The Senegal Migration Panel: Understanding Mobility in a Climate-Stressed Population

Background:

In the Sahel region 75% of the population depends on agricultural production (Monnier and Maiga 2022). The risk of extreme weather conditions and long-term climate change increases the necessity to think about adaptation strategies. Migration, internally as well as internationally, is an obvious strategy, as millions have already been displaced and many more may follow (IOM 2018). Despite the urgent need to understand these impacts, there is still a lack of robust empirical research at the household and individual levels to understand how and under what conditions climate change leads to migration (Bertoli et al. 2022; Cattaneo et al. 2019). Perhaps the most significant obstacle for scholars working on this causal relationship is the lack of comprehensive data, which would allow for long term pursuing of individuals and their decisions over time along with a sufficient variation in determinant factors. The Senegal Migration Panel (SMP) project aims to address this gap.

Main research question:

As part of the project, the University of Potsdam is investigating how social integration in local networks and communities affects migration as a response to climate change.

Research objective:

The goal of the project is to gain new scientific insights into the likelihood of migration as a consequence of climate change.