Environmental change and migration

This chapter addresses the subject of environmental and climate change-related migration. This topic has received increasing attention over the years both within academia and policy-making. Yet, many misunderstandings about the relationship between environmental change and human migration remain. For example, it is often assumed that environmental change leads to millions of people on the run for their lives, seeking shelter far away from home. Policy-makers are therefore predominantly concerned with addressing emergency displacement and want to know how many climate refugees they can expect seeking to cross international borders in the years to come. This chapter attempts to nuance these perspectives. It shows how the relationship between environmental changes and human mobility is far from straightforward, highlighting the diverse and complex ways in which im/mobility in the context of social and environmental changes unfolds.