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What is the interconnection between environmental refugees and climate change?

Climate change and environmental degradation are likely to trigger increased migration in Sub-Saharan Africa with potentially devastating effects on the hundreds of millions of especially poor people, according to a paper in the International Journal of Global Warming. …

What is the relationship between migration and climate change?

Using an established index of climate vulnerability, a project of the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative, the authors found that people, on average, move from countries of higher vulnerability to less vulnerable ones, reducing global climate-change risk by 15 percent between 1990 and 2010.

What is meant by a climate refugee?

The term “climate refugee” suggests that people who fit the definition might be entitled to some kind of refugee status or rights. They might be allowed to enter and stay in a country because climate change has forced them to move. People who are forced to move within their country are Internally Displaced Persons.

How are environmental refugees different than refugees as defined by international law?

Environmental refugees are not protected by international laws. They face greater political risks than refugees who flee their homes due to conflict or political oppression. Unlike traditional refugees, climate refugees may be sent back to their devastated homeland or forced into a refugee camp.

How does environment affect migration?

Environmental change has the potential to affect directly the hazardousness of place. Environmental change also affects migration indirectly, in particular through economic drivers, by changing livelihoods for example, and political drivers, through affecting conflicts over resources, for example.

How does climate change affect migration animals?

Some species may move readily across landscapes or habitats, as warming temperatures and changing ecological conditions alter their habitat. Less mobile species will change their distribution more slowly. Some, such as trees and other plants, will only be able to migrate through reproduction and seed distribution.

What are the relationship between migration and environment?

Over coming years, migration flows related to climate change are expected to increase, particularly in the world’s poorest countries. This is because climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of extreme environmental events, such as drought, sea level rise, floods and hurricanes.

What are environmental reasons for migration?

Environmental migration can occur in response to floods, desertification, and other environmental events, or it may occur in anticipation of those events.

What does environmental refugees mean in geography?

The term “environmental refugees” is one of the many phrases that are used to describe people who move due to changes in the environment around them. The relationship between the environment and human movement is complex, and for that reason there are a number of different phrases and definitions.

What is the difference between climate and environmental migration?

Environmental migrants are people who are forced to leave their home region due to sudden or long-term changes to their local or regional environment. Climate refugees may flee or migrate to another country, or they may migrate internally within their own country.

Can the international community define climate migrants?

As severe climate change displaces more people, the international community may be forced to either redefine “refugees” to include climate migrants or create a new legal category and accompanying institutional framework to protect climate migrants.

Are climate refugees the future of migration?

With the threat of climate change we imagine millions becoming refugees in the future. Yet reducing the issue of migration in the context of climate change to the status of “climate refugees” fails to recognize a number of key aspects that define human mobility in the context of climate change and environmental degradation.

Where do environmentally-induced migrants come from?

The majority of environmentally-induced migrants are likely to come from rural areas, as their livelihoods often depend on climate sensitive sectors, such as agriculture and fishing. However, climate migration out of urban areas is also possible as sea level rise affects the densely populated coastal areas.

What is climate migration and how does it work?

Climate migration is mainly internal: when migration is internal, people moving are under the responsibility of their own state, they do not cross borders and are not seeking protection from a third country or at the international level.