Nigeria, Aug. 31 -- Millions of people in the Great Lakes region have spent decades displaced by conflict, but climate change is adding a new layer to the crisis. Floods, landslides and rising lake waters are uprooting communities and sometimes displacing people who have already fled violence, exposing the limits of regional approaches that treat conflict and climate displacement separately.

In May, participants at the 61st meeting of the United Nations (UN) Standing Advisory Committee on security in Central Africa reiterated their commitment to preventing internal displacement and protecting displaced people. Similar declarations have been made before, as civil wars and armed conflicts scattered millions within their own countries and b...