Floods, communal conflict and the role of local state institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Petrova, Kristina

doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102511

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Communal risks affecting flood victims can have a profound impact on their well-being and recovery. Research has highlighted several key communal risk factors, including conflict and social tensions, which in some cases, floods may exacerbate pre-existing social tensions or lead to conflicts over limited resources, further endangering the affected community (Petrova, 2022). Understanding these communal risks is essential for disaster management and preparedness efforts to better address the needs of flood victims and enhance community resilience.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Based Flood Risk Management: Empowering Local Responses: A Case Study in Meru, Klang

Jailani,

Mat,

Mansor

et al. 2024

ASS

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With an expansive flood-prone region, effectively managing risks, particularly those impacting residents in flood-prone communities, poses a significant challenge for Malaysia. Regular in-depth studies are essential to enable the country to anticipate and comprehend the emerging risks that capable of causing both loss of life and damage to properties and public infrastructure. This research aimed to investigate the dynamics of flood risk management and present recommendations for stakeholders in mitigating the consequences of flood events. Employing a qualitative approach, 13 participants, all flood victims residing in Meru, Klang, were purposefully selected. The participants were divided into two groups: the first group, comprising 5 participants, engaged in a focus group interview, while the second group, consisting of 8 participants, responded to open-ended questions. Both groups answered identical structured questions in both oral and written formats. Thematic Analysis (TA) was applied to analyse the data from these exercises. The findings revealed that flood risk management comprises four components: psychological risk, improper development risk, evacuation risk, and communal risk. The study recommends the implementation of a comprehensive flood mitigation plan covering pre-, during, and post-flood phases to address the specific requirements arising during flood events. It is hoped that this research contributes valuable insights to augment the existing flood management system, benefiting not only the victims but also all stakeholders involved in managing the impacts of flood events.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Based Flood Risk Management: Empowering Local Responses: A Case Study in Meru, Klang

Jailani,

Mat,

Mansor

et al. 2024

ASS

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“…15 An additional way to deal with the knowledge gaps resulting from sampling biases is to draw on research providing insights on environmental peacebuilding, yet not using the term (or engaging with other work on the issue). Examples include studies on climate security (Petrova, 2022), disaster diplomacy (Kelman et al, 2018) and natural resource management (Ojha et al, 2019). Such publications were not covered by the analysis presented here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sampling bias in environmental peacebuilding research

Ide

2023

Environment and Security

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Sampling bias poses enormous challenges to research as it can undermine the validity of results, cause significant knowledge gaps, result in research that is driven by convenience rather than need and limit the ability to provide policy advice. In this study, I assess potential sampling biases in the rapidly emerging research field of environmental peacebuilding based on a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature. The field frequently engages with difficult cases which are hard to access and/or unlikely to confirm theories, hence reducing concerns about sampling by convenience and result validity. By contrast, there are clear knowledge gaps regarding countries highly vulnerable to environmental change, regarding the Pacific region and Latin America, regarding intra-state peacebuilding dynamics in Asia, and regarding countries with weak or isolated civil societies. Voices from the Global South and female scholars are relatively well represented, but further improvements are desirable. Addressing these issues would support environmental peacebuilding in challenging one-sided environment-conflict narratives, adding to the wider peacebuilding literature, and providing policy advice on sustainable peace.

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“…An important development has been the explicit investigation of the context in which such links occur -such as political marginalization, poor resource institutions and failing trust in institutions more generally, as well as agricultural dependence 10,11 . Overall, there is most evidence on agricultural pathways between climate and conflict such as lower production, higher prices and challenges to agricultural livelihoods 12 . Most evidence is actually found for climate effects on existing conflict dynamics rather than onset of new wars 13 .…”

Section: Nina Von Uexkullmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and conflict

Hendrix

Koubi

Selby

et al. 2023

Nat Rev Earth Environ

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Why is there debate about climate-conflict connections, and where do you stand?Cullen Hendrix: I am convinced that climate extremes and certain rapid-onset natural disasters are robustly linked to conflict outcomes. These impacts can be marginal, affecting the propensity of individuals to participate in violence, or they can be massive, such as with longer-term climate conditions influencing the rise and fall of empires. However, I am not convinced these effects are uniform across space, time, and different political and economic systems.The debate is heated due to the baggage of geographic determinism. Human geographers, in particular, have been very sceptical of climate-conflict links because the discourse deprives humans of agency. There is some truth to that: saying the Syrian Civil War was caused by climate change absolves the Assad of their role in precipitating the conflict via exclusionary rule and repressive responses to discontent. Indeed, humans experience climate phenomena in specific economic, social and political contexts, and understanding these contexts is key to understanding the diversity of conflict responses to similar climate shocks.Vally Koubi: The climate-conflict debate emerged because policymakers, journalists and academics were keen to link conflicts (for example the Darfur war) to drought. In reality, this relationship is almost always more complex and context specific. For instance, although extreme climate events, climate variability and climate change have affected conflict, their direct impacts have been small compared to other drivers, including socioeconomic development, government strength, inequalities, and a history of conflict 1 . However, when climate affects these other drivers, conflict is more likely, moderated by contextual factors such as economic development and political institutions 2, 3 . Therefore, my position is that climate change does not directly cause conflict, but indirectly increases conflict risk by exacerbating existing social, economic and environmental factors, hence acting as a 'threat multiplier'.Jan Selby: The climate-conflict debate arose largely as a by-product of politics, triggered by the release of several scenario reports on the security implications of climate change under the George W. Bush presidency. These reports were extremely light on evidence, their central purpose being neither scientific nor motivated by a concern with conflict, but instead about dramatizing the importance of climate change to US domestic and policy audiences. The hope was that depicting climate change as a vital 'national security' issue might help build momentum for swifter action on emissions. Only in the wake of this politics did a substantial body of actual research on the subject emerge. However, evidence from this research, is generally weak, and contradictory, and in some cases, non-existent, as for instance on the influence of climate change in the Lake Chad crisis. Yet, despite this 'evidence', claims about climate-conflict connections still go all the way up ...

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Floods, communal conflict and the role of local state institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by 16 publications

References 75 publications

Community-Based Flood Risk Management: Empowering Local Responses: A Case Study in Meru, Klang

Community-Based Flood Risk Management: Empowering Local Responses: A Case Study in Meru, Klang

Sampling bias in environmental peacebuilding research

Climate change and conflict

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