What Ghana Teaches Us About the Intersection of Climate and Conflict

It is undeniable: the impact of climate change is all-encompassing. It cuts across every aspect of political, social, and economic life.?

In Coastal West Africa, many countries are forced to contend with the ways in which climate change is contributing to increased conflict. Farmer-herder disputes over limited resources are commonplace, and intercommunal rifts create vulnerabilities to extremist recruiting. Attacks by violent extremist organizations in Benin and Togo are rising, prompting governments to actively explore new and innovative solutions to address threats. Even in Ghana – a nation characterized by its unique climate resiliency and conflict resolution structures and a strong reputation as one of the most peaceful and stable countries in Africa – prospects for sustainable peace are increasingly under threat due to land disputes, intercommunal tensions, and transnational threats. These conflict drivers are all amplified by the impacts of climate change.??

The international development community is faced with the challenge of how to best promote sustainable, locally led efforts while executing the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability. To avoid upsetting the region’s tenuous balance, implementers must reinforce and improve the capacity of Ghana’s existing resiliency factors to ensure it remains a regional leader in efforts to address transnational threats. This will require breaking the development community’s tendency to silo technical sectors into separate, isolated programs. Conflict is driven by a conglomeration of social, economic, and political grievances; programming should be equally cross-sectoral. Because climate change exacerbates existing conflict drivers, both must be addressed simultaneously to promote sustainability. The question is, how??

The Evolving Dynamics of Climate Change and Conflict?

Ghana faces heightened vulnerability to the direct and indirect impacts of climate change. Projections suggest a 3.7 degrees Celsius temperature increase by 2080, aggravating Ghana’s already diminishing freshwater sources and fertile land. As weather patterns become more destructive, inland flooding jeopardizes critical infrastructure and wildfires exacerbate food insecurity.?

Competition over scarce viable land and natural resources amplifies ongoing disputes between farmers and herders – at times even escalating to the point of violence and forced relocation. Marginalized communities, such as Fulbe herders, urban settlers, and artisanal miners, face targeted discrimination, political and social exclusion, and land confiscation. More frequent conflicts related to land disputes create increased demand on chiefs to mediate and reinforce land rights and governance systems. With the mounting pressure for rural communities to access natural resources, rural-to-urban migration trends are intensified, straining public services and elevating risks of social unrest. The concurrent surge in youth unemployment contributes to the expanding environmentally hazardous mining sector and involvement in illicit activities.

Climate change has a disproportionate impact on Ghanaian women and girls. Economic stressors exacerbate forms of gender-based violence such as forced early marriage. As families struggle to survive, women and girls migrate in search of economic opportunity and expand their geographic range for resource gathering. As a result, the risks of exploitation and health, social, and economic threats are increasingly prevalent for vulnerable women and girls.

As a multiplier of conflict drivers, climate change challenges Ghanaian peacebuilding and security. The development community must recognize the significance of land and resources in Ghanaian socioeconomic life. To protect land and resources, program design must be responsive to climate shocks, regardless of technical sector. The USAID Mali Climate Change Adaptation Activity’s partnership with the National Meteorological Agency, “Mali Météo,” demonstrated how the development community can improve livelihoods and foster climate-resilient economic growth. The program pioneered methods to strengthen access to accurate, timely data related to fluctuations in temperature and rainfall. The adoption of climate-responsive technologies and techniques enabled?more than 90,000 vulnerable farmers to make well-informed decisions regarding their livelihoods.

Institutionalizing Community Practices

Accra has been a pioneer in advocating for climate sustainability. In 1994, Ghana established Africa’s first Environmental Protection Agency. The National Climate Change Policy, adopted in 2013, stressed the urgent need to analyze the impacts of climate change and drive low-carbon economic growth. Ghana boasts an impressive history of national-level climate policy, but community practices, too, play a significant role in addressing climate change and reducing conflict drivers.

In Ghanaian culture, communities view themselves as stewards of the land. Chiefs – as the land’s primary guardians – are believed to have the support of their ancestors, which provides considerable legitimacy to enforce land-use laws, mediate disputes, and approve land for cultivation. Long-standing indigenous farming practices help to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Proka, for example, is a historical farming practice of clearing land for cultivation. Instead of burning the brush, as other methods prescribe, the sticks and leaves are left to rot, acting as an organic fertilizer which expedites vegetation regeneration while reducing the risk of wildfire.

Ghana has strong formal and informal conflict mitigation mechanisms at the local and national levels. Prioritizing diverse representation in the National Peace Council, Regional Peace Councils, and District Peace Councils is effective in earning community trust and increasing perceptions of legitimacy. This empowers the councils to mediate conflicts like land disputes, which are of increased concern as harvestable land diminishes. Alongside the councils, the Queen Mothers, traditional women rulers with political access, and the National House of Chiefs, another multilevel body consisting of traditional rulers, hold authority to resolve disputes.

Peace councils and community leaders are at the intersection of climate change and conflict. Amidst increased international attention on Coastal West Africa, it is important to recognize the depth of knowledge and effective institutions that already strive to promote peace and address climate change. Implementers must evolve beyond climate-aware conflict programming, and begin prioritizing locally-driven, cross-sectoral activities that proactively work to reduce drivers of climate change and conflict, simultaneously. Ghanaian leaders, academics, climate experts, and conflict specialists partnered with Chemonics International, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies to design the recently published report, "Climate Change and Conflict in Ghana," which argues that improving the capacity of these local structures to address climate change and conflict drivers is a key step toward promoting sustainable peace in Ghana and could serve as a model for neighboring countries.

Looking Forward

The Global Fragility Act reflects the U.S. Government’s new, innovative approach to promoting stability in five target countries and regions – including Coastal West Africa. Critical to this effort is incorporating local knowledge, integrating historical practices, and empowering communities to drive change. When it comes to addressing the impacts of climate change and reducing drivers of conflict in Ghana, Ghanaians have an invaluable understanding of which interventions will best serve their communities long-term. While the international development community can help scale these initiatives, successful implementation requires leveraging the expertise of legitimate local leaders.

Climate change is shifting community dynamics, but supporting local peace committees and institutionalizing climate-responsive technologies and techniques are effective methods of fostering resiliency. Promoting long-term stability and laying the groundwork for peacebuilding is possible, not by establishing new systems, but by increasing the efficacy of existing systems with deep institutional knowledge of how climate change and conflict drivers are evolving in their communities.?

Learn more about Chemonics' approach to implementing inclusive, climate-resilient development.

This article was authored by Alex Gibson , Senior Peace, Stability, and Transition Associate, and Madeline Anderson, MA , Peace, Stability, and Transition Intern, Chemonics International.