Climate change, vulnerability and human mobility: perspectives of refugees from the east and Horn of Africa

  Available online: https://www.unhcr.org/protection/environment/4fe8538d9/climate-change-vulnerabil [...]

This study aims to understand the extent to which refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have perceived, experienced and responded to climatic variability and long-term negative climatic change in the east and Horn of Africa. The report is based on discussions with 150 IDPs and refugees from Ethiopia and Uganda, many of whom were farmers and pastoralists from Eritrea, Somalia and eastern Sudan. Key findings include: many of the refugees interviewed had perceived discernible shifts in weather in their home countries over the past 10 to 15 years; where movement away from homelands was taken in response to worsening impacts of climatic variability, such movement was only taken as a measure of last resort and only after all efforts to adapt to the changing conditions had been exhausted; cross-border movement, as a direct response to climatic variability, was rarely mentioned.

Language(s): English

Tags: Climate ; Climate change ; Social aspects ; Vulnerability ; Region I - Africa ; East Africa Add tag