---

---

Africa: Climate Change is Going to Worsen Migration in the Continent

Majwala Meaud

12 November 2009

---

opinion

Today, we see the Karimojong moving and begging on the streets of Kampala. Ethiopians are scattered all over Africa. Many Africans are in camps because of famine, drought and floods. Environmentally induced factors have scattered migrants all over Africa and the world.

The new concepts of "environmental migration and environmental refugees" are confusing, but helpful in determining solutions. Human migration, forced or otherwise, will undoubtedly be one of the most significant consequences of environmental degradation and climate change in decades to come.

Experts argue that large numbers of people are already on the move, with millions more expected to follow as evidence of climate change mounts. With climate change, famine and food insecurity are with us because agriculture is threatened.

Climate change also accounts for air and water pollution that are negatively checking our life. Our health is deteriorating. Poverty amidst natural calamities like drought, floods and strange diseases have become common place.

However, we need to plan how to effectively deal with higher temperatures and shifting weather. Displaced people move into crowded cities and towns that today strain to provide jobs, housing and basic services and will themselves be under threat from the effects of climate change.

Climate change also affects parasites like tsetse flies, mosquitoes and parasitic diseases like malaria. Malaria is the single greatest killer of African children and imposes a $15b (sh30 trillion) annual drain on African economies through medical costs, deaths and lost productivity.

Now new evidence points towards climate and environmentally- induced migration becoming one of the major policy challenges of this century. Gradual processes of degradation and extreme environmental events can cause migration. Yet current policy responses tend to focus on the impact of sudden disasters rather than the consequences of longer-term environmental degradation. Moreover, increased migration in itself may contribute to further degradation and vulnerability.

Where is the challenge?

To date, the issue of environmentally induced migration has remained largely under the radar.

Environmental migrants are understood to be those individuals, communities and societies who choose, or are forced, to migrate as a result of damaging environmental and climatic factors. This group ranges from people forced to flee from disasters such as flooding. The group also includes impoverished farmers abandoning degraded land and migrating to urban centres in search for alternative livelihoods.

The key drivers - poverty, failing ecosystems, vulnerability to natural hazards and gradual climate driven environmental changes are all linked to environmental migration.

Is vulnerable Africa ready?

Adapting to climate change is no longer merely a policy option - it is now an imperative. The Innovations on Environmental Protection Assessment Report released unequivocal, says the changes we have already made to the composition of the atmosphere has escalated greenhouse gas emissions. The report says Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions because of its high dependence on rain-fed agriculture and limited financial and human capacity to adapt to these changes.

In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture provides food for roughly 90% of the population, generates about 30% of GDP, and provides some 75% of the poorest people with their livelihoods.

The report notes that surface water is relatively limited. Five major river basins- the Nile, the Congo, the Niger, the Chad and the Zambezi - are major surface water sources and sustain 45% of the continent's people. These basins are projected to be adversely affected by changes in rainfall.

The continents demand for humanitarian assistance, which is already considerable, is likely to grow in the coming decade and to see a major increase in our lifetime. The biggest single cause will be climate change and the increased incidence and severity of extreme weather events associated with it.

We are beginning to feel the effects. The number of recorded disasters has doubled from approximately 200 to over 420 per year over the past two decades. Nine out of every 10 disasters are now climate-related.

In an era defined by a changing climate and the menace of conflict in Africa, no single government or humanitarian agency can cover all humanitarian needs. We can only tackle the climate change challenge by working together as a continent. Only then can we further our ability to alleviate suffering, and help to restore a measure of hope and humanity to a continent sorely in need of both.

Compounding to the challenges of climate change are the recent dramatic trends in soaring food and fuel prices, which are poised to have a major impact on hunger and poverty across Africa. They are already having an impact on the cost of humanitarian operations.

We have to ask the question: are we prepared for the challenges of the century? We have the means to tackle these issues, if we have the will.

What we need to do above all is to start investing in concrete, practical risk-reduction measures that can help save lives and livelihoods. It is going to take combined efforts to prepare for and mitigate climate effects.

The writer is a journalist and media consultant

Read comments. Write your own.

More News on allAfrica.com

Pope's Invitation to Anglicans: Merger, Coalition or Poisoned Chalice? As the leader of the ...	Rwandan Priest Cleared of Genocide Charges A UN court, the ICTR has acquitted a Catholic ...
Darusalam Played Jarrington in Knockout Finals DArusalam F.C on Saturday 14th played ...	Profit Takers Descend on Equities The strong rally witnessed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange ...
NOC Presidency - I Am Eligible to Contest, Ndanusa Declares Sports Minister and Chairman ...	'Stop Acquisition of Farmland in Continent' - Gaddafi Libyan President Colonel Muammar ...

---