The Department of Sociology and Social Work and the Historical Ties and Multiple and Recurring Climate-Induced Displacements Study (Histo-MultiClimDis Study) team organised a Socio-Histo MultiClimDis Symposium on 17th January 2024 on the theme “Post COP28, an integrated and interdisciplinary response to Climate Migration or Immobility and Social determinants of Health in Ghana.”
The symposium is geared towards interrogating the contemporary phenomenon of multiple and recurrent climate-induced migration and immobilities and the differential responses affected individuals employ in ensuring resilience, subjective well-being and quality of health while returning to their historical origins or villages with the Bagre Dam spillage in focus. The symposium brought scholars from histo-medical schools of thought, socio-medical theorists and climate health intersectionality scientists to explore how these phenomena shape and are shaped by Ghana’s social determinants of health.
In his presentation, Prof. Samuel Adu Gyamfi from the Department of History intimated that understanding human movement due to climate change is critical. “Climate migration occurs due to climate-related disasters, which have persisted over the years. A challenge arises when a group of people live in a location for so many years and are forced to move to another location due to climate disaster; this can have a lasting impact on them.” Prof. Gyamfi mentioned that immigrants ask two (2) essential questions: uncertainty, whether the new location will provide a better option than where they find themselves, and the nature of the politics within that domain. He asserted that climate migration holds much significance, and within the situation’s complexity lies human resilience to make things better.
Speaking on transdisciplinary research in climate migration: a socio-medical perspective to examining climate immobility, Prof. Jonathan Mensah Dapaah from the Department of Sociology and Social Work stated that climate change can induce movement of people from their local communities to areas they think are safe, which is termed as mobility and when people choose not to move but continue to live in the area where the disaster took place is termed immobility. He said the solution to climate change mobility or immobility is formulating social protection policies by government and local authorities, which care for the vulnerable during environmental disasters. He added that people are unwilling to move because they don’t have anywhere to go.
Dr. Dr. Seth Christopher Yaw Appiah, Principal Investigator for the Histo-MultiClimDis Study and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, revealed that the change in climate conditions has led to increasing volumes of water in the Bagre dam, which causes constant spillages. He said climate-induced displacement denies people the right to decent lives and causes mental distress and health issues. Speaking on the way forward, he said the country needs to take a holistic approach to addressing the issue and be pragmatic.
During the panel discussion, the speakers delved into a deeper conversation on climate change and its significance. The question of why people remain in affected communities after disasters was asked, and Prof. Dapaah indicated that their attachment to that specific place is a significant factor. He said people build culture, values and belief systems over the years.
