and is highly disruptive to what remains of the local fishing, significantly depleting yields."(pg 1)