Mike Cerre:

Spikes in precipitation, both too much and too little, which are commonly associated with changing climate conditions, can be directly correlated with spikes in migration. Combine that with the Sahel's dependence on agriculture and its chronic problems with poverty, population growth and lack of any real infrastructure for dealing with these issues, more people who depend on the land to live have no other choice than to leave.

Thierno Diallo and his family had always been farmers, until the changing climate forced him to leave. Like other young men unable to support themselves or their families, he was willing to risk the treacherous desert crossing to North Africa, and across the Mediterranean in search of work, now that agriculture was no longer an option.