Ayeb-Karlsson, Sonja;
Hayward, Gemma;
Kniveton, Dominic;
(2025)
‘We herders are often chased about by drought’:
A systems analysis of natural resource degradation within the climate-(im)mobility-violence-health nexus in Sahel.
Earth
, 6
(1)
, Article 11. 10.3390/earth6010011.
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Abstract
This study applies a systems analysis to further our understanding of the many pathways linking climate stress to human (im)mobility and interpersonal violence via natural resource stress within eight countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan) across the Sahel region. To illustrate the multiple pathways within the climate–(im)mobility–violence–health nexus, contextual and conceptual systems maps were drawn out based on secondary qualitative data from 24 peer-reviewed journal articles selected from a search result of 394 publications. Even though the geography, environment, socio-political context, traditions, and cultural history were highly diverse, the overarching factors that determined people’s (im)mobility and health outcomes, in association with natural resource stress and violence, were very similar. These vulnerability pathways included gendered immobility, interpersonal conflict, and lack of social protection, which provide important lessons and offer tangible opportunities for policy interventions. The vulnerability pathways often eroded access to natural resources and positive (im)mobility and (mental) health outcomes, which ended up entrapping people in extended cycles of violence and exploitation—especially certain intersectional positions and disadvantaged groups (whether within a household, society, or country).
Type: | Article |
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Title: | ‘We herders are often chased about by drought’: A systems analysis of natural resource degradation within the climate-(im)mobility-violence-health nexus in Sahel |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.3390/earth6010011 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/earth6010011 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Climate change; conflict; immobility; mental health; migration; natural resources; violence |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204041 |
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