ECMN23 Program

… critical assessments of how climate mobility is used in major climate discourses, and how it is constructed as a concept. The papers present diverse perspectives ranging from scrutinizing the treatment of migration and mobility in the IPCC AR6, discussing the construction of “climate refugees” and “climate migration”, to proposing new normative frameworks for understanding climate mobilities. These inputs contribute to the conceptualization of climate mobility and its implications in research and discourse.

… literature reviews and meta-analyses examining the influence of environmental changes on human migration. The papers analyze specific geographical areas including Bangladesh, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, as well as a global temperature-focused study. They review the history, regional contexts, specific environmental drivers of migration such as temperature.

… employ quantitative methods to examine the relationship between environmental changes and mobility, and utilize datasets on a meso-scale. These papers delve into various aspects, such as the impact of financial resources, demographic changes, household shocks, water scarcity, and aridity on migration patterns. The geographic focus of these studies spans from the national to global level, including specific case studies in Indonesia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Senegal.

… assessments of the effectiveness of migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change, with a comprehensive conceptual framing, and cases with a particular focus on Bangladesh, Ghana, Ethiopia, India, and Pakistan. The contributions examine the dynamics and outcomes of involuntary (im)mobility, livelihood stabilization through migration, the contribution of migration to resilience, the impact of migration on remaining communities. The studies highlight the need for a nuanced understanding of migration as adaptation, with various positive and negative outcomes reported.

… intricate dynamics of individual perceptions and social factors in climate-induced mobility. Drawing from research in Ethiopia, Sudan, Cambodia, India, and Sub-Saharan Africa, the session underscores the multifaceted ways in which short-term mobilities, climate-conflict nexus, gender differences, and income levels intersect with the perceived and observed impacts of climate change, shaping the patterns of migration and immobility.

… capture and model climate-induced mobility data. The papers present new data sources and methodologies such as the use of mobile phone data for tracking seasonal mobility, the downscaling of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) for understanding disaster displacement, agent-based models to simulate migration decisions, and the use of satellite imagery to improve census data. They also focus on areas where data is scarce or non-existent, demonstrating the application of these new datasets and models in case studies from Senegal, Brazil, Nepal, Madagascar, and West Africa. In addition, this session explores the policy implications of these modelling approaches, such as the unintended consequences of adaptation policies in Nepal.

… the role of migration as an adaptation strategy, with a specific emphasis on the mechanisms and contexts, providing more detailed insights into aspects such as gender dynamics, translocal livelihoods, and migration infrastructure. It features studies from Senegal, Vietnam, Colombia, Nigeria, the USA, Morocco, and Ghana. Topics include gendered differences in adaptation, the role of migration for adaptation, the infrastructure necessary for adaptive mobility, the impacts of social remittances on adaptation, and the changes in migration dynamics in response to climate change. The session highlights the importance of understanding the socio-economic context and gender dynamics to understand the potential contribution of migration to adaptation.

In the workshop, we will discuss the future options for the “Environmental and Climate Mobilities Network”. As of now, the network has the goals of fostering dialogue and exchange among the environmental mobilities researchers, facilitating a closer collaboration between researchers, decision makers and practitioners, and bringing together stakeholders from all over the world.

Relevant questions to discuss are:

• How can the network enable a fruitful and effective exchange between different epistemic communities (e.g. quantitative modelers, critical social scientists, political scientists, etc.)?
• What role can the network play in fostering a stronger integration of science and policy?
• How to facilitate more active engagement of researchers and stakeholders from the “Global South”? 
• How formal or informal does the network need to be – for the time being, and in the long run?

We will also take up other aspects or questions that we will collect online during the event.

• The workshop will be held in hybrid mode, so that also online participants will be able to actively participate.

… environmental factors shape migration decisions. It features case studies from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Mexico, Morocco, Malaysia, Turkey, Kenya, and Uganda, examining the complexities of migration determinants such as salinization, home destruction, gender inequalities, and familial networks. The studies underscore the need to disentangle causalities and highlight the interplay of climate risks and socioeconomic vulnerabilities in influencing mobility aspirations and capabilities.

…the concept of immobility in the face of climate change. It delves into understanding the reasons and implications of non-migration, the linkages of vulnerability and immobility, and the intergenerational aspects of immobility. The case studies span globally and across diverse settings, such as high-risk coastal urban areas, rural communities in Bangladesh and India, and different socio-ecological contexts in Australia and Latin America. The session also discusses how lack of insurance and the costs associated with mobility can lead to immobility.

… the dynamic intersection of mobility and immobility under slow-onset climate impacts. The papers included offer diverse case studies from Ghana, Indonesia, and the USA, focusing on how communities navigate the challenges of climate change through either migration or in-situ adaptation. The session illuminates various aspects, from the effectiveness of mitigation and adaptation measures, the role of indigenous knowledge and citizen science, to the justice implications of different adaptation preferences. Key themes include flooding, coastal erosion, and climate-induced uncertainties.

… intersectional and cross-scale power dynamics: it delves into the intersection of climate mobility, gender, and political ecology. It discusses the necessity to apply national and global perspectives of (feminist) political ecologies to environmental mobilities, investigates socially differentiated perceptions and power relations, investigates the discrepancies between experiences of climate migrants and policymakers’ perceptions, and theorizes on the political dynamics of a habitable world.

… important aspects of mobility in the context of climate change that need more attention, including the impacts of water scarcity, land tenure, land degradation, pollution, and information technology, as well as the need for stronger exchange between research and policy making. The global studies, case studies, and conceptual contributions within this session offer new perspectives on the relationships between environmental factors and human mobility, and challenge and broaden the positioning of science and policy actors.

… critique and enhance our understanding of how climate migration is governed at various levels. It includes discussions on the overlooked experiences of people with disabilities, the need for a more rights-based approach in Pacific Islands’ migration governance, and potential exploitation of environmental migrants. The session also discusses the rise and potential of litigation for environmental migrant recognition and protection, and analyzes the narrative of climate mobilities in European national parliaments, emphasizing the necessity of a transdisciplinary understanding of environmental migration.