Historical case studies of famines and migrations in the West African Sahel and their possible relevance now and in the future

Grolle, John

doi:10.1007/s11111-015-0237-4

Cited by 28 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The empirical evidence in the reviewed studies also shows the differentiated influence of environmental stress on types of migration response (Findley 1994;Henry, Schoumaker, and Beauchemin 2004). There is evidence that international migration, which is more costly, declines during drought ) whilst short-term internal migration increases (Findley 1994;Grolle 2015;Henry, Schoumaker, and Beauchemin 2004). Likewise, a similar environmental pressure can have differential impacts on other types of migration.…”

Section: Sensitivity Of Livelihoods Matters When Applying Migration Amentioning

confidence: 93%

Migration influenced by environmental change in Africa: A systematic review of empirical evidence

Borderon¹,

Sakdapolrak²,

Muttarak³

et al. 2019

DemRes

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND Despite an increase in scholarly and policy interest regarding the impacts of environmental change on migration, empirical knowledge in the field remains varied, patchy, and limited. Generalised discourse on environmental migration frequently oversimplifies the complex channels through which environmental change influences the migration process. OBJECTIVE This paper aims to systematise the existing empirical evidence on migration influenced by environmental change with a focus on Africa, the continent most vulnerable to climate change. METHODS

show abstract

Section: Sensitivity Of Livelihoods Matters When Applying Migration Amentioning

confidence: 93%

Migration influenced by environmental change in Africa: A systematic review of empirical evidence

Borderon¹,

Sakdapolrak²,

Muttarak³

et al. 2019

DemRes

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Urbanization can present an opportunity for rural populations to diversify their activities and sources of income, particularly during the dry season (woodcutting, market gardening, jobs in the city, etc. ), even if the sustainability of these activities remains questionable . Land grabbing is a threat posed by both the international and the domestic land market that can exacerbate the vulnerability of local communities.…”

Section: Contextual Factors Influence the Impacts Of Droughts And Peomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…), even if the sustainability of these activities remains questionable. 96,97 Land grabbing is a threat posed by both the international and the domestic land market that can exacerbate the vulnerability of local communities. In most parts of the Sahel, which are almost entirely highly dominated by small-scale family farming and where the social and political cost of expropriation can be very high, land acquisitions by foreign investors represent just a small part of land grabbing.…”

Section: Current Threats and Opportunities In Product Job And Land Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of drought and responses of rural populations in West Africa: a systematic review

Gautier

Denis

Locatelli

2016

WIREs Climate Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

International audienceIn West Africa, climate variations and droughts have always affected livelihoods but have also triggered adaptation strategies. A better understanding of the impacts of drought and the responses of West African populations is indispensable for researchers and decision makers in the current and future context of multiple socioeconomic and environmental changes, including climate change. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on drought in West Africa. In this paper, we highlight controversial issues and identify knowledge gaps. Although drought has been widely considered as a major problem in West Africa, there is a need to frame it within a set of multiple threats faced by local populations and to understand how droughts act as a trigger in economic, societal, and environmental contexts. The literature on responses to drought focuses on agricultural and individual responses, while diversification, migration, and tree-based or livestock-based responses are less frequently addressed. More research is needed on the effectiveness and on the unexpected effects of responses of populations, states, and NGOs, as well as on the interactions between different responses. To understand the complexity of impacts and responses, the context in which they occur and how individual and collective actions interact within households or communities needs to be taken into account. Ecosystems and agriculture offer many goods and services that are suitable for adaptation and the different landscape components should be analyzed together. Such historical, contextual, and integrated analyses would better inform new policies and projects for adaptation to climate change

show abstract

“…This reality is probably in part an outcome of academic specialisation and the subsequent siloed focus that hinder interdisciplinary study of any complex issue affecting humanity, not just famine and migration. On examining which of the reviewed articles/chapters contributed to each of the preceding observations, clear, if porous, fault lines begin to appear between works concerned with the demographics of famine–migration (Mohanty, 1992; Dyson, 1993; Whitcombe, 1993; Maharatna, 1994; Vallin et al, 2002; Anbinder and McCaffrey, 2015), those concentrating on the phenomenon's implications for livelihoods (Cutler, 1984; Pyle, 1992; Grolle, 2015), and those that address the political calculi vis‐à‐vis human mobility during food crises (Hill, 1991; Gewald, 2003; Hammond, 2011; Muscolino, 2011; Serels, 2012; Lust, 2015).…”

Section: What the Literature Saysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fleeing mass starvation: what we (do not) know about the famine–migration nexus

Sadliwala¹

2020

Disasters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The relationship between famine and migration has not been studied adequately to date. A systematic review of scholarship centred on famine and its demographic, political, and socioeconomic effects demonstrates the paucity of academic attention to the issue. This paper surveys the dominant hypotheses and findings regarding the connection between famine and migration. It delineates key questions that an interdisciplinary and case-based exploration of the subject should address, highlighting gaps in the literature with respect to population-level analyses. Primary observations about the literature reviewed include tenuous generalisations about the linkage between famine and migration and partial examination of the role of politics in enabling or prohibiting mobility during hunger-related crises. In addition, disciplinary silos influence which particular aspects of a famine are scrutinised and which are not appraised. In view of these concerns, international legal and humanitarian norms governing migration also need to pay closer attention to its association with famine.

show abstract

Historical case studies of famines and migrations in the West African Sahel and their possible relevance now and in the future

Cited by 28 publications

References 47 publications

Migration influenced by environmental change in Africa: A systematic review of empirical evidence

Migration influenced by environmental change in Africa: A systematic review of empirical evidence

Impacts of drought and responses of rural populations in West Africa: a systematic review

Fleeing mass starvation: what we (do not) know about the famine–migration nexus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About