Abou Sow

Abou Sow

Who are you?
Visually introduce yourself

Hello my name is Abou Sow, Geographer, I live in Sanar Peulh, Saint Louis.

What is climate change for you? How does it affect your life?

By definition, climate change is a lasting change in climate parameters due to the increase in greenhouse gasses. The latter leads to the destruction of the ozone layer, which causes radiation to penetrate the surface of the globe to an abnormal extent. To illustrate my point, I show you the following images that reflect the impacts of climate change in my area.

This phenomenon leads to the destruction of the barrier beach linked to marine submersion.

This is in the north-east of Senegal. Here, the reduction in rainfall has caused the Sahelian vegetation to retreat and increased wind erosion. This has caused loss of arable land, scarcity of pasture, desertification, migration of animal species, etc.

This photo in Guet-Ndar a shows the destruction of coastal habitats due to climate change. This causes material damage, loss of economic activities such as fishing (economic heart of the area), tourism, etc.

Please share pictures of places in your town/village that have changed in the last 10 years due to climate change

Good evening everyone, I hope you are well. Please receive my photos taken in my locality this evening. This is the village of Djougop Peulh, about ten kilometres from Saint Louis. Here, the climate crisis is constantly degrading the physical conditions of the environment. The images below show how this area is affected.

Here the vegetation cover is reducing due to lack of rain. This has led to the disappearance of certain plant species. Prosopis is now the most dominant species in this area.

Reduced rainfall together with increasing temperatures is causing loss of vegetation in low-lying areas, leading to arid surfaces and increased soil salinization. These low areas are recognisable by the presence of a plant species called tamarisk which has a strong capacity to withstand salt.

These last photos illustrate the salinization of agricultural land caused by the effects of climate change. Some of these lands have been abandoned because of the salt, and this has led to most of these farmers moving into other forms of employment.

How are you coping with the changes in the environment?

Hello to all of you, I hope you are well. And for this week’s question I offer you the two pictures below which indicate the adaptation strategies of the populations to the phenomenon of climate change in the Northern zone.

Here we have a dike being built at Gohou mbathie to slow down the effect of the waves. Basaltic rocks have been put in place and surrounded by wire mesh.

This is in the Senegal River delta, specifically the Diéri area, where people used to practise rain-fed agriculture. Owing to reduced rainfall due to climate change, farmers have developed a new strategy of irrigated agriculture. This is an irrigated pepper plot. This allows for cultivated areas to be extended, yield increased and also cultivation during all seasons.

What is mobility for you?

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing great. In response to the question, the concept of mobility in a simple way is the totality of movements of people recorded for more or less long durations and for various reasons. There are two types of human mobility: daily commuting and more longer term residential mobility. However, in relation to climate change, there is an increase in the density of human mobility over space because of its impact on people’s lives, as the photos show.

Mobility linked to daily travel has led to traffic congestion in Saint-Louis. This is accentuated by rural households negatively affected by the effects of climate change, who converge in the city to find work. The negative impacts of this are reduced working hours, reduced income for drivers especially taxis, and increased CO2 in the atmosphere.

If we go back a little in the history of Saint-Louis, the years of drought led to a massive rural exodus leading to unplanned occupation of the low areas of the city without connecting to the city’s sewerage system. This is the origin of the flooding in the peripheral districts of Saint-Louis. For example, in 2003, with the return of good rainfall, the Senegal River basin flooded. This resulted in the river overflowing into the flood-prone areas of the city.

Finally, human mobility linked to climate factors also concerns the youth in Senegal, who no longer have any hope in this country because of high youth unemployment linked to lack of policies to support young people and the weakness of their resilience to the effects of climate change. For this reason, some leave for western countries, hoping to find a better future and to improve their and their families’ living conditions.