Chapter 5 - Climate change
5.1 Climate change meaning
The term climate change is one that responders frequently do not have in their vocabulary.
What is evident is that climate change is not viewed as a priority in the lives of immigrant women in Morocco. It usually provides an indirect cause of migration which lead to a barely perceptible effect. There are several explanations why climate change is not recognized as an influencing factor in migration, and awareness of the phenomenon is one of them. When asked about the meaning of climate change, the respondents (26,09%) tended to believe that climate change is a regional or/and seasonal weather variation. The criteria used to identify climate change was the perceived weather difference between Morocco and their country of origin or the meteorological change between the tropical seasons - rainy and dry seasons – and the four seasons – spring, summer, autumn, and winter:
“Climate change is the season of summer, winter, spring, and autumn. In our region, there are rainy and dry seasons. It is since I came here to Morocco that I discovered the cold. It is the first time I wear socks and gloves and do hot showers.” (Cameroonian, 9th interviewee)
“Each country experience climate changes every time the season change.” (Guinean, 22nd interviewee)
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“According to my experience, I perceived a temperature change coming to Laayoune because it is always too hot. During the night, my daughter cannot sleep because of the heat, and I wake up constantly”. (Guinean, 20th interviewee)
Other participants relate this definition of climate change with practical effects. One respondent (Cameroonian, 11th interviewee) noted weather patterns according to the seasonal agricultural production:
“People in my town know that during dry seasons they cannot grow corn because it is very difficult with droughts, but there is a specific period where you can plant the seeds, and if you miss it, it is over.”
Another Cameroonian woman has heard that climate change influences her health condition, but she does not understand the meaning:
“I don’t know. The woman working here (at the NGO) told me that sometimes I feel sick due to the change of weather. But, you know, there is a difference between someone that studies and someone that doesn’t”. (Cameroonian, 7th interviewee)
Education is an element that influences the understanding of specific themes in the life of migrant women, as observed in this quote. Looking at the sample of the women interviewed, five out of 23 did not attend any education, while 14 did and four did not answer. Of the 14 women that did attend school, three finished universities, 8 attended high school, one middle school, and two primary schools (see table 1, pp 8-9). Not all women got degrees at the various educational levels, aside from the university level.
Some of them did attend but just for one or two years. There is no significant link between education and their climate change definition nor with the age of the participants. It is noteworthy that most of them received an education, which suggests that the population migrating is not the most uneducated. According to a woman from Guinea (8th interviewee), school allowed her to talk about climate change:
“Normally, you can listen to it when we refer to external events such as the fire in the Brazilian Amazon Forest, and we discuss it at school, but we don’t often talk about this concept.”
25 Here, a second definition is brought up: climate change as environmental deterioration, global warming, natural disasters, and a shortage of natural resources covered by 13,04%
of participants. As observed in the latter quote, it is not considered a concern in their country. Another Guinean woman (23rd interviewee) stated a similar idea:
“When I think about climate change, I think about global warming, but generally speaking, we don’t talk about climate change. In Guinea, the young population is not worried about it”.
The disinterest of the population explained by participants is the result of a lack of information and a practical approach, as illustrated by a Cameroonian woman (19th interviewee):
“In my country, people don’t think about globalizing everything. They say that if it happens like that, that’s what had to happen. They don’t question the causes. You have to do with what’s there.”
Therefore, individuals react by trying to make the most of the circumstances they now find themselves in rather than thinking broadly about the problem, such as seeing climate change as a global concern. In a similar vein, through a discussion with a Cameroonian woman (14th interviewee), it was clear that she perceived climate change in her life, particularly global warming. Still, she also believed that no one could stop nature takes its course.
“Personally, I think that nature makes its cycle, we cannot prevent the change of nature, but we must let nature take its way.”
Finally, 30,43% of respondents either didn't know what climate change was or hadn't heard of it. Many people showed confusion when asked to describe climate change, while others said they didn't understand what it meant. As explained by a woman from Cameroon (9th interviewee) sometimes cultural gender norms impede you to have a thorough grasp of some topics:
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“Sometimes parents hide things from children. Also, me as a woman I had to be with my mother in the kitchen and not in the living room with the men who discuss and talk about different issues”.
Respondents mistake seasonal and regional changes for climate change, and they justify the lack of information by pointing to their schooling and the general lack of interest in their nations. Direct questions were used to test their understanding throughout data collection. Participants occasionally had the correct knowledge from their experience but were unaware of it. The following part examines the perception of climate change by looking at the interviewees' personal experiences.