Climate Shocks and Pastoralist Migration in South Sudan: An Ecological Approach for Political Cooperation

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In this important, multidisciplinary study, Daniek Akech Thiong shows that the relations between climate disaster, pastoralist migration, and intercommunal conflict in Africa reach farther, both in time and space, than we realize.

Focussing on the climate-shock-induced migrations of the Dinka people of South Sudan's Jonglei state into the Equatoria region, Thiong investigates the long-term ecological roots of conflicts among pastoralists, or between pastoralists and agriculturalists, over access shrinking waterholes and grazing zones. In so doing, he not only offers important correctives to prevalent, short-term narratives around individual political conflictsnarratives that provide little fodder for any long-term solutions--but also sheds new light on the role of governance, both national and local, in creating or mitigating the conflicts.

Ultimately, Thiong's ethnographic research reveals that the agriculturalist vs. pastoralist divide is not always as entrenched as it seems, that there are clear examples of unusual cooperation between diverse ethnic groups amidst precisely these sorts of disasters. These findings shed new light on similar developments elsewhere in Africa, all of which offers new lessons for those who wish to mitigate future clashes related to climate-shock-induced displacement and encourage social stability.

Author Bio

Daniel Akech Thiong was born in southern Sudan (now South Sudan) and spent his early life in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. He is currently an independent consultant on the politics and economics of South Sudan who also runs a scholarship programme for refugee students as part of the Walking Buildings Project. Thiong's writing has appeared in the Oxford Journal of African Affairs, openDemocracy, and African Arguments. His previous book, The Politics of Fear in South Sudan, was published by Zed Books in 2021.