Cooperatives and Climate Change Adaptation: A Pathway to Conflict Reduction in Artisanal Fisheries Communities in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Climate change is having a devastating impact on artisanal fisheries communities in developing countries, including Nigeria. In Nigeria, multiple local conflicts have arisen as a result of climate‐related changes in coastal regions. This study investigates the impact of cooperatives and climate change adaptation on conflicts among artisanal fisherfolk in Nigeria. To capture climate change adaptation complexity, we employed the number of climate change adaptation strategies adopted as a count variable. We applied Endogenous Treatment Poisson Regression and Unconditional Quantile Regression models to analyze cross‐sectional data collected from artisanal fisherfolk in the coastal area of Nigeria. Findings from this research revealed that non‐fishing strategies are equally important as part of the climate change adaptation strategies with 43%, 22%, and 14% of the respondents adopting livelihood diversification, a community conflict resolution committee, and formation of local security outfits (vigilante), respectively. The results further showed that cooperatives play a significant role in increasing the number of climate change adaptation strategies adopted. Also, the study empirically established that cooperatives lessen the incidence, especially of the most severe conflicts among artisanal fisherfolk. Therefore, policy efforts should be geared towards strengthening and developing cooperative societies among artisanal fisherfolk in order to strengthen climate adaptation and reduce conflicts.