Socio-environmental balance: How environmental conflicts can support the climate-security nexus

Abstract

This article relies on interdisciplinary debates in geography, political ecology and political sciences in order to explore how interpretative analyses of environmental conflict can support the climate and security nexus debate. It analyses mining and environmental conflicts in Burkina Faso and mobilises a framework highlighting the co-constitutive relationship between the environment and human societies. From this perspective, environmental alterations are considered a central and multicausal factor that can lead to a profound change in social and political structures and thus lead to conflicts. This article will first contextualise mining development, environmental conservation and armed conflict in Burkina Faso before reviewing the literature on climate change, environment and conflicts and describing the conceptual and methodological framework. Then, it addresses the case study of four large-scale mining sites in Burkina Faso. Finally, the last subsection explains how this case study can enrich the climate and security debate with an interpretative understanding.