Dakar has lost its lungs: Climate (im)mobilities and socio-spatial inequalities in Senegal

Keywords: Climate migration, mobilities, Senegal, Waste, climate justice, mobility justice
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 38

Abstract

Described by Senegalese scholar Felwine Sarr as a city that has ‘lost its lungs’, Dakar is significantly affected by the climate crisis. In particular, coastal erosion driven by rising sea levels and rapid urbanisation. Rural migrants from Senegal’s internal regions migrate to Dakar to work in the fishing industry during the rainy season to finance agricultural activities. Once seasonal, these historical mobility patterns are shifting through the combined impacts of the climate crisis and socio-economic structural factors destroying agricultural livelihoods. Concomitantly, the local fishing industry is itself impacted by urbanisation and the rural exodus, which exacerbates waste problems, as well as the climate crisis. Here, the mingling of multi-scalar socio-political and environmental abandonments that create a hostile environment are evident. This, together with limited channels for regular migration, compels some to undertake the perilous boat journey across the Atlantic to Europe. Drawing on Mbembe’s concept of the universal right to breathe, focus is placed on the complex interconnected climate mobilities in Dakar. The paper then evidences the intertwined strands that underpin the unequal impacts of the climate crisis: the right to mobility, the right to live in a healthy environment, and the unequal access to such rights across the globe.