Assessing the Evidence on Migration and the Environment – New Report Reveals Major Shortcomings on the Issue
A new IOM study that assesses existing evidence on migration and
the environment as the world rediscovers the issue after a decade
of neglect, has underlined the need for more to be done to tackle
internal and cross-border movement from climate change and
environmental degradation.
Although data on the issue is highly unreliable, Migration,
Environment and Climate Change: Assessing the Evidence, finds that
large-scale human movement from climate change and environmental
degradation is not only inevitable but is already happening.
However, much of it is internal or cross-border migration, belying
some fears that millions of poor people will go to rich countries
as a result of climate change.
Finding that the number of people affected by natural disasters
has more than doubled in recent years, the report highlights that
there has been no corresponding major increase in international
migration from disaster-affected regions in that time frame.
Document
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target="_blank" title="">Migration, Environment and Climate
Change: ASSESSING THE EVIDENCE
Instead, the report, produced with support from the Rockefeller
Foundation, argues that current research shows that most migration
already occurring in response to both sudden and slow-onset natural
disasters such as drought is mainly internal. Movements are from
rural to rural areas or from rural to urban areas while
international migration is mainly cross-border movement as
long-distance international migration would require planning and
resources that those who have lost homes and livelihoods are less
likely to have.
Some National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) produced
by least developed countries to adapt to climate change cite
existing examples of mainly internal migration as a consequence of
climate change or environmental factors. Mali, for example, refers
to migration from north to south and towards coastal countries in
the west of Africa as a spontaneous adaptation strategy to drought
but acknowledges that this internal migration was placing stress on
an already fragile eco-system.
Also highlighted is the often less reported though much more
significant impact of slow-onset natural disasters as opposed to
extreme climatic events such as storms and floods. Between 1979 and
2008, 718 million people were affected by storms compared to 1.6
billion people affected by droughts.
Some countries, however, see internal resettlement to safer
areas as the only adaptation strategy to climate change including
Sao Tome and Principe, Samoa, the Soloman Islands and the
Maldives.
The report argues that in general, countries expect to manage
environmental migration internally, with the exception of small
island states threatened by rising sea levels that in some cases
have already led to islands disappearing under water, forcing
international migration.
However, the potential scale of future movements will
necessitate international support for those countries most affected
by internal and immediate cross-border environmental migration as
low and least-developed countries will not have the capacity or
resources to manage or respond to such flows.
The report also underlines the worrying lack of policies in
destination countries in the developed world to address
environmental migration. While acknowledging that the impact of
climate change on migration is predominantly internal movement,
international migration is nevertheless likely to be increasingly
important in the future and will necessitate policy and programme
responses that are currently lacking.
Potential future hotspots for international migration are also
identified. These are countries which have high emigration rates,
face enormous socio-economic challenges and which experience
significant slow-onset climate-related disasters that impact on
issues such as food security. They include Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
most of Central America, several West African and South East Asian
countries, amongst others.
However, a persistent lack of data on migration and climate
change/environmental degradation is a major obstacle to having a
clearer picture on the issue and to plan ahead. If anything, the
hugely wide-ranging guesstimates that exist on numbers of
environmental migrants (between 25 million and one billion people
by 2050) only underline the dearth of serious data research on the
issue.
The report also argues the need for a more balanced approach to
understanding the link between migration and climate change, a
complex subject often viewed through the prism of forced
displacement from extreme climatic events and which overlooks the
more “solution” role migration can play in adapting to
a new climate reality.
The report, the only publication bringing together all strands
of existing research on migration and the environment, can be found
at:
"http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/free/migration_and_environment.pdf"
target="_blank" title=
"">http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/free/migration_and_environment.pdf
Or at:
For further information, please contact:
Jean-Philippe Chauzy
Tel: + 41 22 717 9361/+41 79 258 4366
E-mail:
"mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int
or
Jemini Pandya
IOM Geneva
Tel: + 41 22 717 9486/+ 41 79 217 3374
E-mail:
"mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int