In terms of destination, it can be either internal or international. Internal migration occurs when people move within the borders of their own country, often from rural areas to urban ones, because of environmental changes such as drought, flooding or soil erosion. These movements can lead to overcrowding, housing problems and social tensions in the urban areas of destination.
International migration, on the other hand, occurs when people cross national borders to escape the impacts of climate change. These movements can create diplomatic and integration challenges, as migrants seek safety and opportunities in new countries. Both types of migration require careful policies to manage the adaptation and resilience of the affected populations.
Studies on this phenomenon.
In 2022, according to the report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), almost 61 million new internal displacements were recorded, an increase of 60% on the previous year. This figure is the highest ever reported and includes both new and repeated displacements.
Among these, disasters, including the floods in Pakistan and Typhoon Noru in the Philippines, led to 32.6 million internal displacements, the highest number ever recorded. This number is expected to rise as the frequency, duration and intensity of natural hazards worsen in the context of climate change.
The report also stresses that food insecurity is both a cause and a consequence of internal displacement and can be an obstacle to finding solutions to this problem.
Unprecedented multidimensional crises are becoming the norm and the impact on human mobility is increasingly evident. Crises linked to ongoing climate impacts, the prolonged effects of the pandemic, economic instability, rising food prices and the global repercussions of the war in Europe led to record levels of food insecurity in large parts of the world in 2022.
This IDMC report is a clear warning that concrete action must be taken now to find sustainable solutions to internal displacement.
The phenomenon does not concern only Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, but also Europe, Central Asia and the Americas.
In general, every part of the world will be affected by the phenomena resulting from climate change. A 2019 report by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) highlights that more than a billion people worldwide could be exposed to climate risks specific to coastal areas by 2050, potentially driving tens or hundreds of millions of people to leave their homes in the coming decades. Slow-onset processes, such as droughts or rising sea levels, increasingly affect people’s mobility around the world.
In this regard, the World Bank’s Groundswell report predicts that climate change could lead up to 216 million people in six regions of the world to move within their own countries by 2050 if urgent action is not taken to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
The impact of climate migration is a multidimensional phenomenon. It concerns issues of human security, human rights, sustainable development and even international peace and security. People who migrate because of climate change often find themselves in a vulnerable situation, facing not only the loss of their homes and livelihoods, but also challenges in finding new opportunities in the areas where they move.
At this rate, it is increasingly likely that we will have to deal with a new figure in the migration emergency: the ‘climate refugee’. For the moment, this term is limited to its evocative power and does not yet have formal international legal recognition.
This means that, despite the evident impact of climate change on human migration, ‘climate refugees’ are not recognised by international law as traditional refugees, which limits their access to specific protection and assistance. The modern concept of refugee originates in the 1951 Geneva Convention and its 1967 Protocol. This lack of formal recognition raises, at least for the moment, important questions about global responsibilities and the protection of human rights in contexts of climate emergency.
Sources:
https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/news/record-number-609-million-internal-displacements-2022-idmc-report
https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/resources/idmc-global-report-internal-displacement-2022
