Livelihood Security: Climate change, conflict and migration in - UNEP

Drought also has a significant negative impact
on pastoralist livelihoods. The 1982-1984 drought
in Niger, for instance, led to a nearly 60 per cent
decline in the cattle population in the country due
to a combination of southward migration and the
direct loss of animals, 138 while the 2005 food crisis,
discussed in Case study 2, resulted in an early
southward movement of agropastoralists to coastal
areas in search of grazing land. In Nigeria, a survey
56
of 100 herdsmen taken in 2010 found that nearly
a third had permanently migrated southeast and
that the overall number of southern pastoralists had
been increasing since the 1990s, due to changes
in the natural environment. 141
Drought and rainfall changes have also contributed
to a decline in water bodies and the subsequent
migration of fishermen to a dwindling number of
Case study 2: Food crisis causes pastoralists to migrate south
Over 80 per cent of Niger’s 12 million inhabitants depend on agriculture and livestock for their subsistence;
the national poverty rate is 63 per cent .142
The 2005-2006 food crisis centred in the pastoral and agropastoral regions of northern Maradi, Tahoua,
Tillabéri and Zinder . A number of events in 2004 conspired to cause the crisis, including an early
end to the rains, desert locust damage to pasture lands, high food prices and a population living in
chronic poverty . 143 The drought and locust damage resulted in the largest fodder deficit in Niger’s history,
a shortfall of 4 .6 million tons, forcing herders to move south to the coast and dry season grazing
grounds in Nigeria earlier than usual . Such early movements can result in increased competition for
resources and the destruction of crops before they have been harvested in the receiving areas, and
lead to conflicts with local farming communities further south . 144 In addition, high cereal prices and
low livestock prices in pastoral and agropastoral areas forced some households to liquidate assets,
increasing their vulnerability for future years .
A joint food security assessment conducted by the Government of Niger, the Food and Agriculture
Organization, the World Food Programme and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in April 2005
estimated that 2 .4 million of the 3 .6 million people living in agropastoral areas were highly vulnerable
to food insecurity . Of those, 874,000 faced extreme food insecurity conditions and 1 .2 million were
judged to require some level of food aid . 145
Due to a lack of
available pasture
during droughts,
herders in Niger
are forced to come
to towns to buy
imported fodder.
Merchants come
from as far away as
Nigeria, Togo, and
Benin to sell fodder
at inflated prices to
desperate herders
Livelihood Security: Climate Change, Migration and Conflict in the Sahel
© UNU/Julie Snorek