Deconstructing Existing Narratives: A Critical Reassessment of Climate-Driven Migration Dynamics in Africa and Namibia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/mig.22986.028Keywords:
climate migration, environmental mobility, Namibia, agency, resilienceAbstract
This paper critically examines dominant narratives of climate and environmental migration in Africa, focusing on Namibia. It highlights the limitations of international definitions, which often frame mobility through crisis and displacement, obscuring local agency and adaptive practices. Drawing on mixed-methods fieldwork (2017-2023) in northern and central Namibia, through interviews, observations, and policy analysis, the study reveals that migration is shaped by the intersection of environmental stressors with socio-economic inequality, gender dynamics, and cultural traditions. In Namibia, seasonal and adaptive mobility patterns challenge deterministic crisis models, instead reflecting community resilience and strategic planning. Literature and policy reviews further show that rigid terms like climate refugee risk oversimplifyng complex drivers of movement. The study calls for a reframing of climate migration as a context-specific, adaptive strategy, and urges inclusive policies that integrate local knowledge and address underlying structural vulnerabilities. Migration should be seen as part of resilience-building, not just emergency response.
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