Exploring the relationship between Climate Change and Human Migration in Africa

A study by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre indicated that climate change disasters displaced over 20 million people worldwide in 2008 (Kolmannskog, 2009). Africa is widely recognized as one of the continents most vulnerable to climate change impacts.According to the United Nations, Africa is already experiencing temperature increases of approximately 0.7 degrees Celsius over much of the continent and predictions indicate that temperatures will continue to rise further (United Nations, 2006). It is estimated that by the year 2025, 230 million Africans will be facing water scarcity, and 460 million will live in water-stressed countries (United Nations, 2008). In 2015, the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change recognized that climate change over the 21st century is projected to increase the displacement of people.While it is clear that humans are currently being displaced by sporadic climate change events and natural disasters, is there a relationship between climate change indicators and current human migration patterns? The purpose of this project is to examine the relationship between climate change and migration in African countries, using temperature and precipitation as the climate change indicators. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between climate change
factors and human migration in the continent of Africa in the context of two climate change variables: temperature and precipitation. This research and analysis was designed
to answer the following questions: 1) Is the rate of change in temperature correlated to the rate of change in human migration?
2) Is the rate of change in precipitation correlated to the rate of change in human
migration?