# ECOWAS Lawmaker Links Climate Change to West Africa's Rising Displacement and Insecurity

> Dr. Suleiman Gumi told a parliamentary seminar in Accra that shrinking grazing land is pushing herders into farming communities, and called for investment in ranching and climate adaptation to ease the resulting conflict.

- Source: African Economy
- Canonical URL: https://africaneconomy.net/article/ecowas-mp-gumi-climate-action-ranching-displacement-insecurity
- Author: African Economy Staff
- Section: Policy & Governance
- Published: 2026-10-21T11:06:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-21T11:06:00.000Z
- Tags: ECOWAS, climate change, Sahel, displacement, insecurity

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A member of the ECOWAS Parliament has called for stronger climate adaptation measures and investment in ranching to address what he described as a growing link between environmental degradation, displacement and insecurity across West Africa, according to a report by Guardian Nigeria. Dr. Suleiman Abubakar Gumi, who represents Nigeria's Gumi/Bukuyyum Federal Constituency in Zamfara State, raised the issue during the ECOWAS Parliament's Second Extraordinary Session and seminar in Accra, Ghana, held under the theme of climate change as a driver of environmental degradation, displacement and insecurity in the region.

Gumi argued that while the natural drivers of climate change sit largely outside human control, the human activities accelerating environmental degradation, including deforestation, charcoal production, mining and fossil fuel burning, are within the region's power to address. He linked the expansion of desertification across the Sahel directly to shrinking grazing land, saying it has pushed livestock herders toward areas where vegetation and water are still available, often areas already farmed by settled communities.

That competition over land, he said, has become a significant driver of tension between farming and pastoral communities across the region. Gumi's remarks add to a growing body of commentary from ECOWAS lawmakers treating climate adaptation, including expanded ranching infrastructure, as a security investment rather than a purely environmental one.

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Originally published by African Economy. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://africaneconomy.net/article/ecowas-mp-gumi-climate-action-ranching-displacement-insecurity.