The objective of this article is to analyze the influence of climate change on the occurrence of conflicts in the crisis regions of Cameroon. To achieve this, we use the two-way fixed effects method on data ranging from 2000 to 2021. The main results show that climate change directly increases conflicts during relatively warm periods and/or with less precipitation. Moreover, through the channel of the marginal effects of food price volatility and deforestation, we show that climate change indirectly influences conflicts.

This article was published in NATO Review and written by Katarina Kertysova. Kertysova is a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Research Center and a Research Associate at the Climate Change & (In)Security Project.

Somalia has in recent years been ravaged by the effects of a multi-year drought driving food insecurity and conflict across the Horn of Africa and pushing millions to migrate to urban settings in search of food and safety. PSI recently sat down with the Climate and Environment Advisor for the UN in Somalia, Christophe Hodder. We asked him about his work and the environmental challenges that Somalia will face in the coming years.

Since 2010, there has been a shift in the Swedish armed forces' (SAF) perception on Climate change. A recent study, based on a qualitative analysis of official documents, publications, and public statements, suggests that climate change is becoming institutionalized in the SAF. According to the researcher, Rickard Söder, climate change has not been a dominant issue for the SAF before. However, it has been conceptualized differently in recent years, and mentioned increasingly in strategic documents and statements by senior officials.

''It is crucial that we put an immediate end to the war and prioritize environmental rehabilitation as an integral part of peace-making initiatives''

Forum Leaders, through the Boe Declaration, have defined climate change as “the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific”.

The United Nations representatives who took the microphone in Baghdad in early June 2023 to talk about Iraq’s current drought had little reason to be optimistic.

Cities increasingly bear the brunt of climate-induced migration, particularly in conflict-affected countries. Armed conflict and the climate crisis interact in complex and reinforcing ways to undermine human security, leading to increasing trends in rural-to-urban migration and the rapid growth of informal or peri-urban settlements in many low- and middle-income countries. In the 25 years leading up to 2015, the population living in informal areas increased by 28 percent according to UN-Habitat.

Climate change and its impacts create severe risks for food systems and human security more broadly, making peaceful coexistence between people and communities harder to maintain or achieve. Both slow onset changes such as temperature rise and increased variability in precipitation patterns, as well as fast onset events such as extreme weather events can severely affect people’s livelihoods and food security, especially in contexts that are already fragile. These cascading effects can then contribute to socioeconomic and political instability, increasing the risk of violent conflict.

This report is based on direct testimonies from agropastoralists living in borderland regions of Africa. The evidence has been collected objectively and systematically to allow the research participants to explain how they live their lives, to describe the vulnerabilities they face, showcase the sources of their resilience and, crucially, to highlight how they overcome the challenges of living in the borderlands.