Climate change is seen and perceived as one of the most pressing problems currently affecting African countries, including The Gambia (IPCC 2014, Leal Filho 2015). Changes in climate trends are already affecting livelihoods and food security in the Sahel and West Africa (Leal Filho 2019). According to evidence released by a joint study by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILLS), major investments in climate change adaptation are needed in order to reduce the risk of conflict on land and other natural resources. Innovative mapping process tools were used to identify 19 “climate hotspots” in Africa where climatic changes have been the most severe and which warrant focused adaptation planning and other follow-up activities. It indicates that climate change could potentially have profound implications for food security and regional stability, adding to the pressure on governments to design and implement sustainable land use and management policies and programmes.
Climate change is also known to have an impact on land use in West Africa, especially in The Gambia. In particular, the withering of pastures, has been leading to reduced livestock grazing areas and is one of the various causes of conflicts on the use of land. In some countries, the pressures posed by climate change have been methastasing into broader conflicts. This is not the case in The Gambia at present, but competition for scarce food and water resources often leads to conflict, as a result of which many people choose to migrate to large urban centres (Leal Filho, Balogun, Ayal 2018) in their countries, or go abroad. Because of low soil fertility on agricultural lands in Africa, climate-induced migration in the WASCAL region, be it internal (i.e. from rural areas to cities) or external (cross-border and international) can be attributed to two types of natural dangers: sudden-onset events, such as tropical storms or other natural disasters, and slow-onset emergencies, such as drought and erosion. These drivers are often interconnected, as climate change can increase the risk of some natural disasters. Extreme weather events are known to trigger large, immediate displacement, leaving agriculture lands unproductive. However, slower-onset emergencies are also growing more commonly and persistent, and are driving greater numbers of people to migrate (Piguet 2008). Poor land use and management is almost always a result of a complex mix of factors; people´s need to react.
To environmental changes on the one hand, and the lack of favourable governance and political frameworks on the other. The limited amount of interdisciplinary research in the field of land use and management means that some good opportunities to better understand the problem and its variables, and to seek long-lasting solutions for it, are being lost. Also, despite the relevance of climate change and the severity of its impacts, there is a paucity of studies which may foster a better understanding of the connections between climate change and land use and management in The Gambia on the one hand, and which may suggest plausible measures to address it, on the other.
The feasibility study will focus on deepening insights into current and future unregulated land use, especially towards large urban agglomerations and across the country. The study will also look at recommendations for further studies or projects which may guide future action.