Impacts of civil conflict on biodiversity are significant in West Africa. The Civil Conflict working group documented impacted areas ranging from sites with localized tensions to trans-boundary floods of refugees fleeing from war. The group's analysis of the trends informed the recommendations for conservation action in the priority areas for biodiversity conservation.

Population growth and influx of migrant populations lead to competition for land for settlement or agricultural production, and are often aggravated when competition is between ethnic groups. Ethnic tensions can become flash points for increased conflict as competition for resources increases. In a region where forests are increasingly fragmented, forested habitats and especially protected areas become targets for settlement, encroachment, and illicit clearing, planting, and hunting.

In addition to migrations driven by economic needs, forced migrations caused by war lead refugees to clear forestlands; resource use intensifies when populations increase to five, ten, or even twenty times their normal size.

In conflict zones, forests continue to be used for shelter, security, and sustenance in the absence of economic alternatives; exploitation of timber and minerals also generates income to fuel armed conflict. Environmental damage also occurs when forests and grasslands are burned to flush out enemy soldiers, hunting is undertaken to feed soldiers, and agricultural lands are destroyed to displace villagers.

In territories abandoned during wars, the absence of local government and weak national government may permit mining and logging at unsustainable levels, as diamonds, gold, rubber, and timber are extracted by unregistered or unregulated companies. Environmental standards become irrelevant to the holders of the resource, with disastrous effects on wildlife, water quality, natural vegetation, and soils