Excerpt
This work focuses on the way climate change and variability in the Sahel of West Africa may lead to the recurrent violent conflicts between crop farmers and agro-pastoralists in Burkina Faso. It identifies and analyses the causes of the violent conflicts between these groups; equally evaluates the impacts of these violent conflicts on communities’ welfare. For that, household interviews (100 households were interviewed) and focus group discussions were conducted from 15th may to 30th June 2014 in two administrative regions of the country namely Boudry and Matiacoli. The findings indicated that climate change and variability are impacting negatively land degradation and livestock health in the study area. The frequency and severity of extreme climate events are increasing farmers’ insecurity when it comes to the use of natural resources. The study finds that climate change is not a root cause of these conflicts but a factor that exacerbates them. The root causes are socio-economic, political, and land degradation factors such as poverty, population growth and loss in soil fertility. The impacts of the violent conflicts on crop farmers as well agro pastoralists are population and livestock migration, social expulsion, injury and fatality of the population, and the destruction of private properties which can be a vicious cycle.