The mangrove route

“The Mangrove Route” is a video investigation examining how the climate and ecological crisis is redrawing migration patterns to and from Senegal. Coastal erosion, soil salinisation, and declining fish stocks - worsened by industrial fishing - are pushing communities towards a decision that blends cultural tradition with the pursuit of new possibilities: migration.

In Casamance, one of the country’s most vulnerable regions, the mangroves - natural defences now under threat - serve as a powerful symbol of the complexities surrounding Senegalese migration. Through data analysis, detailed research, and interviews conducted across Senegal, Belgium, and Italy, the investigation shows the connections between environmental, economic, and social breakdown along Europe-bound migration routes. It also lays bare a fundamental contradiction within European institutions: while professing to tackle the “root causes” of migration through development partnerships (in Italy’s case, notably the Mattei Plan), they are simultaneously reinforcing policies that externalise borders, thereby heightening the dangers and death toll at sea.