April 03, 2023

Stemming the tide on climate migration in Africa

topic:	Migration
editor:	Bob Koigi

As countries across the world continue to feel the debilitating impacts of climate change, new phenomena are emerging that are shaping human interactions and shifting global relations. From coastal areas to hinterlands, the effects of climate change have become more pronounced and are disrupting normal lives. 

Climate-induced migration is now a pervasive reality that is exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and increasing potential for conflict, fragility and poverty. Africa is one of the most hard-hit continents by these impacts, despite contributing less than 5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.  

Droughts, desertification, water scarcity, rising sea levels, deforestation and coastal erosion have wreaked havoc to a large part of the continent’s population. Notable climate-related phenomena that have shaped the face of the continent include the Mozambique cyclones that have claimed the lives of thousands, the near extinction of Lake Chad, the biting dry spell in the Sahel belt, and the worsening drought in the Horn of Africa that was exacerbated by one of the worst locust invasions in decades, which the UN linked to climate change. 

With little or no choice, and in a bid to survive, Africans are moving within and outside their countries. 

In Lake Chad, 5.3 million people - many of them farmers and fishermen - have been displaced from their areas by the vagaries of weather. The numbers are poised to grow if nothing is done: the World Bank estimates that there will be up to 86 million climate migrants within their own countries in Sub Saharan Africa by 2050. 

A large part of this number will consist of young people. About 375 million of them will live in rural areas within 15 years. As rural areas bear the biggest brunt of weather changes, the youth will be left without jobs and will have to move to urban centers, which are already faltering from the sharp increase in population. Optionless, the youth will be obligated to migrate in search for a chance at survival.

Investment in clean, green, climate-resilient and sustainable initiatives will go a long way in halting the impacts of climate change and turning the tide on migration. Community-led projects that bring everyone onboard by improving resilience while creating jobs have worked before and offer vital lessons. There is also a need to coordinate and exchange best practices in resilience and mitigation while understanding the connection between climate and migration. 

Photo by Randy Tarampi