The effect of climate change on migration: A study of sub-saharan Africa

Climate, which is one of the basic factors for throughout life, has become one of the factors that threaten the world in the 21st century. Throughout history, people have lived their lives based on this phenomenon, but some developments in the globalizing world have led to uncontrolled warming of the weather and associated changes in the climate. The effects of climate change on the planet are visible in many different areas. Migration, a concept at least as old as climate change, has many causes and processes. Although recent studies have been conducted on the connection between these two life-determining factors, the lack of data on this topic is striking. For this reason, the study aims to draw a general framework between human-caused climate change and migration, provide a resource for future studies and contribute to this lack in the literature. Migration is an option as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of natural disasters and causes environmental degradation. The impact of climate change on underdeveloped and developing countries is clear, especially those whose economies depend on agriculture and animal husbandry. Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which covers a wide region, are quite fragile due to socio-economic and geographical conditions. The study selected ten countries as sources after providing general information about the region regarding the impact of climate change on migration. The frequent occurrence of drought and flood disasters in countries is one of the reasons for the preference. In the study, case study design, one of the qualitative analysis methods, was considered the most appropriate method and the main theme was supported by reports and documents. The study concluded that climate change cause movement, but effective steps should be taken in the legal, academic and policy fields to more clearly determine the relationship between these variables.