Abstract:Purpose-This paper aims to present a critical review of some literature on climate change and migration through conceptualizing and contextualizing the linkages between the two topics. Much literature on links between climate change and migration tends to downplay ambiguities in the terms and the limited empirical evidence. Conceptualizing refers to the knowledge gaps and the need to understand and detail (even if not agreeing on) conceptual issues such as terminology, definitions,
“…The explanations for migration, though, are not always simplistic or one-layered, matching the previous discussion [5][6][7]9,13,64]. Respondent E describes how the migrants they study in Dhaka are mainly farmers and agricultural laborers but "people do not say that they have directly come because of the river erosion or they have come because of flood.…”
Section: Similarly Respondent I Notedmentioning
confidence: 88%
“…Despite these studies, for Bangladesh and elsewhere, people moving for environmental reasons do not have a well-defined category in research, policy, or law, so scholars have long used their own work to attempt to provide contextual definitions [7,13,14,57,58]. One of the earlier works [4] defines "environmental refugees" as people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of a marked environmental disruption (natural and/or triggered by people), jeopardizing their existence and/or affecting their quality of life.…”
Section: Environmental Change and Migration In Bangladeshmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Due to all these interplays and complexities, one single factor is rarely a sufficient reason for migrating, irrespective of how much the migration is from choice, i.e., voluntary, or lack of choice, i.e., forced [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Instead, forces affecting migration decisions and lack of opportunities to decide tend to be multifaceted.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Instead, forces affecting migration decisions and lack of opportunities to decide tend to be multifaceted. Climate change seems likely to add to already increasing levels and complexities of population mobility [6,8,[14][15][16], although it is challenging to disaggregate the specific scale and scope of climate change related impacts [3,5,7,13,17,18].…”
Abstract:People have long migrated for many reasons, often with a combination of forced and voluntary reasons combining to push them away from current situations and to pull them towards new situations. Bangladesh is one example where environmental changes have long been amongst the multitude of reasons for migrating, with contemporary climate change suggested as a major impetus towards more migration. This paper examines local expert perceptions of migration as a climate change adaptation strategy for Bangladeshis. Seventeen in-depth interviews were conducted with local experts in Bangladesh and Assam (India) on environmental change and migration to understand the perspectives of those with formal education and expert-related jobs who come from the areas being directly affected by Bangladeshi migration. Findings show that local experts consider that migration is used and will be used for climate change adaptation in Bangladesh, but migration is not solely for climate change adaptation, instead interweaving with all other factors influencing migration-related decisions.
“…The explanations for migration, though, are not always simplistic or one-layered, matching the previous discussion [5][6][7]9,13,64]. Respondent E describes how the migrants they study in Dhaka are mainly farmers and agricultural laborers but "people do not say that they have directly come because of the river erosion or they have come because of flood.…”
Section: Similarly Respondent I Notedmentioning
confidence: 88%
“…Despite these studies, for Bangladesh and elsewhere, people moving for environmental reasons do not have a well-defined category in research, policy, or law, so scholars have long used their own work to attempt to provide contextual definitions [7,13,14,57,58]. One of the earlier works [4] defines "environmental refugees" as people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of a marked environmental disruption (natural and/or triggered by people), jeopardizing their existence and/or affecting their quality of life.…”
Section: Environmental Change and Migration In Bangladeshmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Due to all these interplays and complexities, one single factor is rarely a sufficient reason for migrating, irrespective of how much the migration is from choice, i.e., voluntary, or lack of choice, i.e., forced [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Instead, forces affecting migration decisions and lack of opportunities to decide tend to be multifaceted.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Instead, forces affecting migration decisions and lack of opportunities to decide tend to be multifaceted. Climate change seems likely to add to already increasing levels and complexities of population mobility [6,8,[14][15][16], although it is challenging to disaggregate the specific scale and scope of climate change related impacts [3,5,7,13,17,18].…”
Abstract:People have long migrated for many reasons, often with a combination of forced and voluntary reasons combining to push them away from current situations and to pull them towards new situations. Bangladesh is one example where environmental changes have long been amongst the multitude of reasons for migrating, with contemporary climate change suggested as a major impetus towards more migration. This paper examines local expert perceptions of migration as a climate change adaptation strategy for Bangladeshis. Seventeen in-depth interviews were conducted with local experts in Bangladesh and Assam (India) on environmental change and migration to understand the perspectives of those with formal education and expert-related jobs who come from the areas being directly affected by Bangladeshi migration. Findings show that local experts consider that migration is used and will be used for climate change adaptation in Bangladesh, but migration is not solely for climate change adaptation, instead interweaving with all other factors influencing migration-related decisions.
“…Exploring climate change in wider contexts with respect to population mobility, especially within other reasons for population movement, is explored less (Nicholson 2014;Taylor 2014;Upadhyay et al 2015). Even when comparatively comprehensive overviews, such as Foresight (2011), tackle some of the why questions based on extensive literature analysis and data collection, others suggest that underlying, long-term drivers of assumptions behind the analyses remain neglected (Felli and Castree 2012).…”
Empirical studies exploring the links between climate change and migration are increasing.Often, perceptions are not fully explored from the people most affected by the climate change and migration nexus. This article contributes to filling this gap by eliciting and analyzing perceptions regarding climate change and migration from an understudied population labelled as being amongst those most immediately and directly affected by climate change: IndianOcean islanders. Open-ended, semi-structured interviews were conducted in two case study communities in Maldives (Kaafu Guraidhoo with 17 interviews and Raa Dhuvafaaru with 18 interviews) and two case study communities in Lakshadweep, India (Kavaratti with 35 interviews and Minicoy with 26 interviews). The results present the interviewees' perceptions of climatic variability and change that they experience; how they perceive the causes of these changes; and links to migration decisions. The interviews demonstrate that perceptions of climate change, of migration, and of the links or lack thereof between the two are centred on the interviewees' own experiences, their own locations, and the immediate timeframe.External information and direction has limited influence. Their perceptions are framed as being the 'here and now' through topophilia (here) and tempophilia (now). The islanders' views do not avoid, but rather encompass, long-term livelihoods and the future. Such a future might be in another location, but the anchor is expressing future hopes and aspirations through the here and now. It is not linked to the wide-scale, long-term issue of climate change.
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