African Cities: Flood Vulnerabilities in Abidjan, Ivory Coast - The contribution of an environmental justice approach

The literature on flood vulnerability highlights the multiple dimensions of this phenomenon. However, little research has analyzed the joint effects of environmental and social variables on flood risk at the household level in African cities. We use an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the differential effects of these dimensions on "flood victim" status in Abidjan, the main city of the Ivory Coast. The data used come from a survey of 503 households residing in two contrasting neighborhoods of Abidjan. The results show that geophysical variables, environmental variables and social variables are factors jointly associated with flood risk. In addition to these sensitivity factors, the analysis also focuses on the phenomenon of resilience, in particular the right to rebuild. From an environmental justice perspective, the results highlight the differential responses of public authorities to crises linked to recurrent flooding, depending on the neighborhood.

Speakers:

Stéphanie Dos Santos: sociologist and demographer at l'Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, within the Laboratoire Population Environnement Développement (LPED) in Marseille. She conducts research on the environmental living conditions of populations in several West African cities and, more recently, on vulnerabilities to extreme climatic events, using an interdisciplinary approach. She is also a scientific advisor on sustainable cities at IRD, where she co-leads the sustainable cities knowledge community.

Attoumane Artadji: Geographer and research engineer in geomatics at the IRD's Population Environment Development Laboratory (LPED) on AMU's Saint-Charles campus in Marseille. He uses GIS tools to spatialize risks (health and natural) and remote sensing tools to characterize the physical environment of at-risk areas. These tools were used to assess the physical vulnerability of households to flooding in the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.