Exploring Sex-Based Decision-Making in the Climate-Mobility Nexus: A Case Study on the Somali Region, Ethiopia
Environmental degradation and climate change are increasingly impacting migration and displacement throughout the East and Horn of Africa (EHoA). As drivers of human mobility, climatic events and changes intersect with other types of drivers in the region, such as conflict, creating a complex mobility dynamic. For example, droughts, extreme heat, and floods may lead to bio-diversity loss, reduced food production, increased economic stress, resource scarcity, and intensified conflict
To better understand and address these issues, IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), in collaboration with UCL’s Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction and Snowflake, held a two-part hackathon in London on 6-7 October 2023, and in Nairobi on 23-26 October 2023. The hackathons presented a unique opportunity for IOM to enhance key technical processes related to data collation, compilation, and analysis, with direct implications for future use of IOM’s mobility data for climate mobility research. This event brought together youth voices, technical experts from diverse backgrounds, and human mobility data specialists to evaluate the intersection of climate change, disasters, environmental degradation, and human mobility in the East and Horn of Africa region.
As the winners of the London hackathon, DTM conducted an interview with Peniel Adanna Ibe, Giulia Brutti, Nowsha Farha, Chen Yunxi Wynsey, and Denisa Armeilia Tami to further explore their research idea, process, and the result of their work. Particularly, their research, which adopted a data-driven, mixed methods approach, sought to explore how a gendered perspective can help explain the nexus between climatic factors and migration decisions in Ethiopia. As stated in their work:
“Understanding sex differences vis-à-vis mobility related to climate change and decision-making processes can offer critical insights for developing effective, sex-sensitive interventions and policies. Research shows that the climate crisis disproportionately impacts women and girls due to myriad socioeconomic factors that are often unique to their respective contexts but result in similar negative impacts by extreme weather events caused by climate change (Goh, 2012). By further understanding the gendered nature of climate mobility, we can provide gender-sensitive and transformative support to climate migrants, which the UN estimates predicts will be predominantly women and girls (UN WOMEN, 2023). With Ethiopia experiencing significant climate stressors and migration patterns, exploring this nexus is particularly relevant and insightful.”
To find out more about their research, please refer to the interview linked below.
If you wish to further explore the nexus on climate mobility in the East and Horn of Africa please check out the report that was prepared by IOM in collaboration with Snowflake and the participants of the London and Nairobi hackathon: Bridging Climate Change and Human Mobility— Collective analysis for a deeper understanding of climate mobility in the East and Horn of Africa
Participating Students
Chen Yunxi Wynsey
BSc Global Health and Humanitarian Studies, University College London
Wynsey is a final-year student at UCL reading Politics and International Relations. Her academic interests are in using quantitative data analysis to improve public policy implementation.
Denisa Armeilia Tami
BSc Politics and International Relations, University College London
Denisa Armeilia Tami is a final-year BSc Global Humanitarian Studies student at the Institute of Risk and Disaster Reduction (IRDR) at University College London (UCL). Denisa is interested in diaspora-related issues and risk modelling.
Giulia Brutti
PhD Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London
Giulia is a PhD student in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering at UCL. Her research focuses on understanding the drivers of migration in communities affected by natural disasters, particularly floods and droughts.
Prior to her PhD, Giulia worked as a software developer and researcher at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & the Environment (LSE) on natural capital accounting for the Congo Basin Forest.
Nowsha Farh
PhD Education, University of Cambridge (MSc LSE- Social Research Methods; MSc UCL- Social Policy & Social Research)
Nowsha is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education with a methodological and policy research background from University College London (UCL) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
As the Head Director of Cambridge Development Initiative and an active member of the DEFI, CEDiR and the Centre for Climate Engagement, her research interests lay in effective utilisation of AI, Digital Ethics and Dialogic Cyber Wellness Intervention using Design-Based Research Implementation.
Peniel Adanna Ibe
MSc in Disaster Risk and Resilience, Univesity College London
Peniel Ibe is currently studying for an MSc in Risk, Disaster and Resilience at the Institute of Risk and Disaster Resilience (IRDR) at the University College London (UCL). Peniel has over 5 years of experience in immigration, climate, and economic justice policy advocacy campaigns at the U.S federal and international level.
She is particularly interested in how societies include the lived experience and expertise of vulnerable and marginalized communities in climate disaster mitigation and adaptation.