Climate Change and Migration: Myths and Realities

In early 2011, the popular German weekly Der Spiegel asked on its website: “Where are all the environmental refugees?“ (cf. Bojanowski, 2011). It was referring to a prediction made in 2005 by the United Nations University (UNU) and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) that warned of the existence of up to 50 million environmental refugees by 2010. Der Spiegel noted that, despite the doomsday prophecies of these UN agencies, there is no real evidence of changes in global migratory patterns and behavior, specifically in the form of growing migration rates in the context of climate change-related environmental change. In this article, Der Spiegel journalists picked up on a strand of debate that is being pursued in a number of different settings: the relation between global climate change and migration. For several decades, this debate has featured prominently in many contexts. It comes up regularly at international climate policy events (for example at COP 15 in Copenhagen) and also fuels public debates on potential societal impacts of global climate change. It is regularly referred to in mass media, as well as policy circles and public statements of politicians. At the same time, the issue has been subject to an intense debate in different scientific communities, from the natural sciences, to geography, the political sciences, and migration research. The debate and its critique served as a starting point for conceptualizing a workshop entitled Denaturalizing Climate Change: Migration, Mobilities and Spaces that took place at the artec Sustainability Research Center, University of Bremen in October 2013. The aim was to revisit the nexus between climate change and human mobility, employing innovative and, above all, more politicized approaches. Among the broader debates on climate change adaptation, there is evidence of both over-politicization and a de-politicization of the far-reaching social, political and legal consequences of global climate change. On the one hand, research from various disciplines often focuses on the formal transnational negotiations and international climate policy institutions. This growing research field is, intrinsically, highly politicized. On the other hand, debates are de-politicized from a more theoretical point of view. Very often, questions on the social impacts of environmental change are detached from the political and social contexts in which those impacts come to play, and from the debates around climate justice that infuse all climate change negotiations. In our view, environmental change is always simultaneously a natural and a social phenomenon. This applies both to the causes of change and to societal responses, including increasing mobility. In line with conceptual frameworks that refer to social natures (Castree & Braun, 2001) and the societal relationships with nature (Görg, 2004), we argue that it is important to consider the social constructions and cultural readings of environmental change. Specifically, our aim has been to analyze the evolving co-production of social order and natural order with respect to the relationship between environmental change and human mobility. In contrast, the current debates on growing refugee flows in the context of global warming often neglect or cover up this process of co-production and conceptualize nature as being detached from social and political processes.

2013

PEACE & SECURITY-PAIX ET SÉCURITÉ INTERNATIONALES (EuroMediterranean Journal of International Law and International Relations), 2021

As a consequence of the impering productive system in the world, climate change is considered as one of the most controversial phenomena because of its environmental, economical, demographic and social effects which cause, in the end, the displacement and migration of population, specially in the Global South. Nowadays, natural disasters and climate change are factors causing the greatest number of migrant people around the globe. Events such as droughts in the Sahel region, the rising sea levels in the Asian South and Southeast and the disappearance of insular states as Kiribati or Tuvalu give testimony of this condition. In this context, the term “climate refugee” arises to tackle and give an answer to those people who are forced to abandon their homes due to environmental deterioration caused by climate change. Nevertheless, this concept poses a series of challenges and difficulties regarding its implementation in international law of refugees. Thus, the aim is to provide an approximation of a collective, the climate refugees, by analyzing their origins and consequences. MIGRATION ET DÉPLACEMENT HUMAIN DANS LE CONTEXTE DU CHANGEMENT CLIMATIQUE: RÉFLEXIONS SUR LA CATÉGORIE DES RÉFUGIÉS CLIMATIQUES Conséquence de la mise en péril du système productif mondial, le changement climatique est considéré comme l’un des phénomènes les plus controversés en raison de ses effets environnementaux, économiques, démographiques et sociaux qui entraînent, en fin de compte, le déplacement et la migration des populations, en particulier dans le Sud. De nos jours, les catastrophes naturelles et le changement climatique sont les facteurs qui provoquent le plus grand nombre de migrations dans le monde. Des événements tels que les sécheresses dans la région du Sahel, l’élévation du niveau des mers dans le Sud et le Sud-Est de l’Asie et la disparition d’États insulaires comme Kiribati ou Tuvalu témoignent de cette situation. Dans ce contexte, le terme “réfugié climatique” apparaît pour aborder et donner une réponse à ces personnes qui sont forcées d’abandonner leurs maisons en raison de la détérioration environnementale causée par le changement climatique. Néanmoins, ce concept pose une série de défis et de difficultés quant à sa mise en œuvre dans le droit international des réfugiés. Ainsi, nous avons l’intention de donner une approximation d’un collectif, les réfugiés climatiques, en analysant leurs origines et leurs conséquences. MIGRACIÓN Y DESPLAZAMIENTO HUMANO EN EL CONTEXTO DEL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO: REFLEXIONES SOBRE LA CATEGORÍA DE LOS REFUGIADOS CLIMÁTICOS Como consecuencia del sistema productivo que impera en el mundo, el cambio climático se presenta como uno de los fenómenos más controvertidos por sus efectos ambientales, económicos, demográficos y sociales, provocando, en última instancia, el desplazamiento y la migración de la población, especialmente en el Sur global. Actualmente, los desastres naturales y el cambio climático constituyen factores que causan el mayor número de personas migrantes a nivel mundial. Acontecimientos como la sequía en la región del Sahel, el aumento del nivel del mar en el Sur y Sudeste Asiático, y la desaparición de estados insulares, como Kiribati o Tuvalu, dan prueba de ello. En este contexto, el término «refugiado climático» surge para abordar y dar respuesta a las personas que se ven forzadas a abandonar sus hogares por la degradación ambiental, ocasionada por el cambio climático. No obstante, este concepto plantea una serie de desafíos y dificultades, en cuanto a su implementación en el derecho internacional de los refugiados. Así, se pretende dar una aproximación de un colectivo, los refugiados climáticos, analizando sus orígenes y consecuencias.

The topic of climate change and migration attracts a strong following from the media and produces an increase in academic literature and reports from international governmental institutions and NGOs. It poses questions that point to the core of social and environmental developments of the 21st century, such as environmental and climate justice as well as North–South relations. This article examines the main features of the debate and presents a genealogy of the discussion on climate change and migration since the 1980s. It presents an analysis of different framings and lines of argument, such as the securitization of climate change and connections to development studies and adaptation research. This article also presents methodological and conceptual questions, such as how to conceive interactions between migration and climate change. As legal aspects have played a crucial role since the beginning of the debate, different legal strands are considered here, including soft law and policy-oriented approaches. These approaches relate to questions of voluntary or forced migration and safeguarding the rights of environmental migrants. This article introduces theoretical concepts that are prompted by analyzing climate change as an " imaginative resource " and by questioning power relations related to climate-change discourses, politics, and practices. This article recommends a re-politicization of the debate, questions the often victimizing, passive picture of the " drowning " climate-change migrant, and criticizes alarmist voices that can trigger perceived security interests of countries of the Global North. Decolonizing and critical perspectives analyze facets of the debate that have racist, depoliticizing, or naturalizing tendencies or exoticize the " other. "

Most scholars tend to deny the reality of climate migrations, arguing that climate migrants cannot be singled out as a specific category. They suggest that migration is always a result of multiple factors and cannot be understood in isolation from a combination of socio-environmental, economic and political factors. I argue against this academic position by raising the issue of scale. Based on evidence drawn from environmental/climate change-induced catastrophes around the world, I demonstrate that climate/environmental migrants can be properly singled out if the appropriate geographical and numerical scales are considered. To this end, climate migrations need to be considered starting from the micro-scale silent displacements both within and between countries that result from climate catastrophes. I subsequently define the category of climate migrants in relation to environmental violence. In fact, once settled in new lands, displaced climate victims are forced to participate in violent conflicts to secure basic vital resources. In sum, I argue that we can only properly define the concept of climate migration and develop suitable policy responses if we take into account the issues of scale and environmental violence.

Global Studies Journal, 2(1), 43-56., 2009

The current period in history has been aptly termed “the age of globalization.” This age is characterized by an increasing interconnectedness where positive as well as negative events originating in one country may have a world-wide impact. For example, the financial crisis of 2008 originated in the banking system of the U.S.A. but affected the majority of the countries of this globe. The same is true for anthropogenic climate change as a result of an increase in greenhouse gas emission by industrialized countries which now compromises the well-being of the world’s most vulnerable populations. These high risk Least Developed Countries (LDCs) struggle to adapt to climatic changes like desertification and rising sea level that force human migration in search for survival. The chaos of this migration often precipitates violence and security crises that require humanitarian and proactive collective global action. It is the goal of this paper to explore the interface between climate change, conflict, and human migration based on current research findings and case studies. Further, the two concepts of environmental migrant and environmental refugee are presented and problems with the terminology and the legal status of the vulnerable people groups are discussed. Possible future migration patterns and their global impact are also examined. Additionally, the phenomenon called ‘abrupt climate change’ is explored. The article concludes with a set of recommendations targeting governmental and humanities interventions on how best to mitigate climate change induced migration with collective global action.

Defense and Security Studies

Migrations, which are as old as the history of mankind, have taken place for many reasons and have increased with the addition of new ones. Although wars and economic concerns are among the main causes, environmental problems have been one of the reasons that should be accepted in today's world. Environmental problems that threaten the lives of all living beings, especially human beings, pose numerous risks. Moreover, these risks have reached unlimited and global dimensions. One of these risks is the forced migration of people due to various environmental problems, especially climate change. Those who have experienced this migration are defined as "environmental refugees", and they occupy an important place in recent literature. While many of the problems associated with the millions of migrants are still unresolved today, the fact that environmental refugees are being added with increasing momentum clearly demonstrates the importance of including this issue in researc...

Volume of Proceedings, 2016

Environmental migrants, climate change refugees, environmentally displaced persons, victims of environmental abuse. These are brand new terms and phrases of the last decade that we should learn and put these words into the centre of attention of global migration and movement studies. As of 2015, however, the migration cannot directly and excusively be interlinked to environmental changes, but experts say that today’s migration situation has partially taken place due to climate changes with subsequent desertification, water and food shortage and their (political, economic, etc.) consequences in some certain regions.

2023

Climate disasters, environmental degradation, and the adverse effects of climate change are causing the displacement of individuals submerged in unknown waters in the realms of protection, where there is a legal gap in what is or, in this case, is not provided for them. More than 200 million people are expected to be forcibly displaced by the climate by 2050. Through a comprehensive analysis of the international panorama, the interconnected global challenges and their current unpredictability, the existential threat to human life posed by climate change, and the complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon per se of climate-induced migration, this dissertation will develop how to approach the problem of climate migration under this critical conjuncture for humankind. At the heart of a profound transformation of the current global dynamic, marked by uncertainty and the prevalence of national interests to the detriment of collective well-being, lies the issue of climate change. Such a crisis, with impacts on all levels of society, transcends national borders and calls for action based on international cooperation, particularly in view of the perverse effect it will have on human mobility. The exponential increase in climate-induced migration, whether internal or external, can be contained if our actions and collective mitigation efforts are both rapid and effective, which has not occurred as we find ourselves at the critical limit of global temperature projections. From an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and long-term perspective, and based on the assumption that climate migration requires current legal frameworks related to the protection of migrants and/or refugees at a regional level to be adapted to this new reality, which does not comply with a one-size-fits-all approach. This dissertation aims to analyze not only the impact of climate change as a whole on migratory movements but also what possible and innovative ways of solving this problem are currently available to bridge the existing knowledge gaps and promote multilateral cooperation in shaping a sustainable future.