How is climate change driving conflict in Africa?
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By Jake Hussona
In light of recent events, such as the mass kidnapping of the 343 schoolboys in Nigeria, the war in Tigray in the northernmost region of Ethiopia, as well as decades-long issues such as the Darfur war, the accumulating news headlines seems unequivocal: there is a growing link between climate change and conflict, and that link is seen right across the African continent.
Climate change is widely recognised as a threat multiplier due to its role of exacerbating the traditional cause of conflict. The most egregious form is the way changes in climate alter competition over increasingly scarce resources. Research on the so-called heat aggression relationship suggests there is a 10- 20% increase in the risk of armed conflict associated with each 0.5°C increase in local temperatures.