INGGraan
CO . » ITTIlD TO GREEN oIUt t<C • • CSR IHITIoIIoTNE
T"-y l0 July 2012
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Farmers-nomads' conflict imminent over climate change impact nless appropriate mechanisms are put In place in Nigeria. clashes between farmers and nomads 00 land occasioned by climate change Is Imminent and this could graduale into unmanageable conflicts in the future. The Mlnisler of State for Foreign Affairs, Nurudeen Mohammad, who gave this hint, also noted thai such clashes were becoming frequenl and numerous In Nigerla and other parts of West Africa. adding that one olthe most negative impacts of climale change on human UveUhood was migration. In his keynole address In Ibadan at a one-day stakeholders national workshop on climate change. with the theme 'The lmpUcarlons ofCllmale On Human Security In,,,,,,.IIon Process in West Issues Umpopo even widespread and Lessons for Nigeria: Mohammad said thai adoption of innovations climate change - Induced like drip Irrigation conflicts between farmers may uot be enough to overcome the negative and nomad!; in Nlgerla may effects of climate change Increa5£' ifnot checked now. Mohammed said that on water availability: since dimale change was a Cook added. "But in other natwal phenomenon which parts, ln~tmenlS In ralnwas equaUy Inevitable. the fed agrlcuhure such as onus resled on the Nigerian rainwater harvesting. zal phs and small reservoirs government and the people might be better placed, as to manage it in a way that there could be sufficient wouJd curb forced economic rainfall for innovative and survival migration thai strategies 10 booSt would result In serious ",nfljcu. production, The key Is to According to blm. oblaln the dala needed -nomads are rorced 10 10 make an Inrormed move once they don't dedslon:
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Fresh threat to food production as clilmatic condition shifts hUllng c...imatic
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dillon has PO,,!!( fresh threat Itt food prod 1I110n In Africa , a ituation envin. IlD eJuallst5 IIslsl II critical the ontlnentwhewsu JS:stenae COl
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.n the continen :. Shlh!og cI cutlc condition 1::1 Iheady manHestlng In Lagos, Nigeria. with It st' ~[tlngly endless rainfall and ,jeVll.s~ating (I('odi oil. The Impact orfreqU!~n1 ](.oolog in the could t!l-lons. erosion in the , asl!Cn pan of the count~· ami ,Iesen encroachment In tl e North are also proof l'lal ;:L marie condition has sillfll d Experts sa thai the greatest threat to h J m3n existence In MrI ':a 11 resem.ly is climate ehB'lge! "hleh. they say, is undermlli 18 the continent's lnlrSrcr malion effons on farmb Ig.
According to tbt:m. climate changt: could algntncantly aller water nows In major r11.'er basins in Africa, presenting II new barrier to efforts to better manage water for rood production and to resolve potential crossborder water connicts all over southern Africa, "C limate change Introduces a new element of uncertainty precisely when governments and donors are slarting to have more open discussions about shari ng water resources and 10 consider long-term investments In boosting food producllon ,~ said Alain Vidal, director or the Challenge Prognmme on Water and Food (CPWF). ~To prevent th15 uncenalnty hom undermining key agreemenu and commitments, researchers must build a reliable basis lor deciSions, which takes into account the variable Impacts of cilmate change on riVl't basIM.ParticuJarly alarming are the p rojected changes in
southern Africa's Umpopo Basin, which Is home 10 14 million people and includes pans of BotsWana •SouthMrtca. Mozambique and Zimbabwe . Using data averages from c1lmale models by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. CPWF expert5 found Utal rising temperalllIl!:l and declinlng raInfall in the Umpopo over the next few decades could deliver a one-two punch to the already marginal environment-depressing food production and lnlenslfying poverty. "We need to asle whether current agriculture development strategies In the Limpopo. which are predlcaled on currenllevels of water availability. are In ract realistic for a climate future that maypresf>nt new cballenges aud dlfrerent oppOrtunities; said Simon Cook. a scientist with the lnternatlonal Center for Troplcal.Agriculture (ClAT) and head of CPWF's Basin Focal Projecu(BFP). -In some paris of Ihe
have enough gnuJng land; people move if they cannOt cultivate the land ; they move If they can no longer exploit natural resources such as fossil rue.1s foUowtns extensive exploitation which musl have rendered the land uneconomical; and they move because of demographic explosion which meaM available land cannot SU5tain the lucre.ase In Ute number of people: he said. TheworkshopwhIch was organized by the Ministry or Fore.ign Affairs with the ECOWAS Commission and Federal Ministry of Environment as partners, attraoed state government representatives and prtvale sector stakeholders from the south weslem pari of the counuy and Lagos. The minister ezplalned that instances of violent conflicts stimulated by climate change were common In Africa. "OneofsucillstheCUJTe:nt long drawn OUt conDicl in Darfur. Sudan. The clash between Ute nomads and settled fanners occasioned by the movement of nomads In search of more reflile grazing land was one of the factors thai triggered. off the conmoln Darfur: he said. Muhammad wbo was represented by Adamu Abass from his ministry. stated that the nomads In Dafur were forced out from Utelr now arid traditional grazing land as a resu\tofthe change In ciimate.
Climate change co uld also introduce uncertainties Into the water politics or the Nile Basin with the CPWF analysiS showing that higher temperalures-a rise by 2050 of two to five degrees Celsius-have the potential to lncreasewater evaporation 10 tbe point that it would -reduce the water balance of the upper Blue Nile Basin,"
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