Disentangling the drivers of regional migration in West Africa: The impact of food (in)security on migration

Abstract:

Mobility is one of the oldest adaptation strategies to challenging climatic, socioeconomic and political conditions. Across West Africa, people have long been involved in local, regional and more distant forms of migration. Regional migration is widespread in the region and thought to be driven by a set of complex factors, including environmental ones, but remains poorly understood. In view of the pressures associated with global warming in West Africa, it is thus important to shed light on the links between environmental factors and migration in the region. Leveraging novel migration data, we conduct, what is to our knowledge, the first systematic quantitative study of the multiple drivers of regional migration within sub-Saharan Africa generally and West Africa specifically, focusing on environmental, economic and political variables. We then examine in more details the impact of food insecurity on migration. The adverse effects of environmental change and weather shocks on food security are well-known. Yet, research on its effects on migration is sparse and has generally relied on case studies. We use a mixed method design relying on quantitative analyses of potential connections between food insecurity and migration over many years and locations together with insights garnered from qualitative research to address this gap in the literature.