Lake Chad Region

The Lake Chad region is currently facing multiple security risks, including livelihood insecurity, climate change and violent conflicts. These risks need to be understood as interlinked and affecting each other. Even though the current conflict in the Lake Chad region was triggered by violence linked to armed groups such as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lida’awati Wal Jihad (JAS, People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad), known as Boko Haram, and Wilayat al Islamiyya Gharb Afriqiyyah (Islamic State West Africa, ISWA), the crisis has deep roots in longstanding developmental challenges.

Widespread inequality and decades of political marginalisation have instilled an entrenched sense of exclusion and a lack of trust between communities and leaders in the region. These challenges are further exacerbated by climate change. The region has historically been highly vulnerable to significant environmental stress, today, unpredicted rainfall patterns induced by climate change are significantly impacting the resilience of communities around Lake Chad.

In this report, the Expert Working Group on Climate-Related Security Risks provides a climate-related security risk assessment and options for climate risk management strategies in the Lake Chad region.

The Expert Working Group on Climate-related Security Risks aims to produce high-quality and policy-relevant assessments of climate-related security risks, which can strengthen decision-making and programming on those risks within the United Nations. In 2018, the expert working group – together with external researchers and the working group secretariat – will produce research on four geographies: Iraq, Lake Chad, Somalia and a further geography in Central Asia. The reports will build on research and insights from the field to provide integrated risk assessments of climate-related change and security—as well as other social, political and economic aspects.