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An urban political ecology of flood control and population relocation in Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso

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An urban political ecology of flood control and population relocation in Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso

Bamba, Madiara (2022) An urban political ecology of flood control and population relocation in Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

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Abstract

Globally, the number of people at risk from flooding has been increasing since 2000, with the population from the South being more vulnerable. Millions of households are displaced by disasters every year. In 2009, the city of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso experienced its most disastrous flood ever recorded. As a response, the government designed a permanent relocation plan in Yagma, a village located outside the city of Ouagadougou. The relocation plan disrupted the livelihoods of the households that were affected by the flood, leading many of them to return and rebuild their houses in flood prone areas. This paper contributes to a body of literature analyzing the heritage of postcolonialism on the flood vulnerability on the poorer communities in Ouagadougou. Using a political ecology frame, the thesis attempts to understand how the government of Burkina Faso and flood victims understand land and belongings, and how that understanding shaped the relocation program. After interviewing flood victims and government officials, an analysis revealed that contrasting views are at work. A perspective based on technical calculations and a neo-colonialist vision of development, on the one hand, and a grounded perspective based on relationships to the land and each other, on the other.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Geography, Planning and Environment
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Bamba, Madiara
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M. Sc.
Program:Geography, Urban & Environmental Studies
Date:January 2022
Thesis Supervisor(s):Rutland, Ted
ID Code:990219
Deposited By: Madiara Bamba
Deposited On:16 Jun 2022 14:28
Last Modified:01 May 2024 00:00
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