event 19 Aug 2022

Publication // National Study on the nexus between migration, environment and climate change in Niger.

This baseline study aims to generate empirical data that will contribute to strengthening the knowledge and capacity of governmental and non-governmental actors to better manage issues related to the MECC nexus and, above all, to enable public authorities to adopt specific measures to provide adequate solutions to these communities and strengthen their resilience.

Niamey

This study was carried out by: Prof. Mamadou Dimé, professor-researcher in sociology at the Gaston Berger University of Saint-Louis (Senegal) as an international consultant and Mr. M. Abdoulaye Nakoari Tambandia as national consultant.

Key messages from Executive Summary

As in other West African countries, migration has been at the centre of household and community coping strategies in Niger in the face of environmental shocks such as droughts, land degradation, floods, locust invasions and desertification. It has also been adopted to mitigate the disastrous effects of socio[1]economic and security shocks. In a context of climate change, it is therefore legitimate to ask whether this role has increased in the face of increasing climate risks. It is also important to analyze how it is possible to make people’s activities levers for strengthening the resilience of ecosystems and production activities to climatic and environmental hazards.

The study points to the continuum of vulnerabilities that internal migrants face in Niamey as a result of their settlement in sites that are highly exposed to risks related to environmental degradation and climate change. It is therefore not surprising that they pay a high price for disasters such as floods, the recurrence of which is seen as emblematic of climate change.

The study identified actions that could serve as receptacles for future interventions to support the resilience dynamics of Niger’s populations. Despite the scale and intensity of the constraints, the Nigerien people have shown remarkable dignity and resilience. They have accumulated know-how and local processes to survive in a hostile environment, especially because of its aridity. These are valuable elements for providing appropriate support to rural populations in particular, who have developed what could be called a «culture of resilience».

It is therefore necessary to start from the needs of the populations, their own initiatives but also their capacities for action in order to define the means and interventions likely to contribute to strengthening their resilience in the face of climate change and environmental degradation. It is also essential to promote a gender-based approach in order to identify the most relevant actions for women, young people and other vulnerable groups, while linking them to their socio-economic roles and productive activities and directing them towards the removal of barriers to their social and economic participation.

Published

May 2022

By

IOM UN Migration

Download

National Study on the nexus between migration, environment and climate change in Niger.

Also available in French.

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