African Studies UK (ASAUK) Conference 2024
Generation and Regeneration of African Studies,
28-31 August 2024, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford
Scholars have referred to biblical patriarchs – Abraham’s and Lot’s herdsmen’s conflict as the possible origins of farmers’/pastoralists’ conflict. Most of these conflicts resulted from environmental changes. In the past, pastoralists managed changes remarkably; for over a thousand years, they developed complex natural resource management (NRM) systems that guaranteed their survival. However, these systems are increasingly becoming ineffective. Despite the growing knowledge of the impact of climate change on NRM and farmers’/pastoralists’ relations in Africa and Nigeria in particular, policymakers have rarely come to terms with the causes and even possible solutions to the problems of farmers’/pastoralists’ conflicts. In some cases, policies to address the problems have worsened NRM questions and ignited new conflicts.
Several nuanced and insightful scholarly writings engage climate change and resource conflicts. Most of these studies focus on how climate change has induced migrations and generated conflicts. This is done with less attention on how such migrations and conflicts have shaped government policies on NRM and how the policies have complicated farmers’/pastoralists’ conflicts. This study moves beyond the dominant narratives to examine the climate conditions, the conflicts, and the operation of policies that exact new administrative arrangements on existing NRM systems, undermining the attempt to address the challenge. Drawing on cases of Central Nigeria and relying on primary and secondary data, this study demonstrates how policies can undermine NRM systems, weaken strategies for coping with environmental stress, and worsen farmers’/pastoralists’ conflicts.
