The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN special coordinator for development in the Sahel, Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, warned Wednesday that conflicts and displacement will increase in the Sahel region if appropriate measures are not taken «immediately» to curb climate change.
In a joint report, they noted that «without urgent investment in climate mitigation and adaptation, countries in the area risk being plunged into decades of conflict,» which will be exacerbated by rising temperatures, resource scarcity and food insecurity.
The document states that the climate emergency will «further endanger communities in the Sahel,» where «devastating floods, droughts and heat waves, decimate access to water, food and livelihoods, and exacerbate the risk of conflict.» «Ultimately, even more people will be forced to flee their homes,» they said.
«In the Sahel, the climate crisis is combining with growing instability and low levels of development investment. The resulting mix not only disempowers and creates a greater burden on Sahelian communities, but also increases the risk of not achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,» said Dieye.
In this regard, he said that «the solutions available focus on people’s participation and large-scale investments,» although he stressed that «absolute dedication and commitment» is needed. «It also requires data and proper data analysis to be able to prevent and, therefore, to implement proactive and impactful policy responses,» he explained.
The report analyzes ten of the countries covered by the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel and its Support Plan in West and Central Africa: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
The UN has thus stressed that Sahelian communities depend on agriculture and pastoralism, two activities highly sensitive to the impact of climate change. «Food insecurity is becoming apparent in the region; in fact, it has reached emergency levels in some areas. In the long term, the ravages of climate change are expected to reduce yields of maize, millet and sorghum, which will reduce the resilience of local populations,» the document warns.
«Armed conflicts are worsening due to rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions in the Sahel. These conflicts are already destroying livelihoods, disrupting food security and causing displacement,» said UNHCR’s Special Advisor on Climate Action, Andrew Harper, who said that «only by investing heavily in collective climate mitigation and adaptation measures can the humanitarian consequences, both current and future, be alleviated.»
The report warns that even with ambitious climate change mitigation policies, temperatures in the Sahel are projected to rise by 2.5°C by 2080 and stipulates that «without urgent action, they could increase by 4.3°C».
Despite such negative trends, the Sahel has abundant resources, a large potential for renewable energy (including copious capacity for solar energy) and a young population (about 64 percent of people in the Sahel are under 25 years old).
«If immediate and robust climate mitigation and adaptation actions are taken in support of Sahelian countries and communities, and collaboration between the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding sectors is prioritized, there is a real chance to change the trajectory of this region,» the UN has insisted.
