Migration and Environmental Change in Morocco : In Search for Linkages Between Migration Aspirations and Perceived Environmental Changes

This open access book studies the migration aspirations and trajectories of people living in two regions in Morocco that are highly affected by environmental change or emigration, namely Tangier and Tinghir, as well as the migration trajectories of immigrants coming from these regions currently living in Belgium. This book departs from the development of a new theoretical framework on the relationship between environmental changes and migration that can be applied to the Moroccan case. Qualitative research conducted in both countries demonstrate how the interplay between migration and environmental factors is not as straightforward as it seems, due to its wider social, political, economic, demographic and environmental context. Findings show how existing cultures of migration, remittances, views on nature and discourses on climate change create distinct abilities, capacities and aspirations to migrate due to environmental changes. The results illustrate how migration and environmental factors evolve gradually and mutually influence each other. In doing so, this book offers new insights in the ways migration can be seen as an adaptation strategy to deal with environmental change in Morocco.

Dr. Lore Van Praag (BA, MA, PhD Sociology Ghent University) is the head of the Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies (CeMIS) at the University of Antwerp. Her past research project focused on gendered community effects on mental health outcomes and interethnic relations in schools, processes of tracking/streaming, discrimination, educational achievement, social support, early school leaving, educational policies, primary and secondary education, grounded theory and ethnography (Ghent University, Belgium). She taught the courses ‘Introduction in Sociology’ (Bachelor course) and ‘Sociology of Education’ (Master course) (Ghent University, 2014) and is now currently teaching ‘Introduction in Anthropology’, ‘Interdisciplinary perspectives on migration and integration’ (bachelor courses, University of Antwerp, 2018- ongoing). She has gained a lot of research expertise in coordinating research projects, such as the Validiv project on multilingualism in primary schoolsin Flanders (SBO project) and the RESL.Eu on Early School Leavers in Europe (FP7). She is part of the BELSPO funded MIGRADAPT project on migration aspirations and climate change in Morocco, the H2020 MICADO project on newcomer integration across Europe, the H2020 PERCEPTIONS project on the impact of novel technologies, social media, and perceptions in countries abroad on migration flows and the security of the EU. Within these projects, her research expertise is mainly in the coordination of mixed methods or qualitative research methods of these projects, the conducting of literature reviews, policy overviews and fieldwork as well as the dissemination of the results. She published international and national articles in peer-reviewed journals and books.

Loubna Ou-Salah (MA, Sociology, University of Antwerp) is a PhD student at the Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies and Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change at the University of Antwerp. In her doctoral research, she is currently working on a comparative qualitative study in Belgium where the focus is mainly on the migration narratives and experiences of first generation migrants from Democratic Republic of the Congo, Morocco, Syria and Somalia living in Belgium. Thereby, she aims to investigate how they themselves see the link with environmental changes in their own migration decisions, and thus whether migrants perceive environmental changes as a crucial factor when making their own migration decisions.

Elodie Hut (MA, Humanitarian Action and Law; Political Sciences, Aix-en-Provence) is a PhD candidate at the Hugo Observatory at the University of Liège. Her thesis – conducted in the framework of the H2020 project MAGYC – investigates the perceptions of Brussels-based Italian, Greek and Turkish migrants regarding the migration situation in their country of origin. Before embarking on her PhD, she worked as a research assistant at the Hugo Observatory for the Belspo project MIGRADAPT and conducted research on the perceptions and transnational practices of Moroccan and Congolese migrants in Belgium with regards to adaptation to environmental change. Elodie also worked at the UNHCR and the IOM as well as in a disaster risk reduction consultancy firm in South Africa, and for GIZ in Senegal. She is the co-editor of the annual volume ‘The State of Environmental Migration’ published annually by the Presses Universitaires de Liège.

Dr. Caroline Zickgraf holds an MPhil in History (Leiden University) and a PhD in Political and Social Sciences (University of Liège). She co-founded and acts as Deputy Director of the Hugo Observatory: Environment, Migration, Politics in the Department of Geography at the University of Liège. Dr. Zickgraf’s main areas of research are the migratory impacts of climate change on coastal populations, transnationalism and transnational families, and (im)mobility, primarily in West Africa, but alsoin Comoros, Viet Nam, and Morocco. In addition to her research, she teaches environment and migration and environmental politics at University of Liège, IHECS, and Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA). In addition to her teaching and research, Dr. Zickgraf has consulted for the World Bank, the Nansen Initiative, the Green European Foundation (GEF), the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), UN Environment, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the links between climate change and migration.