Climate migration myths

Nature Climate Change volume 9, pages901–903(2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Misleading claims about mass migration induced by climate change continue to surface in both academia and policy. This requires a new research agenda on ‘climate mobilities’ that moves beyond simplistic assumptions and more accurately advances knowledge of the nexus between human mobility and climate change.

Access options

Rent or Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

from$8.99

Rent or Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. 1.

    Nash, S. L. Glob. Policy 9, 53–63 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. 2.

    Boas, I. Climate Migration and Security: Securitisation as a Strategy in Climate Change Politics (Routledge, 2015).

  3. 3.

    Betts, A. & Pilath, A. J. Int. Relat. Dev. 20, 782–804 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. 4.

    Piguet, E., Kaenzig, R. & Guélat, J. Popul. Environ. 39, 357–383 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. 5.

    Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018–2020 Part 12—Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials (European Commission, 2018); https://go.nature.com/31Upkvp

  6. 6.

    DRS-22-2015—Ethical/Societal Dimension Topic 3: Impact of Climate Change in Third Countries on Europe’s Security (CORDIS, European Commission, 2015); https://cordis.europa.eu/programme/rcn/665095/en

  7. 7.

    Trombetta, M. J. Crit. Stud. Secur. 2, 131–147 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. 8.

    National Security Implications of Climate-Related Risks and a Changing Climate RefID 8–6475571 (United States Department of Defense, 2015); https://go.nature.com/2obMFuL

  9. 9.

    Suliman, S. Globalizations 13, 638–652 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. 10.

    Black, R. et al. Glob. Environ. Change 21, S3–S11 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. 11.

    Foresight: Migration and Global Environmental Change (UK Government Office for Science, 2011); https://go.nature.com/31A0Xmr

  12. 12.

    Gemenne, F. Glob. Environ. Change 21, S41–S49 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. 13.

    Wiegel, H., Boas, I. & Warner, J. WIRes Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.610 (2019).

  14. 14.

    Sakdapolrak, P. et al. Erde 147, 81–94 (2016).

    Google Scholar 

  15. 15.

    Urry, J. Mobilities (Polity, 2007).

  16. 16.

    Missirian, A. & Schlenker, W. Science 358, 1610–1614 (2017).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  17. 17.

    Arnall, A., Hilson, C. & McKinnon, C. Clim. Policy 19, 665–671 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. 18.

    Foner, N. & Simon, P. (eds) Fear, Anxiety, and National Identity: Immigration and Belonging in North America and Western Europe (Russell Sage Foundation, 2015).

  19. 19.

    Baldwin-Edwards, M., Blitz, B. K. & Crawley, H. J. Ethn. Migr. Stud. 45, 2139–2155 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research under grant no. VENI 451‐16‐030 and the Wageningen University Department of Social Sciences Excellence Fund.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Ingrid Boas, Simon Bush, Hanne Wiegel & Machiel Lamers

  2. Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia

    Carol Farbotko

  3. Department of Geography, King’s College London, London, UK

    Helen Adams

  4. Department of Geography and Regional Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Harald Sterly & Patrick Sakdapolrak

  5. United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, Bonn, Germany

    Kees van der Geest

  6. Department of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Hasan Ashraf

  7. Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Andrew Baldwin

  8. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Giovanni Bettini

  9. Institute of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland

    Suzy Blondin & Etienne Piguet

  10. African Studies Centre, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands

    Mirjam de Bruijn

  11. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    David Durand-Delacre & Mike Hulme

  12. German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, Germany

    Christiane Fröhlich

  13. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Giovanna Gioli

  14. Sociology of Development and Change Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Lucia Guaita, Basundhara Tripathy Furlong & Jeroen Warner

  15. Hugo Observatory, Department of Geography, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Elodie Hut & Caroline Zickgraf

  16. Department of Planning, University for Development Studies, Wa, Ghana

    Francis X. Jarawura

  17. Centre for Sustainable Development Studies, Institute for Environmental Management and Land Use Planning, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Samuel Lietaer

  18. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Forest, Environment and Natural Resource Policy, Wien, Austria

    Sarah L. Nash

  19. Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Delf Rothe

  20. Human Geography, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

    Lothar Smith

  21. KTH, Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, Stockholm, Sweden

    Ethemcan Turhan

  22. College of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Richard Black

Authors
  1. Ingrid Boas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carol Farbotko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Helen Adams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Harald Sterly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Simon Bush
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Kees van der Geest
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Hanne Wiegel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Hasan Ashraf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Andrew Baldwin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Giovanni Bettini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Suzy Blondin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Mirjam de Bruijn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. David Durand-Delacre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Christiane Fröhlich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Giovanna Gioli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Lucia Guaita
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Elodie Hut
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Francis X. Jarawura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Machiel Lamers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Samuel Lietaer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Sarah L. Nash
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Etienne Piguet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Delf Rothe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Patrick Sakdapolrak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Lothar Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  26. Basundhara Tripathy Furlong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  27. Ethemcan Turhan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  28. Jeroen Warner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  29. Caroline Zickgraf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  30. Richard Black
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  31. Mike Hulme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ingrid Boas.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Boas, I., Farbotko, C., Adams, H. et al. Climate migration myths. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9, 901–903 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0633-3

Download citation

Further reading

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing