Climate Change, Resource Insecurity and Conflict Dynamics in Nigeria: Rethinking Peacebuilding Responses, 2015–2025

Climate change is increasingly recognised as a critical driver of resource insecurity, livelihood disruption and conflict, yet the mechanisms through which environmental pressures interact with institutional weaknesses and peacebuilding processes remain insufficiently understood in Nigeria. Between 2015 and 2025, recurrent droughts, flooding, desertification, land degradation and changing rainfall patterns intensified pressures on land, water and agricultural resources, while socioeconomic vulnerabilities, population pressures and weak resource-governance institutions shaped the ways in which these pressures translated into conflict. This article examines how climate change and resource insecurity have influenced conflict dynamics in Nigeria and evaluates the implications for peacebuilding between 2015 and 2025. Drawing on qualitative analysis of peer-reviewed literature, conflict data, government policy documents, institutional reports and relevant secondary evidence, the study traces the interaction between climate-related stress, resource competition, livelihood insecurity, displacement and institutional capacity. The analysis demonstrates that climate change does not constitute an autonomous or deterministic cause of conflict; rather, its conflict effects are mediated by pre-existing patterns of inequality, resource competition, livelihood vulnerability and governance deficits. The article further finds that conventional peacebuilding interventions tend to prioritise immediate conflict management while insufficiently addressing the environmental and resource-governance conditions that sustain conflict vulnerability. It therefore argues for a shift towards climate-sensitive peacebuilding that integrates climate adaptation, equitable resource governance, livelihood resilience, conflict-sensitive development and locally grounded early-warning and prevention mechanisms. By connecting the climate–resource–conflict nexus with peacebuilding theory and practice, the study contributes to emerging debates on climate security and sustainable peace and provides an analytical framework for understanding how environmental stress can be incorporated into Nigeria’s conflict-prevention and peacebuilding architecture.