Climate Change and the Degradation of Economic Opportunity in Rural Senegal

October 24, 2016

After sitting on a bus for 10 hours, balancing precariously on two charettes (small carts pulled by horses or donkeys), and squatting in a canoe across a seasonal river, I finally arrived at Dougi Dombi. The village was gorgeous at night, illuminated by the unobstructed glow of stars in the night sky. Surrounded by the Sahel’s stark beauty, I decided that my exhausting journey to Dougi Dombi was worth it.


Yet ironically, while I spent an entire day traveling to northern Senegal, young men throughout the region are doing everything they can to leave. Their desperation to find work pushes them to migrate to Dakar, Mauritania, Europe, or wherever they may be able to earn money. As soon as the sun rose in Dougi Dombi, I saw the effects of this mass exodus; practically all of the village’s 300 inhabitants are women and children. Most of the men have moved elsewhere, hoping to send remittances back home to support their families. This phenomenon is not unique to northern Senegal but rather constitutes a major social and demographic trend in rural communities all over West Africa. The absence of economic opportunity, and therefore of men, has become so widespread because of a universal problem: climate change.

Despite never having received any formal education about global warming, most of the villagers I spoke with recognized its legitimacy and cited extreme weather patterns as a cause of recent agricultural failures. After all, it’s hard to deny the existence of climate change when it’s a lived reality. Ever since the 1960s, Senegal’s precipitation levels have fluctuated widely from periods of severe, sustained drought to random torrential storms.

Given that I arrived in Dakar at the beginning of the “wet” season and it’s only rained a couple of times, it seems that Senegal is currently in the midst of a drought. However I’ve noticed since being here that when it rains, it pours violently, washing away topsoil and destroying crops. This unpredictable precipitation has rendered many agricultural efforts fruitless, which is extremely problematic for rural communities because they depend on agriculture for subsistence and income. With no way to make a living, young men are forced to leave their villages and search for employment in West African cities or Europe, the ultimate dream.

Every year, thousands of Senegalese youth decide to risk their lives and make the dangerous trek across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, although most fail and many die. Even if these migrants successfully reach Europe, they are uneducated, untrained, and unskilled labor. The common fantasy that Europe is a bottomless source of jobs and wealth does not match the harsh reality of unequal opportunity. Migrants often face discrimination and must compete amongst themselves for low-paying, laborious jobs. And as waves of refugees continue to flood Europe, xenophobia and nationalism rise steadily. Because hostility toward immigrants has induced European countries to tighten their borders, the plight of economic migrants has become even more difficult. If the flow of remittances were to falter, Senegal and other West African countries could be confronted with serious economic, political, and security challenges.

Senegal’s economy is dependent on remittances, which amounted to 950 billion CFA (about $1.6 billion) in 2015 and comprised more than 10 percent of GDP. A significant reduction in remittances would therefore shock the Senegalese economy, reduce household wealth, and lower consumer demand. Furthermore, unemployed and restless youth are a threat to both political stability and national security. Without any prospects for the future, Senegalese youth are frustrated with the government’s failure to create jobs and support them. This frustration has already fueled social tensions and could lead to civil unrest. Desperate Senegalese youth are also recruitment targets of terrorist groups in the region, such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram. By offering young men small incomes in the face of abject poverty, terrorist organizations are able to grow and expand their capabilities.

In order to avoid these challenges, people have called for the Senegalese government to reduce the country’s dependence on remittances by creating jobs, investing in small-scale farming, and funding vocational training programs for Senegalese youth. These initiatives would be incomplete, however, without addressing the heart of the problem. Economic opportunity in rural communities ultimately depends on an improved response to climate change and sustainable development efforts.
Opens in a new window