Political Ecology of Natural Resource Conflicts in the Middle Belt: Evidence from Plateau State

Natural resource conflicts in Nigeria's Middle Belt region, concentrated in Plateau State within the North Central geopolitical zone, operate at the intersection of ecological resource scarcity, political marginalisation, historical land tenure disputes, and climate-driven environmental pressures that have intensified farmer-herder tensions and inter-communal violence over the past two decades. This study applies a political ecology framework to analyse the causal structure and spatial patterning of resource conflicts in Plateau State, focusing on the Jos Plateau escarpment and lowland transition zone where the highest conflict frequencies have been recorded. Secondary data on conflict events from the ACLED database (2015 to 2023) were geocoded and mapped alongside spatial layers for land productivity, rainfall anomalies, population density, grazing reserve boundaries, and historical land grant records. Political ecology analytical tools including discourse analysis of policy documents, historical narrative reconstruction from archival sources, and multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in six conflict-affected communities informed the empirical chapter. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 80 community leaders, local government officials, NGO workers, and security agency representatives. Results reveal that resource conflicts in Plateau State cannot be adequately explained by biophysical resource scarcity alone, as the highest-conflict zones are not the most ecologically stressed but are characterised by the most contested histories of land alienation and ethnic political exclusion. The study makes a theoretical contribution by demonstrating how colonial land tenure legacies and post-independence political arrangements create the institutional conditions under which environmental pressures trigger violent conflict. Keywords: political ecology, natural resource conflict, Plateau State, farmer-herder, North Central Nigeria.