Suchergebnisse

The difficulty of isolating environmental factors from other drivers of migration still exists but no-one now seems to deny their importance as a driving force of displacement. The concept of environmental migration is now a common feature in migration studies, and the number of research projects, workshops and conferences on this topic has vastly expanded in recent years. As the concept of environmental migration gained currency, migration was less perceived as a decision of last resort that people take when they have exhausted all possible options for adaptation in their place of origin. That was a paradigm shift: that migration in the context of climate change was no longer a disaster to avoid at all costs but a strategy that ought to be encouraged and facilitated. In the press and in public debates, those uprooted by climate change were once often called climate refugees. Adapted from the source document.

A case study of environmental challenges facing the Central Asia countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, & Tajikistan, points out that a significant portion of the 10.5 million people living in the Ferghana Valley may face forced migration because of environmental degradation, climate change, frequent earthquakes, floods, & landslides. Emphasis is placed on the need for scientific research that identifies, measures, & characterizes environmentally induced migration. Recommendations are made for ways to develop resettlement programs, reduce human vulnerability, forecast future flows, ensure adequate humanitarian responses, & strengthen long-term policies. Adapted from the source document.

Discusses problems related to adequately defining environmental migration & distinguishing between such concepts as forced & voluntary migration. Emphasis is placed on the need to understand the factors underlying migration decisions so that appropriate policy responses can be developed to address these flows. Two factors driving the need for a definition that could actually impede its development are defining environmental migration too widely & the attempt by some scholars to establish environmental migration as a specific field within migration studies. Adapted from the source document.