Kees van der Geest
United Nations University
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Publication
Featured researches published by Kees van der Geest.
International Journal of Global Warming | 2013
Koko Warner; Kees van der Geest
Loss and damage is already a significant consequence of inadequate ability to adapt to changes in climate patterns. This paper reports on the first ever multi-country, evidence-based study on loss and damage from the perspective of affected people in least developed and other vulnerable countries. Researchers in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Kenya, Micronesia, Mozambique and Nepal conducted household surveys (n=3,269) and more than a hundred focus group discussions and open interviews about loss and damage. The research reveals four loss and damage pathways. Residual impacts of climate stressors occur when: 1) existing coping/adaptation to biophysical impact is not enough; 2) measures have costs (including non-economic) that cannot be regained; 3) despite short-term merits, measures have negative effects in the longer term; or 4) no measures are adopted - or possible - at all.
Environment and Urbanization | 2010
Kees van der Geest; Anton Vrieling; Ton Dietz
Migration—environment linkages are at the centre of media attention because of public concern about climate change and a perceived “flooding” of migrants from less developed countries into more affluent parts of the world. In the past few years, a substantial body of conceptual literature about environmentally induced migration has evolved, but there is still a paucity of empirical work in this area. Moreover, the environmental causes of migration have been studied largely in isolation of the environmental consequences. In this paper we present an analysis of migration and vegetation dynamics for one country (Ghana) to assess four migration—environment linkages. On the one hand, we look at two environmental drivers of migration: environmental push and pull. On the other hand, we look at the environmental impact of migration on source and destination areas. Census data at the district level (N=110) are used to map domestic migration flows in Ghana, which are then related to vegetation dynamics retrieved from a remotely sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset (1981— 2006). The analysis shows that at the national level, there are significant but weak correlations between migration and vegetation cover and trends therein. Districts with a migration deficit (more out-migration than in-migration) tend to be more sparsely vegetated and have experienced a more positive NDVI trend over the past quarter century than districts with a migration surplus. A disaggregation of data in three principle migration systems shows stronger correlations. Namely that north—south migration and cocoa frontier settlement have important environmental dimensions, but environmental factors do not seem to play a major role in migration to the capital, Accra. An important insight from this paper is that migration flows in Ghana can be explained partly by vegetation dynamics but are also strongly related to rural population densities. This is because access to natural resources is often more important than the scarcity or abundance of natural resources per se. This study further shows that satellite remote sensing can provide valuable input to analyses of migration—environment linkages.
The impact of climate change on drylands, with a focus on West Africa | 2004
Kees van der Geest; Ton Dietz
While focusing on recent scientific literature about the Sahel, we present an overview of conceptual advances in understanding risk and vulnerability in dryland societies. The unreliability of rainfall and the seasonality of rainfall, agricultural activities and economic and social life as a whole have created the necessity to cope with vulnerability and stress. A central concept to understanding vulnerability is entitlement, but this is combined with insights from the empowerment approach, the political ecology approach, human ecology and political economy, creating a ‘causal structure of vulnerability’. However, people’s responses can be very different, based on different sensitivity and resilience. Incorporating concepts like insurance strategies, coping strategies and adaptation, a conceptual framework of farm household vulnerability is presented which can be used as a tool to study dryland societies like the ones in West Africa. Those who wish to predict climate change can learn from recent experiences in the region during adverse years, which experiences were the basis for most of the studies reviewed in this chapter.
Migration for Development | 2016
Tamer Afifi; Andrea Milan; Benjamin Etzold; Benjamin Schraven; Christina Rademacher-Schulz; Patrick Sakdapolrak; Alexander Reif; Kees van der Geest; Koko Warner
This article analyses the dynamics between rainfall variability, food insecurity and human mobility in eight case studies, namely Ghana, Tanzania, Guatemala, Peru, Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Vietnam. It covers a large spectrum of rainfall-related climatic events, including floods, drought, seasonal shifts and dry spells, and their impact on food insecurity and in turn on human mobility in approximately 1300 households in the eight case studies. It also summarizes the outcomes of focus group discussions and participatory research approach sessions held with communities in the villages that are affected by rainfall variability. The article compares the outcomes of the case studies and identifies the similarities and areas of overlap. It concludes that for some households – regardless of the case study – there is high potential for migration to be a successful adaptation strategy. Some other households rather find it hard to adapt to the situation in situ; among them, some cannot afford moving to other areas to improve their livelihoods and remain ‘trapped’ while others do move, but barely survive or are even subject to worse conditions. The article provides policy recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners that might be applicable for these, and also other countries exposed to the same climatic issues. Finally, the article provides an outlook with lessons learned for the benefit of future research.
Archive | 2004
Fred Zaal; Ton Dietz; Johan Brons; Kees van der Geest; Edward Ofori-Sarpong
In this chapter an attempt is made to find statistical relations between rainfall, yield levels and the drought index. For the whole of the study region, average yield data was compared with average annual rainfall as derived from Meteorological services databases. Data from all available rainfall stations within such a study region was included to generate this simple average rainfall figure. Two drought indices were added to the analysis. No clear relation could be determined.
American Journal of Evaluation | 2017
Nicky Pouw; Ton Dietz; Adame Belemvire; Dieneke de Groot; David Millar; Francis Obeng; Wouter Rijneveld; Kees van der Geest; Zjos Vlaminck; Fred Zaal
This article presents the principles and findings of developing a new participatory assessment of development (PADev) evaluation approach that was codesigned with Dutch nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and northern and southern research institutes over a period of 4 years in the context of rural development in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Although participatory approaches in development evaluations have become widely accepted since the 1990s, the PADev approach is different by taking the principles of holism and local knowledge as starting points for its methodological elaboration. The PADev approach is found to have an added value for assessing the differentiated effects of development interventions across different subgroups in a community through intersubjectivity. Moreover, if PADev is taken up by a multitude of stakeholders, including the intended beneficiaries of development interventions and development stakeholders, it can contribute to a process of local history writing, knowledge sharing, capacity development, and providing input into community action plans and the strategies of community-based organizations and NGOs.
Archive | 2018
Victoria van der Land; Clemens Romankiewicz; Kees van der Geest
West Africa is considered one of the world’s regions that is presumed to be highly affected by climate and environmental changes in the future (IPCC 2007). The majority of the rural population in the region depends on small-scale agriculture, crop production and livestock farming, and therefore on the natural environment. Environmental changes can thus constitute a severe threat to people’s livelihoods. Mobility in West Africa has a long tradition and the seasonality of rainfall influences the mobility patterns. Agricultural activities depend on only one rainy season in which the workload in agriculture is high. The seasonal movements of pastoralists with their animals to pasture grounds or the labour migration of farmers during the dry season are well-established patterns of migration (Davies 1996; Ellis 1998; Rain 1999). Main destinations are urban areas or more productive rural areas, either within the country or in neighbouring countries. The most established inter-regional mobility pattern in West Africa was and still is the North-South movement from the Sahelian landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to the coastal states, particularly to the economically strong Côte d’Ivoire. These patterns date back at least to the colonial area in the 19 century when plantation economies (e.g. cocoa, coffee, cotton, groundnut) attracted labour migrants from neighbouring countries and cities as Dakar, Abidjan, Lome and Accra benefited from investments for the export of goods to Europe (Hummel et al. 2012; Bakewell and de Haas 2007). Dryland West Africa has harsh environmental conditions and long established mobility patterns, but that does not necessarily mean that the two are related.
Land Restoration: Reclaiming Landscapes for a Sustainable Future | 2016
Kees van der Geest; Kees Burger; Augustine Yelfaanibe; Ton Dietz
LANDSAT images published by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) reveal large-scale land degradation in Ghana’s forest-savanna transition zone, most of which has allegedly occurred in a prime settlement area for migrant farmers from Northwest Ghana—the “usual suspects.” Several studies attribute environmental degradation in this region to the unsustainable farm practices of immigrants, most of whom belong to the Dagaba ethnic group. This section uses several lines of evidence at different scale levels to challenge these studies. First, UNEP’s LANDSAT images overstate the extent of the degradation. Second, most land degradation took place before the arrival of migrants from northwest Ghana. Third, previous studies blaming migrants for land degradation neglect key drivers of land cover change in the region. And fourth, primary data show that migrants’ farm practices are different, but not more degrading than those of native farmers.
Archive | 2014
Kees van der Geest; Koko Warner
‘Loss and Damage’ refers to the adverse effects of climate variability and climate change that occur despite efforts in global mitigation and local adaptation. This chapter reports on five case studies on loss and damage as a result of drought and floods in rural areas in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and The Gambia using a questionnaire survey (N = 1,973) and participatory research tools. The research goes beyond existing knowledge on adaptation and coping mechanisms by examining the limits, constraints and residual impact of household measures to cope and adapt. Only 28% of the households surveyed successfully avoided loss and damage from drought or floods but those that introduced agricultural adaptations, such as planting drought-resistant crop varieties, or diversified their livelihoods with non-farm activities were significantly more successful than others. Migration, on the other hand, was associated with the failure to avoid loss and damage. The chapter uses examples from five case studies and is structured around three ‘loss and damage pathways’ to illustrate the consequences of not being able to cope and adapt adequately. The findings presented here indicate that climaterelated losses and damage are already a reality in many rural African communities
International Migration | 2011
Kees van der Geest