climate change clocking

A touareg family stands near their family tent. Ten years ago, after loosing all their livestock due to a severe drought they decided to settle in Tudu (no man’s land in Hausa), an area in the outskirts of Agadez mainly occupied by Tuareg families who were forced to abandon the nomadic life after they have lost their livestock in drought or floods caused by climate change.

Here, Tuareg families try to make a living, men work as daily labourers and women weave carpets to sell at the nearest market. While the older generation refuses to adapt to sedentarization and dreams of returning to the desert, the younger generation wishes they could move to a brick house in town and mix with the rest of the population Niger is indeed one of the world’s most vulnerable countries because of its exposure to climate risks and its landlocked position.
Its vulnerability results in increasing desertification, drought and flooding. As only 15% of the land is arable, any additional expansion of the Sahara will be hugely detrimental to the country’s economy and to our livelihoods.