Mass Migration

Climate migration myths

Nature Climate Change 11/26/2019

Misleading claims about mass migration induced by climate change continue to surface in both academia and policy. This requires a new research agenda on ‘climate mobilities’ that moves beyond simplistic assumptions and more accurately advances knowledge of the nexus between human mobility and climate change.

International migration and climate policy assumes that anthropogenic climate change already is, and will increasingly be, a major driver of mass migration from the Global South to the Global North. The UNFCCC explicitly specifies the need to avert, minimize and address climate displacement1, while the UN Security Council warns of mass climate migration and the subsequent risk of aggravating conflicts2. Although the potential for climate change to disrupt livelihoods and threaten lives is real, these policies reinforce a false narrative that predicts large numbers of ‘climate refugees’. This self-referencing narrative in scientific literature and policy reports has the consequence of entrenching climate migration as a looming security crisis without an empirical scientific basis3.

The Blood-Dimmed Tide

The New Republic 9/16/2019

The oil industry spent millions to elect and reelect George W. Bush, who, once he took office, promptly scuttled all campaign talk of mitigating global warming. Bush expanded on his father’s legacy, not only censoring climate scientists and skirting the topic in public, but hiring fossil fuel cronies to shape policy decisions across his administrations. Those same cronies then spent millions to elect Donald Trump, who is now following the same playbook of denial, disinformation, and deflection on climate change. As a result of all the well-funded, bad-faith temporizing on the climate crisis, we are now just eleven years away from being locked into 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming by mid-century, according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the point where irreversible catastrophe begins.
“They understood that if they could make people doubt whether climate change was a problem, they would sap the energy necessary to take it on,” McKibben said. “They set out to waste everyone’s time, on purpose, and they did.”

Researchers probe the link between climate change and global conflict

Think Progress 6/16/2019

The rationale is that as climate change gets worse, it impacts weather and disasters — making hurricanes and wildfires more intense, droughts drier, and rainfall wetter. This in turn can greatly influence economies — impacting crops, livestock, and fisheries — subsequently hindering livelihoods and reinforcing social divides.

Climate as a Risk Factor for Armed Conflict

Nature(Pay Access) 6/16/2019

These experts agree that climate has affected organized armed conflict within countries. However, other drivers, such as low socioeconomic development and low capabilities of the state, are judged to be substantially more influential, and the mechanisms of climate–conflict linkages remain a key uncertainty. Intensifying climate change is estimated to increase future risks of conflict. "The study takes an unorthodox approach: 11 experts in fields related to climate and conflict participated in individual interviews and group discussions about the relationship between those things. They concluded that climate has already influenced between 3% and 20% of armed conflicts over the past century." Think Progress

Causes of Central American Caravans

The Guardian-The unseen driver behind the migrant caravan: climate change 10/30/2018

While violence and poverty have been cited as the reasons for the exodus, experts say the big picture is that changing climate is forcing farmers off their land – and it’s likely to get worse.

Britians First Climate Refugees

The Guardian Fairbourne Wales 5/18/2019

As sea levels rise, Fairbourne, sandwiched between mountains and the beach, is being returned to the waves. But where will its residents go?

'We're moving to higher ground': America's era of climate mass migration is here

The Guardian- Climate Migration 9/18

By the end of this century, sea level rises alone could displace 13m people. Many states will have to grapple with hordes of residents seeking dry ground. But, as one expert says, ‘No state is unaffected by this’