Prolonged Armed Conflict as a Driver of Climate Change Vulnerability

Abstract: Previous research on climate change and conflict has focused on how climate change affects conflict, however, the field has failed to reach a consensus on the relationship. With climate change being such a large concept, the focus has shifted towards the concept of climate change vulnerability. Despite attempts to connect climate change vulnerability to conflict, there is a lack of research examining the reversed relationship, that is how conflict affects climate change vulnerability. Motivated by this gap, the research question of this thesis is: How does prolonged armed conflict affect the country’s climate change vulnerability? My main claim is that prolonged conflict will negatively affect the country’s climate change vulnerability trough a decrease in investments and public spending. This thesis is tested trough a qualitative comparative case study on the countries Libya and Algeria. The findings are in line with the hypothesis showing that the case with prolonged conflict did experience a higher climate change vulnerability.