Solving global terrorism needs a climate action lens

 

Solving global terrorism needs a climate action lens

The global terrorism has shown that, 7 of 10 high risk countries are African  indicating countries in Sahel and neighbouring states worst globally. Yet Africa bears the brunt of climate change crisis. Thus, Sahel is one of the world’s most degraded landscapes as a result displacing more than 33 million people from their livelihoods. And these displaced people are vulnerable to recruitment into armed group thereby affecting the peace and security of their society.Terrorism is a war between the ungoverned and the governed territory.

Also, Mozambique is one of the African countries ranked 7^th in the previous report. Mozambique has been hit by cyclones on three different occasions and some cases occurred consistently in the past decade. Millions of people has been displaced, death troll, destruction of farmlands and other properties. From these cyclones, they are yet to recover their losses. To many, it has led to permanent displacement thereby exerting much pressure on the limited resources in the host areas. Climate change crisis creates a loop hole for more crises that could impinge human rights. From reports, Palma in Mozambique was attacked by some armed group and has been under attack since 2017.

For every terrorism zone, there is always a climate change hotpot. Lake Chad that sits in Sahel has shrunk by 90%; displacing more than 10.7 million people. Also, the countries that surround Lake Chad (Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad) are also on the severe list in the global terrorism index. Finding the right solutions to the defining issues of our time matter in time like this. Terrorism cannot be defected through arms and ammunitions especially in a climate change induced scenarios as in the countries listed in the global terrorism index. The more people are vulnerable to climate change, the greater the recruitment into armed group which fuels terrorism. The loss of livelihoods continue to be a big challenge toward the sanity of our world today.

So terrorism is a war between the ungoverned and the governed territory. This is why they uses the tactics of displacement, food insecurity, lack of employment and poverty to recruitment more people in expanding their reach. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), eight of the ten countries hosting the biggest multilateral operations “are located in areas highly exposed to climate change.” Climate change undermines peace effort because peacekeeping without protecting the environment from degradation of any form is zero. Unwarranted militaristic solutions only lead to a circle of more violence. So the more we use military action, the larger the crisis because it is not the cure to the crisis.