Conflicts about water in Lake Chad: Are environmental, vulnerability and security issues linked?

Conflicts about water in Lake Chad: Are environmental, vulnerability and security issues linked?

This article builds on the growing literature that explores the relationships between environmental change and non-traditional security, defined as non-military threats that challenge the survival and well-being of peoples and states. The Lake Chad basin in Africa is used as a case study for analysi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Progress in development studies Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 308 - 325
Main Authors: Okpara, Uche T., Stringer, Lindsay C., Dougill, Andrew J., Bila, Mohammed D.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New Delhi, India SAGE Publications 01-10-2015
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:
Case studies
Climate change
Cooperation
Environmental aspects
Environmental changes
Environmental conditions
International
Lakes
National security
Natural resources
Regional security
Research centers
Studies
Sustainability
Threats
Water scarcity
Water supply
Lake Chad
water scarcity
security
Lake Chad
vulnerability
Water conflict
environmental change
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Summary:This article builds on the growing literature that explores the relationships between environmental change and non-traditional security, defined as non-military threats that challenge the survival and well-being of peoples and states. The Lake Chad basin in Africa is used as a case study for analysis. Focusing on a set of questions that have dominated recent theoretical debates, this article investigates whether conflicts resulting from water scarcity are as much about the broader vulnerability of the Lake Chad region as they are about changes in the lake system and its environment. It argues that conflict is a probable outcome only in locations that are already challenged by a multitude of other context-specific factors besides resource scarcity. In the Lake Chad context, the likelihood of scarcity-driven conflict depends on whether vulnerability increases or decreases in the face of a declining water supply. The article provides perspectives for a nuanced understanding of how the receding Lake Chad has led to conflict and outlines an integrated, forward-looking research agenda for linking environmental change, vulnerability and security issues in integrated human–environment systems.
ISSN:1464-9934
1477-027X
DOI:10.1177/1464993415592738