Linking climate change, environmental degradation, and migration: An update after 10 years

Abstract

In WIREs Climate Change, Issue 1(4), 2010, I suggested a typology of the data and methods used to assess links between climate change, environmental degradation and migration (Piguet, 2010). My review of the literature included publications up to 2009. Since then, the number of empirically based scientific publications on this topic has risen substantially to average 40 articles per year and the scope of methods, stock of results and diversity of questions has widened. Based on the CLIMIG database-a systematic and analytic collection of scientific references published on migration and the environment-this new synthesis provides a methodological typology of an exceptionally large number of published case studies. This will complement existing reviews and metastudies and allow a global overview of the state of research by identifying consensus and disagreements, revisiting methodological challenges and mapping current and future research questions.

A Perfect Storm of War, Pandemic, Climate Crises and Global Dis-Governance: Unfolding Implications for Population Dynamics and Policies

“…Scientists overwhelmingly and emphatically continue to document the gravity of the climate crises and the loss of biodiversity. The media provides dramatic daily reports concerning the origins and dimensions of threats that are costing thousands of lives and Climate change is also causing, directly and indirectly, enormous forced displacements of population -a topic which has become highly politicized and has also received considerable attention in the specialized literature (Maretti, Tondodimamma & Biermann, 2019;Piguet, 2021), despite the paucity and unevenness of data. A recent World Bank report reflects a commonly cited order of magnitude, when it warns that climate change could force 216 million people across six world regions to move within their countries by 2050 (World Bank, 2021).…”

“…Tacoli, 2013). The problems in dealing with this issue are complex, beyond the question of data availability, and are also reflected in academic research that attempts to breach the gap between knowledge and practice, as recently stated by Piguet (2021).…”

Criminal Liability without Fault in Environmental Legislation of Indonesia

“…Environmental offense are difficult to prove because criminals often hide behind permits issued by the government.The difficulty of proving environmental criminal prosecutions adds to the problem. In fact, the situation results in damage or long-term degradation of the ecosystem, making recovery extremely difficult [2]. This is a doctrinal legal research that looks at how criminal responsibility without fault is applied in environmental legislationm.…”

The specter of mass climate migration across international borders: Dismantling an unscientific expectation

“…Predictions of very large numbers of ''climate refugees'' from the Global South were circulated widely in the science, media, and policy of the Global North. 1,2,3 The nowdiscredited modeling of a scientist named Norman Myers, in particular, expected 200 million ''environmental refugees'' to be created as climate change took hold in the 21 st century. Since refugees are understood as fleeing their country, the once widespread use of the terms ''environmental refugee'' and ''climate refugee'' contributed to embedding a faulty assumption in science, policy and the media that much climate-related displacement would lead to international border crossing, rather than internal displacement.…”

“…1,4 Myers' large numbers, and other similarly scaled predictions, have been discredited and the ability of science to accurately predict future numbers of climate migrants across international borders is currently understood to be limited. 1,3 The current state of science on international climate change migration is captured by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In IPCC Assessment Report 5, it was stated that ''there is low confidence in quantitative projections of changes in mobility, due to its complex, multi-causal nature.''…”