The Sahel known as the semi-arid transition zone between humid tropical Africa and the arid Sahara desert, characterised by a high degree of temporal and spatial unpredictability in rainfall. The people in this region practice agriculture and cattle-herding, and their livelihoods mostly suffer the effects of climate change because of their reliance on rainfall. Changes in rainfall and temperature had the capacity to reshape the productive landscape of this region and exacerbate food, water and energy scarcities. Also, natural disasters like drought could make the entire area uninhabitable for the people and this could contribute to destabilising and unregulated population movements which could force previously separate groups to compete for the same dwindling resources thereby leading to conflicts eventually. Using the environmentalist’s perspective to explain how natural and human activities had impacted negatively on this region, thereby making it unconducive for human sustenance. This paper explored the consequences of climate change on human well-being in the Sahel region; and the capacity of the population to adapt to the expected changes. It also recommended that there is the need to adopt new technologies and varieties in order to boost food production particularly.
Keywords:Climate change, Security, Adaptation, Drought, Conflict, Population