Climate migrants in the Senegal River Delta: The case of Fulani pastoralists

Abstract

Within the various categories of migrants observed in the contemporary migratory landscape of Senegal, a particular type, little studied, is embedded, known as climate migrants. This article focuses on such migrants, taking the Senegal River Delta in the northwest of the country as the observation site, where agriculture, particularly extensive farming, fishing, and forestry, constitute the main economic activities. The analyses are developed based on ethnographic data collected between 2022 and 2023 as part of a doctoral research project. The results support the idea that climate change imposes impoverishing challenges on many pastoralists. To survive and potentially thrive within pastoralism, a significant portion, notably the Fulani, migrates within the country and abroad, particularly to Mauritania, where the Haalpulaar people form the second largest ethnic group, overrepresented on the Mauritanian right bank of the Senegal River.