Climate Change Increases The Risk Of Violent Conflicts

“UNHCR, The Environment & Climate Change. Some of the factors that increase the risk of violent conflict within states are sensitive to climate change.”

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has since more than two decades worked to improve sustainable environmental management in regions where especially needed. It may be a surprising fact that climate change and displacements are so closely interlinked, unless not familiar with the causes and roots of different conflicts and disasters worldwide. Today, majority of armed conflicts are state-internal, making it legally difficult for even the United Nations to intervene, in addition to the many risks that for example UN volunteers, or other volunteers, such as staff of the International Red Cross may face while trying to help civil´s in countries affected. Although committing war crimes and breaking the international humanitarian law by killing civil´s and aid workers/volunteers, this has become a general practice in (civil) wars, with actually more civil´s than soldiers losing their lives.

An example of armed soldiers attacking innocent people is Boko Haram, a group of extremists, in North East Nigeria. In 2014, they kidnapped 276 innocent school girls, part of whom were set free in May 2017 after negotiations with the Nigerian government. Yet, many of these girls are still being held hostage, and Boko Haram continues attacking innocent people in Northern Nigeria and in neighboring countries, with estimations of having killed at least 20.000 civil´s so far.

According to a number of sources, Boko Haram started its extreme activities as a response to the Lake Chad Basin Crisis, whereby Lake Chad, having been an important source of water and economic activity for the four countries (Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon) surrounding it, has dried out by 95%. As a result of this, Boko Haram has become so violent in the region that at least one million (1.000.000) have had to flee their homes.

Learn more about Boko Haram (and, Lake Chad Basin crisis) here:

 

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