Okpara, Uche T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0851-0024, Stringer, Lindsay C. and Dougill, Andrew J. (2015) Conflicts about water in Lake Chad: are environmental, vulnerability and security issues linked? Progress in Development Studies, 15 (4). pp. 308-325. ISSN 1464-9934 (Print), 1477-027X (Online) (doi:10.1177/1464993415592738)

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Abstract

This paper builds on the growing literature that explores the relations 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 has dominated recent theoretical debates, the paper investigates if 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 beside 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 paper 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.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	water conflict, water scarcity, environmental change, security, vulnerability, Lake Chad
Subjects:	S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Livelihoods & Institutions Department
Last Modified:	09 Mar 2020 10:34
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/27329

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