Food-Climate-Conflict Nexus: Inside Cameroon’s Quest for an Encompassing Solution

Food, climate and conflict form a nexus of Africa’s biggest development challenges. According to the Observer Research Foundation’s 2025 report, Africa accounts for only 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This is equivalent to 0.95 tons per person and 47.5% less than the global net zero target for individuals. Yet, the continent bears an unfair burden of climate change.

Widespread poverty, reliance on subsistence agriculture, and lack of resilience make Africa even more vulnerable. Recently, we have witnessed days of intense heat and unexpected, out-of-season rains. The high temperatures and precipitation patterns have adversely affected both our water sources and the entire food system. Climate change also has an unexpected effect in escalating local conflicts. For instance, countries like Niger have lost over 100,000 hectares of cultivable land due to fast-rising temperatures. Violent inter-ethnic clashes have been witnessed across Mali, Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ghana. The nomadic Fulani tribes who migrate in search of pasture have had to chart new routes due to loss of vegetation and water scarcity, into areas where they have no prior agreements. Conflicts and climate change combined have increased the region's vulnerability due to loss of livelihood and local markets. Conflicts damage transport networks, hike food prices due to loss of agricultural lands, assets and displacements of people. Affected countries also experience reduced capacity to prioritise development while responding to crises simultaneously.

We have equally witnessed a steady decline in staple crops such as maize, wheat, sorghum, fruits and cash crops. This is because about 97% of agricultural land in Africa is rain-fed, and recurrent drought, flooding and water scarcity have led to increased pests and diseases, incurring significant losses during production and post-harvest. These challenges go deeper to the molecular level; Elevated atmospheric CO2 reduces protein in crops. Rates of nutrient deficiencies, particularly B12, iron, and vitamin A, are also rising.

Africa’s progress towards zero hunger is throttled by challenges that are interconnected in an unexpected way. Food system interventions are required to be more encompassing, with all these complex relationships considered. In 2021, Cameroon launched the National Development Strategy 2020-2030 (SND30). Among the key objectives were developing agricultural productivity and production. This objective focused on intensified agro-industrial activities in staple and cash crops and the timber and non-timber products subsector. Climate change plans were built around sustainable management of natural resources and waste management, and managing crises was more about revamping the affected areas. These actions were non-specific and certainly not treated as a part of an interconnected whole. In 2025, these gaps were finally identified with the launch of the Converge Food initiative. In partnership with the Joing SDG Fund, Cameroon for the first time brings together climate action, food security, biodiversity and nutrition under the Convergence Action Blueprint (CAB), positioning the food system as a unified platform in alignment with the SDGs. The project is set to focus on four value chains, including rice, cassava, milk and eggs. It will kick off specifically in the Far North, Adamawa and East, which areas are severely affected by climate-induced desertification, erratic rainfall and terrorist group actions. The aim is to enhance nutrition and climate resilience while de-escalating conflicts through systemic economic reforms that promote financial inclusion, reduce unemployment, especially among youth and children. Climate-critical agricultural commodities received attention through plans to promote climate-resilient management and biodiversity protection. The project also acts as a financial catalyst with USD 30 million in funding from the Islamic Development Bank and the UN to bolster investment in smallholder agribusinesses and farming cooperatives in these unstable zones. 

Referred to as the ‘Whole-of-Government’ and ‘Whole-of UN’ response, this new framework combines specialised expertise of multiple agencies such as FAO, UNEP, UNIDO, WFP and UNCDF. By 2028, it is expected to have delivered scalable solutions that treat the climate-food-conflict nexus as a cohesive whole rather than fragmented, competitive projects.

Sources

A Framework for Breaking the Food–Climate–Water–Conflict Nexus in Africa. https://www.orfonline.org/research/a-framework-for-breaking-the-food-climate-water-conflict-nexus-in-africa  

Agriculture in Sub-saharan Africa. https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/adamchakaudrey/agriculture-in-sub-saharan-africa/ 

National Development Strategy 2020-2030. http://onsp.minsante.cm/sites/default/files/publications/262/NDS30_National%20Development%20Strategy%202020-2030.pdf

CONVERGEFOOD in Cameroon. http://mptf.undp.org/project/00141367