It argues the importance of how we look at the world; that looking at it in new ways can help reduce the inherint post-colonialism that current maps, projections & normalcies create. Helping people to have a more holistic and accurate globe view.
Finally the video will show how climate change will have the worst affects in areas which contributed least to it; communicating how climate migration is a key global issue, not one the global North can ignore. An issue that nearly every country will either see severe effects of, or was a direct contributer towards.
What is Climate Migration?
However, this definition is fairly vauge and can exclude large numbers of people.
There are three essential things to understand about Climate Migration, being Drivers, Effects & Mitigation. These are breifly overviewed below, and in more depth further down the page.
Drivers
Drivers are anything which leads to Climate Migration, the causes of Climate Migration. They can be both direct or indirect, compounding or simple.
Drivers can range from abstract and complex root causes such as post-colonialism to direct and simple climatic phenomena such as a wildfire.
Effects
Effects result from the act of Climate Migration, they can be effects on a range of scales from International or governmental to personal.
These effects influence a broad range of individuals & groups. They include issues from Population Density & Grid security to emotional trauma of being forcibly displaced.
Mitigation
Mitigation refers to both Resilience & Solutions to Climate Migration. Resilience helps areas cope with the drivers of Climate Change. They aim to reduce the amount of forced migration.
Solutions are generally ways to improve the situation and occur after Climate Migration is inevitable. They can be implimented together.
Solutions are generally ways to improve the situation and occur after Climate Migration is inevitable. They can be implimented together.
Drivers of Climate Migration
Climatic Changes are the primary driver of Climate Migration, they also feed into the second factor (a lack of resilience to the effects of climate change).
The wide ranging effects of climate change force the displacement of people at different rates.
Slow drivers such as sea level rise or ocean acidification often do not have direct extreme or dramatic instances of mass forced migration. But they slowly push millions of people from their homes. Fast drivers such as more intense storms and floods force people from their homes immediately and simultaniously. There are also medium speed factors such as drought pushing many small and substance farmers into financial ruin before eventually forcing their displacement.
Resiliency plays a huge part in climate migration as it accounts for the ability for people and places to cope with the effects of climate change. An area having a high GDP per capita, a strong grid stability and low population density could for example deal with many effects of climate change better than areas which are less resilient. This would lead to less Climate Migration in the more resilient area.
You can see that climate change not only causes climate change, but also reduces resiliency. Forcing people from their homes, but also reducing the ability for people who remain to cope with the next disaster.
Resiliency & Climate Change have been credited as key drivers of Climate Migration. But causes are more varied and complex than that, some of which is shown in the diagram.
Effects of Climate Migration
face many key issues, often reducing their areas capacity to cope with future climate disasters.
Areas face key Cultural, Economic and Human costs associated with large numbers leaving their areas. Often leaving behind those without the resources to leave.
Climate Migrants
like all forcibly displaced people suffer many consequences. Taking on many social, cultural and physical costs.
Migrants face many struggles, before they are forced to leave, on their journeys and once they arrive. Key problems accessing essential resources are a priority and can lead to neglect of basic amenities such as education, healthcare and social interaction. Further worsening the long term situation.
Areas of High Climate Immigrantion,
face many issues such as over-urbanisation, rising informal economies, and strains on resources.
Other problems may occur as a large influxes of people simultainously looking for housing, jobs, food, water & power may occur in an area which is already suffering from the effects of the changing climate. These problems can lead to social tensions such as xenophobic attitudes if integration is not done well. Urban areas are often currently unable to cope with the scale of current forced migration, and will need to see a semi-radical shift if that is to change.
Mitigation of Climate Migration
Pre-emptive resilience usually refers to measures taken before the effects of climate change take effect. These measures would be taken to increase the resiliencey of the area, therefore reducing the impact of climate change or climate migration.
Pre-emptive resiliency can reffer to improving the capacity to cope with the the drivers of Climate Migration, therefore reducing the total amount. It can also refer to building resilience to the effects of Climate Migration. Increasing an areas ability to deal with effects such as Climate Immigration, Emigration or climate migrants.
Reactionary Solutions are interventions to cope with the effects of climate migration. They are introduced to improve situations in areas which have already seen the effects of climate migration.
They are important for reducing the amount of problems that climate migration causes. They also come with important advantages such as hindsight. However, they allow for a certain amount of suffering and improving situations which are already suffering from the effects of climate migration is often more difficult and more expensive than pre-emptive resilience.
Compounding Problems
Failing to reduce the amount of Climate Migration and its impacts can result in feedback loops as shown in black on the diagram.
Worse effects can lead to reduced resilience and increased GHG emissions which then will further Climate Migration, and so starting the loop again.
However, if a strategy is implimented which reduces Climate Migration as shown in blue the system changes to break the feedback loop and reduce detract from further Climate Migration.
Climate Migration, A Global Issue
Countries Who Contribute Most to CO2e Emissions are Focussed around the Global North
Historic Cumulative CO2e & Current CO2e per Capita Emissions are focused in the Northern Hemisphere, as shown in this data collected by OurWorldinData, with some longlasting colonial countries in the global south also contributing heavily (S.Africa & Australia).
(hover over countries to see more info)
The ND-Gain Score assesses Vulnerability to the Effects of Climate Change & Readiness to Cope with those Effects.
Countries near the equator and the global South, shown above to contribute significantly less to CO2e emissions are shown below to be the most Vulnerable with the Lowest readiness. Researchers at Notre Dame have calculated that people living in the least developed countries have 10 times more chance of being affected by a climate disaster than those in wealthy countries each year. ND-GAIN data show it will take over 100 years for lower income countries to reach the resiliency of richer countries.
(drag to navigate the world, scroll to zoom & hover over countries to see more info)
Climate Migration & Post Colonialism
Climate Change & Climate Migration are inherintley linked to post-colonialism, as mentioned in the video. Post-colonialism has shaped the way that global systems work, and not for the better.
Physically, culturally & climatically increasing the pressure of climate change.
Physically enforcing western methods of farming and energy generation, which have so hugely contributed to climate change.
Dominating areas in order to extract value from their land, and then forcing the adoption of GDP prioritisation as a measure of success.
Reducing the improtance of originality, and localisation, removing important culturally significant practices which would help the area to be more resilient to the effects of climate change.
Resilience, Reduction & Reparations
Resilience to the drivers of climate migration can reduce the effects of the main drivers of climate migration, such as extreme heat, food & water scarcity and the effects of sea level change. They are imperative to reducing climate change’s effect on humans and how we live. Good resilience strategies could notably reduce the amount of Climate Migration we see.
Reducing the amount of and the worst effects of climate migration will be beneficial to all of humanity not only those in countries which will see the worst affects. Shown above is a depiction of how a high and low reduction scenario might play out.
Reparations could play a huge part in reducing the hugely unequal and unjust system which has contributed to the physical and ‘human‘ impacts of climate migration. Firstly though the effects of climate change (with rich and colonial countries emitting more GHG but seeing less effects). Secondly through the effects of reducing other countries capacity to cope, with rich colonial countries often exploiting other countries for resources, reducing their ability to cope with the effects of climate change.
Establishing and understanding what is Creating Drivers of Climate Migration is key to tackling Climate Migration as a whole. Climatic root causes are generally the effects of climate change. Such as globally increasing temperatures or rising sea levels. They then lead to drivers such as prolonged drought, more areas facing extreme heat or areas experiencing more coastal flooding and soil-salination.
Another key root cause of Climate Migration is lack of resiliency. Things which cause this reduced resiliency are as important at resolving Climate Migration as the other more ‘physical’ effects. Increasing resiliency in areas which have historically had low resilience can prevent a lot of the drivers of forced climate migration, therefore also reducing the effects.
Climatic Drivers are forces of nature, particularly forces which are seeing an increase due to Anthropogenic Climate Change, which are increasing inhospitality of areas whether through extreme weather events, increasing heat or rising sea levels.
Climatic changes can be Rapid or Slow forcers of displacement. With Rapid effects which force displacement being events such as flash floods, typhoons, and heat-waves. While slow effects which force displacement are things such as Sea-Level rise, anually rising temperatures or less predictable weather patterns.
Resilience Factors are human or governmental factors which play a large role in people’s ability to deal with climate disasters; these include a wide range of factors from early warning systems and food & water security to GDP per capita & Population Density.
Root Causes are drivers of either Climatic or Resilience forces which create a world destined for Climate Migration. However, nearly always there are multiple drivers of forced Climate Migration.
Problems which result from Climate Migration directly effect three key groups. Climate Migrants themselves, areas facing high Climate Emigration and areas facing high Climate Immigration.
Direct problems caused by climate migration include mental, physical and financial strain for those forcibly displaced, areas facing high emigration face loss of knowledge and culture. Areas facing high immigration often see social strains, over-urbanisation and often in-equal allocation of strained resources.
Indirect problems arise from factors which contribute to a problem related to climate displacement, this could be social and cultural division, while this is not inherent to climate migration, or any large migration, it often occurs due to displaced people wanting to keep their language, customs and culture, leading to sub-groups in cities which cater to these needs, which when combined with resource strains can lead to social fragmentation.
Compound problems which create feedback loops, relaying back to cause more climate displacement. One example of this is over-urbanisation; a high number of climate migrants, place further strain on already struggling food, water and power resources, meaning that people are forced to leave.
Please submit any information on Problems leading to or resulting from Climate Migration, whether they are personal stories, academic studies or anything in between.
Also please comment and draw links to and between other problems shown on the board.
Send a information form,
In it include,
1. An Outline your Problem
2. Information on whether your Problem does one or a Combination of the following.
a. Is a Root Cause
b. Is a Climatic Driver
c. Is a Human Driver
d. Is an Effect of Climate Immigration
e. Is an Effect of Climate Emigration
f. I an Effect on Climate Migrants
3. Information on where & who your project relates to
a. Location
b. Area of Climate Emigration
c. Area of Climate Immigration
d. Urban Area
e. Coastal Area
f. Rural Area
(Information sent here will be added to our database on current Solutions to Climate Migration)
Click links below to go to see information on the problem and how it leads to forced displacement
Global Temperatures Rising
Rising Sea Levels
Westernised Farming Practice
How Post-Colonialism Reduces Resilience to the Effects of Climate Change
Rising Heat Leads to More Extreme Heat Events
Extreme Heat Leading to Climate Migration
Increased Coastal Flooding
Industrial Agriculture Contributes to and Reduces Resilence to Climate Change
Flash Flooding More Likely from Climate Change
Sea-Level Rise Induced Climate Migration
UN, Looking at mass forced migration, due to sea-level rise, caused by climate change.
Effect on Urban areas of Extreme Heat & Climate Immigration
Mass Internal Displacement
Over-Urbanisation
Impact of Forced Migration on Host Communities
Climate Migration & Urban Areas
Lack of Refugee Status
- THIS WEBSITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION - IT IS TO BE CONSIDERED AS A PROTOTYPE
REFERENCES
DEFINITIONS
Share Your Knowledge on Problems
Share Your Knowledge on Solutions
Get Climate Displacement Help
Help Climate Refugees
Improve Areas Affected
Increase Rural Resilience