Heat, Hunger and War Force Africans Onto a ‘Road on Fire’

Climate change, fickle rainfall, and longer droughts are forcing hundreds of West Africans to migrate north to places like Algeria, Libya, and some into Europe.

“Climate change on its own doesn’t force people to move but it amplifies pre-existing vulnerabilities,” said Jane McAdam, an Australian law professor who studies the trend. They move when they can no longer imagine a future living off their land — or as she said, “when life becomes increasingly intolerable.”

A study, published in December by the International Monitoring Displacement Center, found that in 2015 alone, sudden-onset disaster displaced 1.1 million people in Africa from one part of their country to another.