Climate change, health, and conflict in Africa’s arc of instability
Megan Evans, Barry Munslow
Abstract
Climate change lies at the heart of many complex humanitarian emergencies and emerging global health challenges, with Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) identified as one of the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change.1 An arc stretching from Somalia and Eritrea in the east to Mauritania in the west forms a band of countries that are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change (Figure 1).2 This arc experiences a devastating combination of state fragmentation, Islamist insurgency, and climate change, undermining livelihood strategies across the region. A climate injustice exists; despite contributing relatively little to the anthropogenic causes of climate change, individuals living in these countries face the most severe impacts