Long Term Solutions to Cross-border Disaster Displacement: Lessons from West Africa

Abstract

West Africa is known across the world for its admirable adherence to its longheld principles of hospitality and inclusion. It is also a sub-region whose
population shares a deep common history, a fact that is ever more evident in the
on-going integration of the politics and communities of this highly mobile area.
States in the region have advanced measures for disaster risk management and
response, and are forward looking in terms of the implications of climate change.
Many relocation projects have already been developed and implemented in some
West African countries, generally within national borders, in response to
environmental disasters (e.g. contamination of the Niger River) or for economic
reasons (e.g. villages relocated in western Ghana to make way for mining
companies). Although fewer examples exist, some relocation projects specifically
concern persons vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.