‘These days, things have changed’: historicizing current dynamics of climate-related migration in the savannah zone of Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT While climate-related mobility has been part of life in Africa for centuries, existing literature on migration in the context of climate change generally lacks a historical perspective. This paper historicises climate-related migration in the Northern Savannah Zone of Ghana, with specific focus on the Upper West Region, drawing on climate data, a survey of 403 households, and interviews and focus group discussions with farmers. It demonstrates that migration and mobility in the region are rooted in historical patterns established and reinforced through colonial and post-colonial governance. These patterns reflect inequalities created by past and present development policies as well as environmental factors. While environmental change intensifies existing migration patterns, it is difficult to isolate these effects from the economic, social, and political factors which also contribute to migration flows in the Savannah zone. We therefore conclude that migration flows are co-constituted by past and present governance practices, disparities, development policies, and social transformation as well as environmental factors. Analysis and policy narratives that attribute recent migration flows to climate change only are simplistic and blur the effects of past and present structural inequalities and political engagement.