<p>The increasing effects of environmental change have disrupted traditional land-use practices, intensifying competition and conflict between herders and farmers. In West Africa, while research has focused on high-intensity conflict zones, lower-incidence contexts such as Sierra Leone and Guinea remain underexplored, despite facing growing tensions linked to climate variability and pastoral mobility. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, the findings show that eco-violence emerges in fractured governance landscapes, where neither formal institutions nor traditional authorities effectively mediate escalating resource competition under environmental stress. In Sierra Leone, stakeholder involvement in the livestock business has compromised dispute resolution, while in Guinea, informal institutions are overburdened and under-resourced. In both countries, transboundary livestock movement and fragmented coordination aggravate localised conflict. Findings indicate that conflict arises less from ethnic divisions than from ineffective governance structures that fail to regulate resource use. By combining political ecology and the regional environmental security framework, the paper situates micro-level conflict within broader regional environmental governance and security failures. The study offers policy-relevant insights into how regional cooperation, land-use management reforms, and inclusive resource governance can mitigate tensions and support long-term security and sustainable development.</p>