CLARS team member co-authors report that calls for Urgent Action on Africa’s Migration, Food, and Water Crises Amid Climate Threats

The CLARS Project team member Dr. Nidhi Nagabhatia has released a comprehensive new assessment with colleagues highlighting the urgent and complex challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa at the intersection of migration, food insecurity, and water scarcity. The report underscores the escalating impacts of climate change on agriculture, water systems, and livelihoods, calling for integrated, context-specific solutions to support vulnerable communities.

Sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly affected by climate-related stressors, including rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events. With over 95% of agriculture in the region dependent on rainfall, food production is becoming more unreliable, worsening hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Limited investment in agricultural resilience, averaging just 4% of national budgets, further weakens the region’s ability to adapt.

“This is not just a climate or migration crisis,” the report warns. “It is a convergence of risks, climate, social, and economic, that demand systemic and coordinated responses. “Communities are already making difficult decisions to cope with overlapping stressors,” said Nagabhatla. “What’s urgently needed is a policy environment that empowers people to adapt in place or migrate safely and with dignity when necessary.”

Migration, once a coping mechanism of last resort, is now increasingly common, although with varied impacts. In many regions, remittances sent by migrants are helping households meet food needs and invest in agriculture and education. However, out-migration also contributes to labor shortages and changing attitudes toward traditional farming practices, which can undermine local food production, as seen in several countries.

Water scarcity and competition over limited resources are fueling tensions, particularly where infrastructure is insufficient to manage either scarcity or excess. These pressures exacerbate vulnerability, especially in already fragile areas.

In response, the report proposes a two-pronged strategy:

1. Helping Communities Stay Where They Are

This approach includes scaling up climate-smart agriculture, expanding social safety nets, improving early warning systems, and investing in resilient infrastructure such as water storage and ecosystem restoration. These measures aim to stabilize communities and reduce the drivers of forced migration.

2. Supporting Migration as a Positive Choice

Recognizing that migration can be a powerful adaptive strategy, the report calls for safe and legal mobility pathways, job creation in rural areas, planned relocations for communities in uninhabitable areas, and support for displaced populations. It also emphasizes circular migration, enabling seasonal work and encouraging diaspora contributions to local development.

The report urges collaboration across regional institutions, including the African Union, ECOWAS, and international development partners, to implement coordinated, long-term responses. “Without inclusive and adaptive governance,” the report concludes, “Africa risks deepening cycles of displacement, hunger, and instability.”

This assessment offers a roadmap for decision-makers to address these converging crises, prioritizing resilience, equity, and opportunity in the face of climate uncertainty.

Access full report here