By Abdullahi Lukman
The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) has warned that climate change is directly fueling armed conflict and mass displacement in Nigeria and the wider Sahel region, calling for urgent and coordinated action to address the crisis.
At a high-level seminar in Abuja on June 18, 2025, IPCR Director-General Dr. Joseph Ochogwu described climate change as a destabilizing force worsening insecurity and humanitarian emergencies in fragile areas.
The event, held to mark IPCR’s 25th anniversary, gathered regional experts, government officials, and civil society actors to discuss the links between climate change, conflict, and displacement in the Sahel.
Ochogwu highlighted how shrinking water sources, reduced agricultural yields, and loss of grazing lands intensify competition over resources, especially in communities dependent on farming and pastoralism.
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These environmental pressures exacerbate intercommunal violence and cross-border instability, particularly where governance is weak.
“Nigeria alone has seen millions displaced by the combined effects of environmental degradation and violent extremism, mainly in the North-East, North-Central, and North-West regions,” Ochogwu said, warning of cycles of poverty and marginalization among displaced populations.
He urged a shift from reactive responses to preventive, conflict-sensitive strategies that integrate climate adaptation into peacebuilding efforts.
Empowering youth and women, implementing early warning systems, promoting climate-smart agriculture, and improving access to justice were among the key recommendations.
Former Nigerian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Usman Sarki, underscored the urgent need for a holistic, multi-dimensional approach to stabilize the Sahel region amid rising insecurity, state fragility, and political upheavals.
He emphasized that sustainable development and peace require credible governance, security, food security, and climate action working together.
The seminar’s discussions echoed President Bola Tinubu’s eight-point agenda and Nigeria’s 4D foreign policy—Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora—as essential frameworks to tackle the interconnected challenges of environmental stress, insecurity, and displacement across the region.
