Armed Conflicts in Africa and Environmental Intelligence for Sustainability

Armed conflicts cause considerable human and economic impacts, resulting in economic decline, social dislocation, and ecological disaster. In addition to being humanitarian disasters, armed conflicts cause considerable environmental damages to vital infrastructures and resources, some of which are irreversible or persist a long time after the end of the war, compromising potential sustainable recovery and reconstruction. Anticipation or risk of occurrence of conflicts may impair the sustainable development of involved countries if it was planned as if conflicts did not exist or would not occur. This paper introduces the notion of Environmental Intelligence for Sustainability as a tool to manage and possibly incorporate those risks within the sustainability agenda with particular emphasis in Africa. In this paper, the concept of Environmental Intelligence for sustainability (EIS) is defined as a strategic approach to analyze and manage the relationship between anticipated or on-going armed conflicts and sustainability. It may range from a pre-conflict strategic environmental and social assessment to governance and management tools developed as a three-dimensional framework operationalized through preventive, prospective and reactive measures. In view of the regional, and global effects of conflicts, coordinated Environmental Intelligence for Sustainability in African countries should be viewed by the international community as one of the main components of peace building globally, and a primary condition for sustained economic development and achievement of 2030 sustainability goals.