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How climate change fuels conflict

August 4, 2016

With temperatures soaring and drought increasing, many in Africa are losing their livelihoods. They are looking for other ways to survive, in some cases by turning to groups like Boko Haram.

https://p.dw.com/p/1JbQg
Nigeria Soldaten an einem Checkpoint in Gwoza
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/L. Oyekanmi

Climate change and conflict

In this week's edition of eco@africa, we look at how climate change is fuelling conflict in Africa. Extreme temperatures, droughts and flooding are putting pressure on food and water resources in many countries. The results? Migration, scarcity and fighting. As people lose their livelihoods, some young men are joining militant groups like Boko Haram.

We also take a trip to Tanzania, where one intrepid young reporter hosts a radio show about the environment. Sixteen-year-old Getrude Clement is using the airwaves to talk about the effects of climate change on children and the community in her hometown.

Frankreich Lebensmittelverschwendung
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Medina

In Ethiopia, we move from the airwaves to soaring through the air. Thousands of birds migrate to the country's Lake Tana to escape the European winter but they are coming under pressure from humans living off the lake. Conservationists are trying to help. Staying in Africa, we also take a trip with some elephants being relocated to a nature reserve in Malawi where they should be relatively safe from poachers.

In this episode, we also visit Europe, where scientists in Sweden are turning algae into energy, students in Germany are trying to save "ugly" fruit and vegetables from an early retirement in the bin and a German company has created a bioengineered moss that "eats" pollution.