Case Study Senegal: Environmental Degradation and Forced Migration
Senegal, a country affected by increasing environmental degradation and the effects of climate change, experiences strong rural–urban and international migration.
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Case Study Senegal: Environmental Degradation and Forced Migration Frauke Bleibaum
1 Introduction Senegal, a country affected by increasing environmental degradation and the effects of climate change, experiences strong rural–urban and international migration. Field research in Central and Northern regions of Senegal described in this chapter tackles the question of the linkage between environmental factors and migration. While more than half of the migrants interviewed had to leave their home villages due to environmental degradation and problems of survival, economic and political factors do play a role in the individual’s decision to migrate as well. The causes of migration identified are multiple: lack of rainfall, poor soil quality, lack of adequate agricultural policies, lack of public infrastructure in rural regions, etc. While the regions most touched by drought (Peanut Basin, stretches of the Northern Senegal River Valley) only experience out-migration, regions where irrigated agriculture can be practiced also experience immigration from other rural and urban regions. Proposals to alleviate the situation of (forced) migration include the following: adequate agricultural policies including the development of food transformation and commercialisation infrastructure, measures protecting natural resources, policies protecting land and water user rights, regional economic integration, and fair trade and agricultural policies of the countries of the North.
2 Context Information The research reported here was conducted between January and the beginning of March 2008 in Dakar, the regional capitals Kaolack and St. Louis, and the rural communities of Ndienne Lagane, Dya, and Ross Mbethio. The research was based on expert interviews conducted with representatives and employees of state institutions, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), university F. Bleibaum (*) University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany e-mail: [email protected] T. Afifi, J. Ja¨ger (eds.), Environment, Forced Migration and Social Vulnerability, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-12416-7_14, Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
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researchers, and international organisations, as well as on (semi-)structured interviews conducted with inhabitants of rural communities (RC) and the regional capitals. The aim of this research is to investigate the reasons which make inhabitants of rural regions migrate, either to the cities or to other countries. It was assumed at the outset that some of these reasons would be environmental, such as soil degradation and shortage of rainfall. The research supplies evidence for this assumption, but environmental degradation should not be regarded as the only factor making people migrate. State agricultural policies, economic conditions within the country, and changing cultural patterns also play a significant role in explaining migration of Senegalese people. Senegal is situated in a semi-arid region where water is a scarce resource, and, as a consequence of climate change, a further decrease in r
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