Agriculture, crise climatique et violences :du nouveau sous le soleil du Sahel ?Retour sur un vieux débat à partir de la région du lac Tchad

Abstract

Using the Sahel as an example, and more specifically the situation in the Lake Chad region, this article looks at how the growing recognition of climate change in scientific and political-institutional agendas is changing the way we think about the relationship between environmental crises, agriculture and violence. By recalling how this discussion is part of long-standing reflections on the relationship between resources and conflicts, he analyses the crystallisation of the debate into two camps - neo-determinist quantitative approaches at continental scales of study, on the one hand, and critical social science approaches such as Political ecology, which are more local and territorialized, on the other; as well as the role of think tanks as mediators of scientific work towards the political sphere. It explains the seduction of neo-determinist analyses despite the refutations fed by field research.

Keywords

• Climate change
• Agriculture
• Resource
• Conflict
• Climate security nexus
• Africa