WILBERFORCE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (WJSS)
ISSN: 2504 – 9232
Special, No. 1, March 2020
Pages 64-79
DOI: 10.36108/wjss/0202.sp.0140
CLIMATE CHANGE INDUCED CONFLICT: THE CASE OF HERDSMEN AND FARMERS IN THE MIDDLE BELT OF NIGERIA
CLETUS A. LANSHIMA
Abstract
This study gives an account of how empirical evidence has shown that the herders-farmers conflict in the Middle Belt is partly induced by climate change. Based on Eco-survivalism and frustration-aggression theories, the study revealed that the shrinking of Lake Chad Basin, desertification, drought, reduction in average annual rainy period and wetland, drying up of rivers and water sources, flooding, erosion, and increasingly dwindling land for crop farming and grazing in northern Nigeria has been largely responsible for the conflict. Establishment and sustenance of modern methods of livestock production in the 21st century, protection of environment against and mitigation of the effects of climate change, and improvement in security apparati of the nation are recommended as a panacea to the violent conflict between the herdsmen and the farmers in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.
Keywords: Climate Change, Farmers, Herdsmen, Middle-Belt, Nigeria