Source: allAfrica.com
NAIROBI, 5 October 2009 — The second day of the Institute for Security Studies meeting on Climate Change and Transnational Water Management featured case studies highlighting the collaborative approach to managing the Niger River Basin, the process of mediating conflicts caused by the recession of Lake Chad, and the evolution of Ecowas as a regional institution.
These and other papers presented lent support to the hypothesis that where national level governance continues to be problematic, transnational arrangements for managing natural resources and the challenges of climate change are emerging as a promising model for problem solving and conflict transformation.
The role and experience of Ecowas in managing climate change and cross-border resource conflicts is especially impressive. The widespread impact of the 1974-1976 drought and famine in West Africa elevated the spread of desertification to an international concern. East Africa experienced the same climatic conditions, but the humanitarian impact was less severe.
Over the following decades, scientific research debunked many assumptions about the dysfunctional nature of traditional African pastoralism and other indigenous land management practices as a cause of environmental degradation.
During the same period, Ecowas and its national government partners have successfully institutionalised drought management, famine mitigations, and collaborative approaches to rangeland rehabilitation and cross-border conflicts.
A paper on Igad indicates that East Africa is now following the same pathway, but we have some catching up to do.
Consider, for example, the case of the government of Niger, which is devoting 40 per cent of its national budget to combating desertification and climate change.
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