Dealing with Drought: Water Politics, Human (Im)mobilities and Adaptation Strategies

Coline Garcia and Rachael Diniega, two PhD students from the Trans|Form working group, traveled to the University of Augsburg from April 28 to 29, 2023, to present at the conference “Dealing with Drought: Water Politics, Human (Im)mobilities and Adaptation Strategies.”

The international conference featured speakers from around the world, from Australia to Iran and the UK. The first day focused on water management and crises, and the following day dug deeper into the intricacies in the environmental change and im/mobility nexus.

Coline shared results from her dissertation fieldwork in Ethiopia last year; she explained different types and reasons for immobility in the face of drought and poverty. Rachael presented findings from research on social remittances, environmental change, and mobilities in Morocco. She framed how temporalities link to implementation of new agricultural practices, which can lead to long-term climate adaptation.

Other presentation spanned issues across the globe: the consequences of the disappearing Lake Urmia in Iran, long-term effects of women’s mobilities in drought-hit Ghana, and everyday rural mobilities in Chile.

Coline and Rachael were excited to meet other researchers in the environment-mobilities field and look forward to meeting many of the presenters again at the Environmental and Climate Mobilities Network meeting in July.

 

 

Group photo at the conference in Augsburg. Photo: © University of Augsburg

Exchange between the presentations. Photo: © University of Augsburg