Climate Change and Social Conflict in Nigeria's Democracy

Academic Paper from the year 2020 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, University of Port Harcourt (Faculty of Social Sciences), course: Political Science, language: English, abstract: This paper examined the impact of climate change on social conflict in Nigeria by identifying its progenitors and victims; and the roles of stakeholders in addressing the challenges of climate change adaptation and mitigation, especially social conflict. It x-rayed the two causes of climate change and locates the major trigger of social conflicts in Nigeria on the anthropogenic causes. The Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) and the social conflict theories were used to guide the analytical compass, using the conflict analysis perspective. This paper argued that the exploration, exploitation, refining and utilization of fossil fuels, soil erosion, desertification, environmental degradation, Green House Gas (GHG) emission etc. have negative consequences on the health and safety of the people, the supply chain and their socio-economic well being. The paper recommends democratisation of the people, respect for people's rights, unity, peace and stability of Nigerian democracy to ensure love for one another and unity of purpose for all. It also advocated the use of environmental impact assessment in the evaluation of projects by multinational corporations in Nigeria. The relationship between climate change and social conflict should be advocated by political elite in Nigerian democracy.