The Sahel and the climate security debate

With climate change becoming a leading global political issue, the idea that there is a close link between global warming and violent conflicts has also caught international attention. The Sahel, in particular, is pointed out as the clearest example where there are climate‐driven conflicts. Many politicians and international civil servants in particular, seem attracted to this idea. For instance, in a newspaper article UN Secretary‐General Ban Ki‐moon made a connection between global warming and the Darfur conflict (Ban 2007). The idea was also at the crux of the decision to award the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to former US Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, human‐induced climate change is one of the main causes of violent conflict and war in the world today...