Climate change, green transition and communal land and conflict in South Sudan
as part of the course l'Africa nelle relazioni internazionali
In a rapidly changing global order, Africa can no longer be understood as peripheral to international politics. Rather, it emerges as a crucial site where local dynamics and transnational processes intersect, overlap, and mutually reshape one another. This seminar series foregrounds the concept of agency to explore how political, social, and economic actors across the continent actively produce and navigate these local–transnational entanglements.
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Abstract
This session investigates how climate change and green transition interact with communal land tenure, authority, and armed conflict in South Sudan, a country that contributes very little to global emissions yet is heavily affected by climate impacts and is seen as having great potential for accessing climate funding. Using data from ethnographic fieldwork on territory, chiefs and land governance, the session traces how floods and droughts as well as green transition-related activities can intensify competition over pasture and arable land, fuel disputes over administrative boundaries and revenues, and intersect with elite interests in oil, conservation and large scale agriculture. Through short inputs and group work on concrete cases, participants explore the complexity of the climate–conflict nexus and reflect on the unintended consequences of conventional land reform and state building tools in fragile contexts.