Geographies of Entanglement: Climate Migration, Resource Scarcity, and Contested Futures Across Africa's Drylands and Great Lakes

This paper explores the intricate and multifaceted relationships between climate change, human mobility, resource scarcity, and the emergence of contested futures across Africa's drylands and Great Lakes regions. These regions, characterized by high climatic variability and pre-existing socio-economic vulnerabilities, represent critical hotspots where environmental shifts are profoundly reshaping human-environment interactions. Focusing on the concept of 'geographies of entanglement,' the study moves beyond simplistic linear causality to investigate how climate-induced ecological degradation and resource depletion intersect with historical injustices, political instabilities, and socio-cultural dynamics to drive complex migration patterns. It examines how these migrations, in turn, contribute to intensified competition over diminishing land and water resources, thereby exacerbating inter-communal tensions and potentially fueling localized conflicts. Through a rigorous review of extant literature and a conceptual framework rooted in political ecology and mobility studies, the paper analyzes the pathways through which environmental pressures translate into altered human landscapes and contested claims to space and resources. It highlights the differentiated impacts on various population groups, including pastoralists, sedentary farmers, and urban informal settlers, and emphasizes the gendered dimensions of climate vulnerability and adaptation. The paper argues that understanding these entanglements is crucial for developing holistic policy interventions that address not only climate adaptation and migration management but also peacebuilding, equitable resource governance, and the fostering of more resilient and inclusive futures in these geopolitically significant areas.