Survival in Exchange for Jihad

Ecological disasters and climate change have the power to exacerbate the emergence of radical extremism and violence in territories that are at risk of suffering from drought and desertification. In Nigeria, drought has provided opportunities for the extremist group, Boko Haram, to recruit locals who are desperate to survive and who search for new and prosperous livelihoods. In an Africa Review article titled “Climate Change Fuels Nigeria Terrorism,” Emmanuel Mayah communicates how after an arrest of the organization’s leader Abu Qaqa along with more than 70 of its members, “it was discovered that the majority of Boko Haram’s fighters were not religious fundamentalists as portrayed to the public and had no knowledge of basic verses in the Quran” (Mayah 2). Instead, many of the soldiers were vulnerable to economic insecurity and starvation as a result of their displacement from the recurring periods of drought in the western Sahel region of Africa.

With disappearing sources of water, dying livestock, and insufficient harvests, migration of local citizens across borders in search of sustenance and adequate livelihoods persists. The Lake Chad basin, bordered by Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad “has shrunk by 90 per cent in just 50 years owing to poor rains and its drainage for irrigation” (Coghlan 2). On July 27, 2016, a “Security Council Briefing on the Situation in the Lake Chad Basin Region” took place at the United Nations. Under-Secretary-General Jeffrey Feltman conveyed the necessity of recognizing the significance of taking a bottom-up approach towards restoring safety and security to citizens who have been affected by Boko Haram’s presence in West Africa. As he acknowledged The Second Regional Security Summit for the Lake Chad Basin that took place on May 14^th, 2016, he summarized how “the Summit took note of the negative consequences of climate change, affecting livelihoods of those dependent on Lake Chad, in particular youth” and how “the Summit urged the concerned countries and partners to support the restoration of Lake Chad as part of a strategy to combat Boko Haram” (Feltman 16). The vanishing of Lake Chad has increased terrorist recruitments, disrupted local trade, contributed to economic instability and food insecurity, and intensified the desperation for survival.

The interconnectedness of climate change, natural disasters, and the rise of radical insurgencies must be recognized and addressed. However, what responsibility does the international community have to combat drought in the Lake Chad region? How have migrants been received in neighboring areas? In what ways can Lake Chad be renewed? And will the restoration of the Lake Chad basin guarantee peace and higher rates of stability in the territory?