UN Environment Programme – 2004-10-09 00:48:22
http://www.unep.org/aeo/index.htm
Civil Strife and Armed Conflict
UN Environment Programme
From — AFRICA ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK: Past, present and future perspectives
A total of 26 armed conflicts erupted in Africa between 1963 and 1998, affecting 474 million people in Africa, or 61 per cent of the population. Some 79 per cent of people were affected in Eastern Africa; 73 per cent in Central Africa; 64 per cent in Western Africa; 51 per cent in Northern Africa; and 29 per cent in Southern Africa (ECA 2001).
Another impact of armed conflict is the creation of refugees. In 2001 in Central Africa and the Horn of Africa, for example, a total of about 9.6 million people were either refugees or internally displaced as a result of armed conflict (US Committee for Refugees 2001).
Refugee settlements often result in environmental degradation which, in turn, increase human vulnerability, limiting livelihood options and exposing the refugees to health risks.
Environmental change due to environmental stress has an indirect impact on the outbreak of conflict. Environmental stress — including deforestation, land degradation and scarce supply of freshwater — alone, and in combination with high population density, increases the risk of low-level conflict.
Armed conflict over resources can also spill over national borders. In 1977–78, deforestation and soil degradation, in conjunction with rapid population growth, forced Somali pastoralists to migrate to Ethiopia, resulting in conflict between the two countries (Molvoer 1991). Overgrazing induced widespread deforestation and desertification in Somalia, prompting the large migrations of Somali pastoralists into Ethiopian territory.
The migrations brought the Somali pastoralists face to face with local Ethiopians who were dependent on the same resources. The bitter competition between these groups fuelled cross-border tensions which eventually found an outlet in armed conflict between the two nations.
Conflicts in the region are partly attributed to disputes over environmental resources. For example, Liberia/Sierra Leone/Guinea conflicts are partly attributed to contest over the resources of the Manor River basin.
The DRC/Rwanda conflicts, the Sudanese conflict, and tribal conflicts and wars in many African countries are attributed, in part, to contest over natural resources. Environmental problems which are exacerbated by civil strife, armed conflicts and wars are threatening the survival of large numbers of people in the Africa region, and these problems are becoming increasingly serious. The types of environmentally related conflicts include:
• Simple scarcity conflicts which may arise over three major types of resources: river water, fish and agriculturally productive land. These renewable resources are likely to spark conflict because they are rapidly becoming scarce in some regions, they are essential for human survival and they can be physically seized or controlled.
• Group identity conflicts, which are likely to arise from the large-scale movements of populations brought about by environmental change, for instance, the earlier Ethiopia/Somalia example.
The situation described above is vividly illustrated by a case study on natural resources scarcity and conflicts, summarized in the Box 3.10 — Natural resources scarcity and conflicts
The semi-arid land of northern Uganda is usually referred to as Karamoja. It is home to pastoralists called karimojong,made up of several tribes which depend on livestock for food, payment of bride price and other cash needs.
Karamoja is characterized by low/unreliable rainfall. Scarcity of water for human and animal needs, and inadequate pasture for grazing, results in overstocking of livestock in the area in relation to the carrying capacity of the limited pasture.
The groundwater resources on which the population depend has been reducing because the water table in the area has been falling since 1960, as a result of the effects of drought and other aspects of environmental degradation. Also, the rate of livestock loss is high, due to the effects of drought and disease.
Furthermore, about 50 per cent of Karamoja is a protected biodiversity conservation area, where the government prohibits any human activities.
The explosive situation described above has led to internal armed conflicts and cattle raiding between the different tribes, and also to external armed conflicts with people from neighbouring countries with the same resource scarcity problems.
The analysis of the relationship between environmental change (especially that which leads to scarcity), violent conflict and security has highlighted both positive and negative social effects (Matthew 2000). The negative social effects of environmental change include:
• Decreased agricultural production and productivity, which may arise as a result of the effects of deforestation, as well as of the degrading and decreasing of available agricultural land.
• Depressing economic performance as a result of environmental degradation, leading to further impoverishment in the affected countries.
• Population displacement, compelling people to migrate in search of livelihood opportunities.
• Intensifying group identity tensions, forcing people onto marginal lands and promoting resource capture by social subgroups—all of which may generate diffuse and persistent misery, frustration and resentment.
• Rendering individuals and groups increasingly vulnerable to natural and human-made disasters.
• Disruption of legitimized and authoritative institutions and social relations.
War and Wildlife
Armed conflicts, in addition to exacerbating environmental degradation and increasing human vulnerability, also cause a lot of damage to invaluable environmental resources, especially wildlife and biodiversity, as illustrated in the Box 3.11. This situation is the same with all the armed conflicts which have taken place or which continue to take place today in Africa.
The civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been devastating to the country’s wildlife, killing thousands of elephants, gorillas (which are among the world’s most endangered animals, with only a few hundred surviving in the wild today) and other endangered species.
After three years of fighting in the Congo, the number of okapis, gorillas and elephants has dwindled to small populations. Participants in the manysided conflict have plundered resources to fuel the fighting. Soldiers have slaughtered elephants for meat and ivory, and buffalo for meat.
In Garamba Park in northeastern Congo, an area controlled by Ugandan troops and Sudanese rebels, nearly 4 000 out of 12 000 elephants were killed between 1995 and 1999.
In other parks and reserves, including Kahuzi-Biega park, the Okapi reserve and Virunga park, the situation is equally grave. In Kahuzi-Biega park, a zone controlled by the Rwandan and Rwandan-backed rebels, just two out of 350 elephant families remained in 2000 — the rest must have fled of their own accord or may have been killed, because two tonnes of elephant tusks were traced in the Bukavu area late in 2000. The war has made both humans and wildlife vulnerable.
Armed conflict not only contributes to the degradation of the environment, but also contributes to the breakdown of legal and institutional frameworks which are critical to environmental management. In Mozambique, the war which ended in 1992 resulted in the fragmentation and collapse of the management of protected areas (Chenje and Johnson 1994).
It also foreclosed livelihood options for millions of people who were forcibly displaced to relatively safe areas but which, however, had more limited livelihood options (see Box 3.12).
War and Health in the Democratic Republic
The number of people in critical need of food in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains at an estimated 16 million, or roughly 33 per cent of the country’s population. The uprooting of rural populations and isolation from their traditional food sources, together with the declining economic situation, continue to be the underlying causes of this troubling situation, which is aggravated at Kinshasa, where about 70 per cent of the population of 7 million live on less than US$1 per day for food.
Some 18 per cent of children in the inner city, and more than 30 per cent in the outskirts, suffer from chronic malnutrition. Less than 47 per cent of the population estimated to have access to safe drinking water.
One of the results is that some large communities are forced to survive on food handouts or are forced to overexploit their immediate environment in order to survive. This becomes a vicious circle, where the poor overexploit their resources, limiting the environment’s ability to recover. As the state of the environment deteriorates, the people’s livelihood options also become limited, worsening their poverty and vulnerability.
For example, the 1999 UN secretarygeneral report on the war in Angola, said that among the immediate consequences of the war were the higher level of malnutrition, especially among young children, and the dismal sanitation and health conditions which seriously increased the risk of epidemics (UN 1999). Box 3.12 also provides additional information on how armed conflicts impact people.
AFRICA ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK: Past, present and future perspectives
CONTENTS
AEO Collaborating centres
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preface
The AEO Project
Synthesis
The AEO Sub-regions
CHAPTER 1: ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: 1972-2002
Introduction
The 1970s – winds of change
The 1980s – stagnation
The 1990s – 2002 – towards revitalization
Conclusion
CHAPTER 2: THE STATE OF AFRICA’S ENVIRONMENT AND POLICY ANALYSIS
Introduction
Part A: Atmosphere
Regional Overview
Northern Africa
Eastern Africa
Western Indian Ocean Islands
Southern Africa
Central Africa
Western Africa
Conclusion
Part B: Biodiversity
Regional Overview
Northern Africa
Eastern Africa
Western Indian Ocean Islands
Southern Africa
Central Africa
Western Africa
Conclusion
Part C: Coastal and Marine Environments
Regional Overview
Northern Africa
Eastern Africa
Western Indian Ocean Islands
Southern Africa
Central Africa
Western Africa
Conclusion
Part D: Forests
Regional Overview
Northern Africa
Eastern Africa
Western Indian Ocean Islands
Southern Africa
Central Africa
Western Africa
Conclusion
Part E: Freshwater
Regional Overview
Northern Africa
Eastern Africa
Western Indian Ocean Islands
Southern Africa
Central Africa
Western Africa
Conclusion
Part F: Land
Regional Overview
Northern Africa
Eastern Africa
Western Indian Ocean Islands
Southern Africa
Central Africa
Western Africa
Conclusion
Part G: Urban Areas
Regional Overview
Northern Africa
Eastern Africa
Western Indian Ocean Islands
Southern Africa
Central Africa
Western Africa
Conclusion
Concluding Summary
Atmosphere
Biodiversity
Coastal and Marine Environments
Forests
Freshwater
Land
Urban Areas
The Complex Relationships Between Environmental Issues
CHAPTER 3: HUMAN VULNERABILITY TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Introduction
Understanding human vulnerability
Environmental change: impacts on people
Social dimensions to human vulnerability
Economic dimensions to human vulnerability
Addressing human vulnerability to environmental change
Challenges of reducing human vulnerability
Conclusions
CHAPTER 4: OUTLOOK 2002-2032
Visualizing the future
Methodology: the scenario approach
Africa regional futures: scenario development in the AEO
Quantitative expressions of the scenarios
The driving forces of the scenarios
Scenarios and their environmental implications
Discussions and synthesis
Conclusion
CHAPTER 5: POLICY RESPONSES, ANALYSIS AND ACTION
Introduction
Policy responses and analysis
Proposals for action
Conclusion
Annex 1: Summary of key policy reponses
Annex 2: Failures, weaknesses and gaps in environmental management
Annex 3: Proposed action areas, activities and repsonsibilities
Acronyms and abbreviations
Contributors
Figures and Tables
