diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1c506cf2e8..8e54dc1757 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -364,6 +364,7 @@ if test "x$enable_werror" = "xyes"; then
   AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-Werror=vla],[ERROR_CXXFLAGS="$ERROR_CXXFLAGS -Werror=vla"],,[[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
   AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-Werror=switch],[ERROR_CXXFLAGS="$ERROR_CXXFLAGS -Werror=switch"],,[[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
   AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-Werror=thread-safety],[ERROR_CXXFLAGS="$ERROR_CXXFLAGS -Werror=thread-safety"],,[[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
+  AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-Werror=unused-variable],[ERROR_CXXFLAGS="$ERROR_CXXFLAGS -Werror=unused-variable"],,[[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
 fi
 
 if test "x$CXXFLAGS_overridden" = "xno"; then
@@ -376,6 +377,7 @@ if test "x$CXXFLAGS_overridden" = "xno"; then
   AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-Wthread-safety],[WARN_CXXFLAGS="$WARN_CXXFLAGS -Wthread-safety"],,[[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
   AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-Wrange-loop-analysis],[WARN_CXXFLAGS="$WARN_CXXFLAGS -Wrange-loop-analysis"],,[[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
   AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-Wredundant-decls],[WARN_CXXFLAGS="$WARN_CXXFLAGS -Wredundant-decls"],,[[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
+  AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-Wunused-variable],[WARN_CXXFLAGS="$WARN_CXXFLAGS -Wunused-variable"],,[[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
 
   ## Some compilers (gcc) ignore unknown -Wno-* options, but warn about all
   ## unknown options if any other warning is produced. Test the -Wfoo case, and