Governing climate mobility in Africa: Explorations of adaptation in Ethiopia and Ghana

Breaking with the tendency for research, policy and practice to causally link mobility with climate change, the chapters in this edited volume use strong empirical evidence to argue first that the impact of climate change on local livelihoods may be a central, but rarely the sole, driving factor for mobility or immobility outcomes; second, that local institutions, perceptions and discourses play significant roles in shaping the agency of households and individuals; and, third, that mobility has long used as a strategy to get a share in development. Thus, mobility should be understood as an asset as much as a problem and planned for accordingly. The argument builds on analyses of two African countries, Ethiopia and Ghana, where environmental degradation directly is affecting livelihoods and mobility is high, but where the governance context varies considerably, be it in the politics of each state’s formation and democratic condition, the roles of local government and the policies they implement, the roles of informal institutions and traditional authorities, or their strategies for development. The different national contexts make it possible to identify configurations across different localities and thereby to identify broader tendencies relevant to climate mobility on a wider scale.