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PUBLIC OPINION

Perception of climate migrants

Nature Climate Change volume 10, pages 600–601 (2020)Cite this article

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Migrants arriving in cities must overcome many challenges, including gaining acceptance from established residents. New research from Kenya and Vietnam shows urbanites accept climate hazards as being as legitimate as economic, political or social motivations for rural-to-urban migration.

Spilker et al. surveyed residents in large and small cities in Kenya and Vietnam about their attitudes toward people who migrate from rural areas. In both countries, ‘environmental migration’ is not a hypothetical phenomenon but something that has happened with some frequency in the past8,9,10,11 and will likely occur with greater frequency in a changing climate. Drought is the most common driver in Kenya, and floods and typhoons the most common drivers in Vietnam, with most environmental migration in each country flowing from rural areas to urban centres.

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  1. Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Robert McLeman

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  1. Robert McLeman
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Correspondence to Robert McLeman.

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McLeman, R. Perception of climate migrants. Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 600–601 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0803-3

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