THE ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY NEXUS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE SAHEL REGION

Abstract

West Africa and the Sahel region are grappling with several security challenges in the post-colonial era. The geopolitical architecture vis-à-vis the ecological characteristics of these regions has in no small way contributed to precipitating insecurity. This paper, therefore, is an attempt to analyse the nexus between environment and security with a view to bringing to bear the modern understanding of security. It is secondary research and it adopts Homer-Dixon’s theory of resource scarcity. It is the position of this paper that environmental variability in West African and the Sahel has given rise to the manifestation of conflicts and insecurities. The farmers-herders conflict, banditry, Niger Delta conflict, trans-border crimes, insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin, etc are instances of environmentally induced crises. It recommends, among other things, the need for countries in West Africa and the Sahel to put in place early warning systems and strategies to check environmental degradation.