Comparing climate change perceptions and meteorological data in rural West Africa to improve the understanding of household decisions to migrate
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Comparing climate change perceptions and meteorological data in rural West Africa to improve the understanding of household decisions to migrate. / De Longueville, Florence; Ozer, Pierre; Gemenne, François; Henry, Sabine; Mertz, Ole; Nielsen, Jonas.
In: Climatic Change, Vol. 160, 2020, p. 123–141.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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T1 - Comparing climate change perceptions and meteorological data in rural West Africa to improve the understanding of household decisions to migrate
AU - De Longueville, Florence
AU - Ozer, Pierre
AU - Gemenne, François
AU - Henry, Sabine
AU - Mertz, Ole
AU - Nielsen, Jonas
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Largely dependent on rain-fed agriculture, the West African populations could be severely impacted by climate change and variability. In this paper, we performed a literature review relating to perceptions of climate change and variability in West Africa, followed by an in-depth comparison between perceptions by rural dwellers of Burkina Faso and trends in meteorological data to discuss the importance of perceptions vis-à-vis climate trends in migration decision. Results showed that respondents perceived increasing temperature and worsening rainfall conditions over 1988–2007 matching with findings of previous studies but inconsistent with the trends observed in rainfall data. Given that climate change is recognized as a key driver of mobility on the one hand and the fact that climate change perceptions influence decision to migrate on the other hand, our results suggest to jointly include perceptions and climate data in future research on environmental migration in order to improve the understanding of household’s decision in response to climate change.
AB - Largely dependent on rain-fed agriculture, the West African populations could be severely impacted by climate change and variability. In this paper, we performed a literature review relating to perceptions of climate change and variability in West Africa, followed by an in-depth comparison between perceptions by rural dwellers of Burkina Faso and trends in meteorological data to discuss the importance of perceptions vis-à-vis climate trends in migration decision. Results showed that respondents perceived increasing temperature and worsening rainfall conditions over 1988–2007 matching with findings of previous studies but inconsistent with the trends observed in rainfall data. Given that climate change is recognized as a key driver of mobility on the one hand and the fact that climate change perceptions influence decision to migrate on the other hand, our results suggest to jointly include perceptions and climate data in future research on environmental migration in order to improve the understanding of household’s decision in response to climate change.
KW - Adaptation
KW - Burkina Faso
KW - Climate change
KW - Migration
KW - Perception
U2 - 10.1007/s10584-020-02704-7
DO - 10.1007/s10584-020-02704-7
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85083847542
VL - 160
SP - 123
EP - 141
JO - Climatic Change
JF - Climatic Change
SN - 0165-0009
ER -
ID: 241820160