Resource information
This paper examines the effect of climate change on pastoralist conflict in Africa. The rangelands of East Africa is particularly vulnerable to drought, which is associated with climate change. In this respect, the paper focuses its analysis on changes in resource availability contrasting cases of abundance and scarcity. The authors clarify that the role of resources is further contextualised by competing notions of property rights, and the role of the state in defining property and associated rights. They argue that any analysis of climate change and conflict needs to account for property rights protection and even more importantly the bias in these property rights. The document makes the following findings:
pastoralist conflicts are typically fought over water rights or grazing rights to unfenced land
the state is rarely involved directly and is playing limited role in establishing, protecting and recognising property rights in Africa’s rangelands
violence between pastoral groups should be understood as more than just resource conflicts
conflict is generally increasing with resource abundance contingent on property rights bias
if a relationship between ecological degradation and armed conflict exists, it should be strongly evident in the form of inter-communal or ethnic violence.
