Telecoupled Vulnerabilities: Climate Migration and Geopolitical Futures Across African Megaregions

This paper explores the intricate relationship between telecoupled climate vulnerabilities, migration patterns, and their profound implications for the geopolitical futures of African megaregions. Leveraging the telecoupling framework, we analyze how distal human-environmental interactions, such as global commodity markets and greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized nations, propagate impacts that exacerbate local climate stressors in Africa, leading to increased climate-induced migration. The study focuses on key African megaregions, including the West African Coastal Megalopolis and the Nile River Basin, examining how demographic shifts, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation coalesce to reshape regional security dynamics, cross-border relations, and internal governance challenges. We argue that understanding these telecoupled vulnerabilities is critical for anticipating and mitigating geopolitical instabilities, fostering sustainable development, and promoting adaptive governance strategies in a continent highly susceptible to climate change impacts. The research synthesizes interdisciplinary insights from environmental science, demography, political geography, and security studies to provide a comprehensive analysis of the complex feedback loops between global processes, regional dynamics, and human mobility in Africa.