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This qualitative study takes a translocal perspective by considering migrants’ views on environmental change, migration decisions and translocal practices in favour of environmental adaptation. This article addresses the following question: To what extent do migrants’ perceptions of environmental change in their region of origin influence their translocal practices in favour of adaptation to socio-environmental change? Our data show that while environmental change may not be the primary reason that people migrate, nor do they perceive it as such, their translocal practices may have very concrete impacts in environmentally fragile areas, especially with respect to non-migrants in the place of origin. Most practices (e.g. family economic remittances) are spontaneous and unintentionally adaptive to environmental change. In contrast, collective projects initiated through hometown associations, especially in Senegal and Morocco, often have a more intentional and proactive character, resulting in translocal adaptive socio-environmental dynamics.

Classical mechanisms of volcanic eruptions mostly involve pressure buildup and magma ascent towards the surface1. Such processes produce geophysical and geochemical signals that may be detected and interpreted as eruption precursors1–3. On 22 May 2021, Mount Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), an open-vent volcano with a persistent lava lake perched within its summit crater, shook up this interpretation by producing an approximately six-hour-long flank eruption without apparent precursors, followed—rather than preceded—by lateral magma motion into the crust. Here we show that this reversed sequence was most likely initiated by a rupture of the edifice, producing deadly lava flows and triggering a voluminous 25-km-long dyke intrusion. The dyke propagated southwards at very shallow depth (less than 500 m) underneath the cities of Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Gisenyi (Rwanda), as well as Lake Kivu. This volcanic crisis raises new questions about the mechanisms controlling such eruptions and the possibility of facing substantially more hazardous events, such as effusions within densely urbanized areas, phreato-magmatism or a limnic eruption from the gas-rich Lake Kivu. It also more generally highlights the challenges faced with open-vent volcanoes for monitoring, early detection and risk management when a significant volume of magma is stored close to the surface., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The population at risk from sudden hazards, such as volcanic eruptions, is often estimated based on the location of the residents. Crisis management tools, such as evacuation and emergency plans, are usually based on this information. Therefore, they often do not reflect over- and underpopulation in areas where the present population is different from the resident population at the time of the crisis. In the context of data scarcity that characterises Goma city (North Kivu, DRC), the results of the spatial analysis presented in this paper allowed the population to be located hour by hour on each day of the week. The dual movement of those leaving and those arriving in Goma made it possible to establish the temporal variations of the total population located in Goma. The variations are similar on all weekdays but differ for Sundays. Moreover, the spatio-temporal location of the population over time appeared to be strongly influenced by the activity rhythm of the city's vital infrastructures. In other words, areas where commercial activities, employment, and schools are concentrated, are crowded during working hours, while areas with a predominantly residential character become depopulated at these times. Therefore, the various areas of Goma could be impacted differently by sudden natural hazards. If their occupancy is poorly known, the safety of the population and the satisfaction of their expectations are difficult to predict accurately. Modelling these spatio-temporal variations of the population is crucial information for quantifying the resources needed to manage a future sudden crisis in Goma., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

In the version of this Article initially published, an error appeared in the caption to Fig. 4, where the descriptions for panels b and c were reversed. The caption has been corrected to read: “b, Landslide hazard trends when we assume there is no landslide response to deforestation in new forests. c, Landslide hazard trends in the Kivu Rift when we assume the landslide response to deforestation is the same for new and primary forests.” The error has been corrected in the online version of the Article., SCOPUS: er.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Environmental migration is a growing concern of academics and policymakers, who foresee a rise in the number of such migrants. However, most prevailing academic and policy discourses ignore the variety of perceptions of environmental changes among people living in highly affected areas across the world. We examine the perceptions of environmental changes and how these are seen to be relevant to migration in Senegal, DR Congo, and Morocco. In total, we conducted 410 interviews with people living in two regions in each of these countries. Results indicate differences in the perception of environmental changes across regions, gender, education, and livelihoods. The economic activities of individuals determine exposure and sensitivity to environmental changes, while educational levels increase familiarity with prevailing environmental discourses and policies. Despite country-specific and regional differences across research sites, few people perceived environmental factors as directly related to their own or family members’ migration projects., Funding This work was supported by BELSPO under the Brain.beprogramme under Grant Agreement number BR/175/A4/MIGRADAPT(Acronym: MIGRADAPT).Availability of Data and Material Data is available upon request in apseudonymised way to safeguard the identity of the participants., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

À travers le monde, les aléas naturels peuvent être à l’origine de situations de crise aux conséquences tragiques pour la population. Connaître la répartition spatio-temporelle de la population, les ressources vitales nécessaires en cas de crise et leur exposition, et évaluer l’accessibilité spatio-temporelle de la population à ces ressources sont des informations scientifiques, économiques et politiques cruciales, particulièrement dans des zones très peuplées. Avec un certain effort de collecte de données géographiques sur ces questions, il est possible d’améliorer la sécurité de la population qui vit et/ou fréquente des zones menacées par des aléas naturels, à partir de scénarios de ces aléas. Les résultats d’une telle analyse permettent d’orienter efficacement les actions de secours et de dimensionner les infrastructures de gestion de crise.L’Afrique subsaharienne, et plus précisément la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), n'est pas épargnée par de tels phénomènes. La ville de Goma (RDC), qui compte en 2017 environ 890.500 habitants, fait face de façon permanente à la menace du volcan Nyiragongo, un volcan très actif situé à seulement 15 km au nord de l'agglomération. Cependant, dans cette région, les données (par exemple, la localisation spatio-temporelle de la population, la localisation des ressources vitales et la mobilité de la population pendant une crise volcanique) nécessaires à une analyse scientifique permettant une meilleure gestion de la crise sont globalement rares et peu fiables.Sur base des campagnes de collecte de données de courte durée (une semaine à six mois), notre étude a permis d’aboutir à quatre résultats pouvant contribuer à l’amélioration de la gestion de crise.Le bilan des flux de la population sur les voies d’accès à Goma a permis de dévoiler les variations temporelles de l’effectif total de la population de Goma, lesquelles se distribuent irrégulièrement au cours des jours de la semaine, et de manière très différente le dimanche (v, Doctorat en Sciences, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished