Migration in a changing climate

Autor(en)

Patrick Sakdapolrak, Sopon Naruchaikusol, Kayly Ober, Simon Alexander Bunchuay-Peth, Luise Porst, Till Rockenbauch, Vera Tolo

Abstrakt

Climate change and migration are drawing increasing interest from researchers and policy makers as well as from the general public. While in the beginning a simplistic and geo-deterministic comprehension of the environmental impact on human mobility had dominated the discussion, the framing of the relationship has recently become more differentiated. Vast empirical evidence derived from rural livelihoods research clearly shows that migration is an important strategy of households when dealing with multiple risks, including environmental stress. This has led to the growing acknowledgement of the idea of "migration as adaptation" in migration-environment research. We consider this conceptual development an important step for a better understanding of this nexus. Nonetheless, migration as adaptation has several shortcomings. Firstly, it is narrowly focused on migration as an adaptive response to environmental risks and neglects the significant impact of other forms of migration. Secondly, it does not cover other dimensions of how people, communities and societies deal with environmental change: A blind eye is all too often turned to processes of resilience building. Thirdly, migration as adaptation has been found to be interpreted in a way which justifies migration policies with neo-liberal tendencies. In order to overcome such drawbacks, we propose an approach that integrates translocality and social resilience. In this paper we thus introduce the concept of translocal social resilience and reflect on its conceptual implications. We will thereby show how this approach can improve the understanding of the migration-environment nexus, and how it can also shape the concept of migration as adaptation, allowing for nuanced and critical views on the dynamics in the migration-environment context.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Geographie und Regionalforschung, Institut für Lehrer*innenbildung

Externe Organisation(en)

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

Journal

Die Erde: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin - Forum für Erdsystem- und Erdraumforschung

Band

147

Seiten

81-94

Anzahl der Seiten

14

ISSN

0013-9998

DOI

https://doi.org/10.12854/erde-147-6

Publikationsdatum

2016

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

507017 Sozialgeographie, 507024 Umweltpolitik, 507002 Bevölkerungsgeographie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Energy(all), Earth and Planetary Sciences(all), Ecology, Atmospheric Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/migration-in-a-changing-climate(89097776-8a52-48d3-ac87-d791b9f4de7b).html