Darfur: A Tragedy of Climate Change

82 Pages·2013·3.314 MB·English

by  Mohamed Osman Akasha

Mohamed Osman Akasha
Darfur
A tragedy of climate change
Anchor Academic Publishing
disseminate knowledge
Akasha, Mohamed Osman: Darfur: A tragedy of climate change.
Hamburg, Anchor Academic Publishing 2014

Buch-ISBN: 978-3-95489-095-8
PDF-eBook-ISBN: 978-3-95489-595-3
Druck/Herstellung: Anchor Academic Publishing, Hamburg, 2014

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Table of contents
Acknowledgment ........................................................................................................................ 7
Summary… . ……………………………………………………………………………………8
Introduction… . …………………………………………………………………………………9
The origins of the conflict in Darfur……………………… …………………………………..13
The scientific debate on climate change as a cause of conflicts…… …………………………16
Background on Sudan…………………………………… ……………………………………22
Background on Darfur…………………………………………………………………………29
Daju Period…………………………………… ………………………………………………29
The Tunjur………………………………… .. ………………………………………………...30
Darfur Sultanate…………………………… ...... ……………………………………………..30
Egyptian rule ............................................................................................................................. 30
British rule ................................................................................................................................. 31
National independence .............................................................................................................. 31
Increasing instability ................................................................................................................. 32
Beginning of scarcity resources and conflict in Darfur ............................................................. 35
Rainfall and drought in Darfur .................................................................................................. 35
Land degradation in Darfur ....................................................................................................... 40
Land tenure system in Darfur .................................................................................................... 45
Climate change casual relation with land tenure ....................................................................... 47
What danger does climate change pose to societies? ................................................................ 51
History of tribal conflicts over resources in Darfur .................................................................. 55
The nexus between climate change and the conflict in Darfur ................................................. 60
The role of multilateralism in solving the crises in Darfur ....................................................... 64
United Nations response ........................................................................................................... 65
African Union response ............................................................................................................. 67
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 70
Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 72
Glossary .................................................................................................................................... 75
List of figures ............................................................................................................................ 77
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 78
Acknowledgment
This book was possible because of the extensive support of my beloved wife who
devoted herself for our family. I would also like to thank my lovely daughters for
tolerating my absence patiently while I am writing this book. My sincere thanks go to my
Parents. I do extend special gratitude to many individuals in all parts of Sudan and
United Kingdom who helped me writing this book.

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Summary
Climate change presents a serious threat to the security and prosperity of all countries. The
effects of climate change and its security implications have now been at the forefront of
international attention. Academic researches on environmental change and security gained
popularity in political science and security studies in the 1990s. With Cold War-related
security issues on the decline, policymakers began looking more closely at non-traditional
security concerns such as environmental change, poverty and diseases. In so doing, the
idea of what constitutes state security expanded beyond the risk of direct military
aggression from hostile states to concerns about the regional instability that could affect
economic security and draw governments into regional conflicts.
Few quantitative and qualitative studies conclude that, climate change in itself is unlikely
to produce violent conflict, but rather, it could serve as a “threat multiplier” whereby environmen-
tal degradation caused by climate change may exacerbate many of the underlining causes linked to
violent conflict. However this conclusion is widely generalized, since it has put all countries
in one basket despite the numerous differences and variation between countries as far as
adaptive mechanism and mitigation technologies are concerned. Using Darfur as a case
study, this book examines the effects of climate change in poor or less developed
countries, and critically analyzing the concept of climate change as a security threat that
has ignited the conflict in Darfur, critically analyzing the role of drought, desertification,
decreased rainfall, land degradation and migration in the conflict in Darfur. While
acknowledging the prominent role of the International community in solving this crisis,
this work intends to illustrate that, the absence of a common view on the nature and root
causes of the conflict has hampered international convergence about how to act on Darfur
crisis. This has delayed a coherent response and has contributed to the escalation of the
conflict. Also the mischaracterization of the causes and nature of the conflict in Darfur has
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contributed to oversimplified views, which allowed the conflict to be politicized in a way
that has complicated the search for solutions. This has hampered progress toward defining
a political settlement, and toward finding a formula for allowing the various population
groups to pursue compatible and sustainable livelihoods and as a result of the wrong
diagnosis of the problem people of Darfur are still suffering. This books aims to draw the
attention of international community, non-governmental organization and public to the
reality of the root causes of the crisis in Darfur

Introduction
This book seeks to critically analyze the role of climate change in intrastate conflicts in
less developed countries, and links between climate change and the untraditional concept
of security threats. The book will also narrow in to analysis and takes the crisis in Darfur
as a case study. It will cover the period when the climate change started to hit Darfur in
1970s passing through the period of 1980s when Darfur was devastated by the major
famine. Then it will focus on the era when the conflict escalated in 2003 and the role of
the international community till 2008.
Darfur started to attract the attention of the international community following the
outbreak of the conflict in 2003 owing to the escalation of the violent conflict that led to
massive displacements, killing and deaths.
Since 2003, much is being written on what is happening on the ground, much less about
the root causes of the conflict and that is because it has been looked at from a political
perspective rather than scientific one, and therefore it has been described by many activist
groups, countries and humanitarian organization as a genocide resembling the tragedy of
the 21st century. However, the root causes of the conflict have not been addressed
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properly. Few scholars and scientists shed lights on these root causes, but the important
stakeholders ignored the fact that climate change with increasing desertification and
decreased rainfall is a major factor behind the crises which had started since 1970s. The
symptoms of climate change in Darfur intensified in 1980s when the region witnessed a
severe drought and famine, as a result, more people are competing for access to land,
water, and other natural resources in Darfur. In 2003 the conflict turned to be an armed
conflict between the various tribes over natural resources, especially water and land. These
impacts include expanding desertification, decreased rainfall and land degradation left dire
consequences, as pastoralists (Abbala) have migrated south for improved grazing for their
herds, yet farmers have denied them access due to their marginal lands. As a result, more
Darfurians are competing for access to land, water, and other natural resources than at any
other time. The increased competition only further aggravates the already uneasy political,
social, and ethnic relationships in the Darfur region.

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The origins of the conflict in Darfur
People of Darfur have been devastated by war, and its aftermath has been sorrowful story
of suffering, displacement and death. The war has become one of the most misrepresented
and misunderstood conflicts in recent history. Analysts and activists have oversimplified
the causes of the war, slighting its historical and systemic causes. For years, public
commentators ignored the nature and the real cause of the violence in Darfur, causing
important misperceptions among the public and in the policy community1.
The region of Darfur had witnessed a severe drought since 1970s caused by decreased
rainfall which led to land degradation; in addition to that, the population has significantly
increased. The inhabitants of Darfur depend heavily on the natural resource base for their
socio-economic activities. Land and water access are crucial for sustainable livelihoods.
The majority of people earn their livelihoods through subsistence agriculture, either
farming or pastoralist2. With the increasing competition for land and water resources and
the lack of local conflict resolution mechanisms, the relations between the competing
tribes have intensified and developed to an armed conflict with traditional weapons.
The conflict's origin goes back to land disputes between semi-nomadic livestock herders
and those who practice sedentary agriculture3, as nomadic tribes facing drought are going
after the territory of sedentary farmers4.
In 1980s Darfur was badly hit by unprecedented drought that caused the well-known
famine in Darfur and the conflict between tribes continued to evolve as pastoralists have
migrated south for improved grazing for their herds, yet farmers have denied them access
___________________
1. Foreign policy briefing, volume No, 89 June 1, 2010.
2. Fadul, A. A. Natural Resources Management for Sustainable Peace in Darfur. Sudan, University for
Peace, (2004), p. 34.
3. Scott Straus, Darfur and the Genocide Debate, Foreign Affairs magazine, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Jan. – Feb
2005), pp. 123/133.
4. Bechtold, P. K. A History of Modern Sudan. Middle East Journal 2009, 63(1), 149 – 150.
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