Getting the Nexus between Climate Change and Security Right

Although there is consensus on the view that climate change is a “security threat multiplier”, very little has been documented about the responses of the Sahel communities to the impact of climate change-induced insecurities and how these responses have amplified and accelerated state fragility and despondence. As an example, this lecture will provide evidence on how women have abandoned agriculture to join extremist groups, how pastoralists have deserted cattle rearing to become jihadists, and how soldiers are increasingly rising against the state through coup d’états and coup proofing mechanisms. The drying of Lake Chad has resulted in Jihadist Groups taking over control of the region to secure scarce resources triggering widespread violence forcing thousands of people to move to other parts of the region or internationally.