How Can Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Optimize Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change-Induced Migration?
Main Article Content
Abstract
Climate change is a significant driver of migration, displacing populations in vulnerable regions. The need for effective adaptation and mitigation strategies is urgent, but existing studies often focus on isolated strategies or criteria, overlooking the interactions between them. This research provides a holistic evaluation of seven key strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate migration: Diversification of Livelihoods, Sustainable Agriculture, Water Resource Management, Inclusive Urban Planning, Reception Capacities, Climate Forecasting and Early Warning Systems, and Climate Risk Insurance. These strategies are assessed based on five criteria: Capacity to Reduce Migration Impacts and Strengthen Resilience, Long-Term Viability, Inclusivity and Social Equity, Resource Efficiency, and Synergy with Other Initiatives, using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), particularly the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).
This study’s originality lies in its multi-dimensional approach, examining not only individual strategies but their broader interactions. Research questions include: (1) which criteria are most and least important for evaluating adaptation strategies, and (2) which strategies are most effective in addressing climate migration in vulnerable regions. Findings show that reducing migration impacts (C1) holds the highest weight (30%), followed by long-term viability (C2) with 25%. Inclusivity and social equity (C3) receive 20%, and resource efficiency (C4) is assigned 15%, while synergy with other initiatives (C5) ranks lowest (10%). Strategies like sustainable agriculture and water resource management are most effective in addressing migration’s root causes. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers but acknowledges limitations such as data availability and regional variability. Future research could refine these findings through regional case studies.
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
All authors submitting manuscripts to the African Cities Journal agree to the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. Under this license, authors retain the copyright to their manuscripts while granting the Journal the right to publish and distribute the work under the terms of the CC BY-SA license. Other persons, including the authors, are free to share the manuscript on the medium of their choice. In the event of sharing a modified version of the manuscript, it is imperative to clearly indicate the parts where modifications have been made.
Any derivative or adaptation of the work must be distributed under the same license conditions (CC BY-SA), to ensure that subsequent works retain the same level of openness and accessibility. This ensures that the work remains freely accessible and retains the same licensing conditions, thus promoting the principles of knowledge sharing and collaboration within the scientific community while safeguarding the rights and interests of the original authors.
Regarding the reproduction and downloading of manuscripts in personal or institutional repositories, authors are generally authorized to archive preprints (version of the manuscript prior to peer review) or postprints (version reviewed and accepted for publication) in these repositories. In particular, authors can reproduce their postprints in their thesis (as a chapter). However, it is essential to respect the terms of the CC BY-SA license and duly cite the original version published in our journal.
For manuscripts that have been accepted for peer review but have not yet been published in the African Cities Journal at the time of thesis submission, authors should mention that the chapter is the preprint version of a manuscript under review in the Journal. Consequently, authors retain copyright on their thesis chapters while granting the journal the right to publish and distribute the work under the CC BY-SA license.