Alex De Sherbinin
Biographic Data
| ID | 1824539 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alex De Sherbinin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alex |
| FAMILY NAME | De Sherbinin |
| SIGNATURE | DE SHERBININ A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Earth Island Institute |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8875-4864 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 230 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Aspirations in a warming world
Climate-induced redistribution of people is not inevitable
Climate-induced redistribution of people is not inevitable, Boas, Ingrid, Sterly, Harald, Farbotko, Carol, Hulme, Mike, Benveniste, Hélène, Schewel, Kerilyn D, Bettini, Giovanni, Borderon, Marion, Hoffmann, Roman, van der Geest, Kees, Durand-Delacre, David, Selby, Jan, Wrathall, David J, Baldwin, Andrew, Benítez Cortés, Ailín, Bukari, Kaderi N, Bunchuay-Peth, Simon, Capisani, Simona, Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey, Dahm, Ruben, Dewan, Camelia, Dijstelb…
Rural migration under climate and land systems change
A framework to link climate change, food security, and migration
Researchers have long hypothesized linkages between climate change, food security, and migration in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). One such hypothesis is the “agricultural pathway,” which postulates that negative climate change impacts on food production harm livelihoods, which triggers rural out-migration, internally or abroad. Migration is thus an adaptation to cope with the impacts of climate change and bolster livelihoods. Recent e…
Mapping fine-resolution nested social-ecological system archetypes to reveal archetypical human-environmental interactions
A future agenda for research on climate change and human mobility
In the past 15 years, research activities focusing on the interlinkages between climate change and human mobility have intensified. At the same time, an increasing number of actors and processes have sought to address human mobility in the context of climate change from a policy perspective. Hitherto, research has been limited in terms of geographical preferences as well as conceptual and methodological focus areas. This paper argues that to addr…
Migration Theory in Climate Mobility Research
The purpose of this article is to explore how migration theory is invoked in empirical studies of climate-related migration, and to provide suggestions for engagement with theory in the emerging field of climate mobility. Theory is critical for understanding processes we observe in social-ecological systems because it points to a specific locus of attention for research, shapes research questions, guides quantitative model development, influences…
Supporting the agency of cities as climate migration destinations
As climate migration has garnered the interest of research and policy communities over the last two decades, the focus has been on whether, how and where climate stresses might precipitate out‐migration, and how to assist and protect those affected. Less attention has gone to the places that receive climate migrants, and how their arrival might affect adaptation at destination. Against the backdrop of increasingly severe climate disruptions, this…
Food security among dryland pastoralists and agropastoralists
During the last decades, pastoralist, and agropastoralist populations of the world's drylands have become exceedingly vulnerable to regional and global changes. Specifically, exacerbated stressors imposed on these populations have adversely affected their food security status, causing humanitarian emergencies and catastrophes. Of these stressors, climate variability and change, land-use and management practices, and dynamics of human demography a…
Groundswell Africa
Uganda is a diverse and verdant country. From the tall volcanic mountains along the eastern and western borders to the densely forested wetlands of the Albert Nile River and the rainforests in the center of the country, it encompasses many different ecosystems. Kampala, the capital city, is built around seven hills not far from the shores of Lake Victoria. These varying landscapes provide Ugandans with ample resources to capitalize on tourism and…
Groundswell Africa
Between its natural wealth with diverse cultures, increasingly rapid urbanization, and some of the world’s most impressive wildlife, Tanzania strikes visitors as a country of diversity and dynamism. At the same time, the country is facing challenges from climate change that will put its people, policymakers, and ecosystems to a test. Migration has long been a strategy of Tanzanians to deal with adverse climatic conditions, but as this report illu…
Groundswell Africa
The World Bank’s flagship report, Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration (Rigaud et al. 2018), and the sequel (Clement et al. 2021), finds that that Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to witness high levels of climate-induced mobility. An expanded and deeper analysis through Groundswell Africa, focusing on West African countries, reaffirms this pattern region (Rigaud et al. 2021a). The recent study projects that by 2050, without concrete…
Groundswell Africa
This report, as part of the Groundswell Africa series, reaffirms the potency for climate change to drive internal migration in West African countries. The results described in this report are based on the application of an enhanced version of the pioneering Groundswell model with a more granular analysis and additional features better placed to inform policy dialogue and action. The study finds that without concrete climate and development action…
Groundswell Africa
This report, as part of the Groundswell Africa series, reaffirms the potency for climate change to drive internal migration in the Lake Victoria Basin. The results described in this report are based on the application of an enhanced version of the pioneering Groundswell model with a more granular analysis and additional features better placed to inform policy dialogue and action. Without concrete climate and development action, the five Lake Vict…
Groundswell Africa
The World Bank’s flagship report Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration finds that Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to witness high levels of climate-induced mobility (Rigaud et al. 2018). An expanded and deeper analysis through Groundswell Africa, focusing on West African countries, reaffirms this pattern region. The recent study projects that by 2050, without concrete climate and development action, West Africa could see as many as 3…
Groundswell Part 2
This sequel to the Groundswell report includes projections and analysis of internal climate migration for three new regions: East Asia and the Pacific, North Africa, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Qualitative analyses of climate-related mobility in countries of the Mashreq and in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are also provided. This new report builds on the scenario-based modeling approach of the previous Groundswell report from 201…
A New Dataset Integrating Public Socioeconomic, Physical Risk, and Housing Data for Climate Justice Metrics
Assessing the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations and the implications of such impacts is a critical step toward climate and environmental justice. In general, indices or metrics that aim at studying linkages between climatic environmental impacts and vulnerable populations lack housing information. Financially relevant real estate data (e.g., mortgages, evictions) alongside other socioeconomic and physical risk information can, ho…
Climate Mobility and Development Cooperation
Development cooperation actors have been addressing climate change as a cross-cutting issue and investing in climate adaptation projects since the early 2000s. More recently, as concern has risen about the potential impacts of climate variability and change on human mobility, development cooperation actors have begun to design projects that intentionally address the drivers of migration, including climate impacts on livelihoods. However, to date,…
China's poverty alleviation resettlement
The spatial allocation of population
Population data represent an essential component in studies focusing on human–nature interrelationships, disaster risk assessment and environmental health. Several recent efforts have produced global- and continental-extent gridded population data which are becoming increasingly popular among various research communities. However, these data products, which are of very different characteristics and based on different modeling assumptions, have ne…
Science for Loss and Damage. Findings and Propositions
The debate on “Loss and Damage” (L&D) has gained traction over the last few years. Supported by growing scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change amplifying frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related hazards as well as observed increases in climate-related impacts and risks in many regions, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage” was established in 2013 and further supported through the Paris Agreement in 2015…
Climate vulnerability mapping
Maps synthesizing climate, biophysical and socioeconomic data have become part of the standard tool‐kit for communicating the risks of climate change to society. Vulnerability maps are used to direct attention to geographic areas where impacts on society are expected to be greatest and that may therefore require adaptation interventions. Under the Green Climate Fund and other bilateral climate adaptation funding mechanisms, donors are investing b…
People and Pixels 20 years later
Groundswell
This report, which focuses on three regions—Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America that together represent 55 percent of the developing world’s population—finds that climate change will push tens of millions of people to migrate within their countries by 2050. It projects that without concrete climate and development action, just over 143 million people—or around 2.8 percent of the population of these three regions—could be forced to m…
Uncertainty in Estimates, Incentives, and Emission Reductions in Redd+ Projects
The accurate monitoring and measurement of emission reductions is a critical step in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). However, the existence of uncertainty in emission reduction estimates affects the performance of REDD+ projects. We assert that incentive could be a valuable policy tool for reducing monitoring errors and transaction costs. Using Stackelberg models and simulation research, this paper examines the effe…
Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment
The vulnerability of global cities to climate hazards
This paper examines the vulnerabilities of three global coastal cities — Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai — to climate hazards. The paper highlights system characteristics that, in unique combinations, create place-based vulnerabilities to climate hazards. It describes these vulnerabilities then discusses the implications of the results for city planners and managers. A concluding section assesses some of the political obstacles to better disa…
China's poverty alleviation resettlement
Transition towards a new global change science
The biophysical and geographical correlates of child malnutrition in Africa
Hunger is a major problem in sub‐Saharan Africa, and unlike other world regions the problem seems to be worsening. This paper seeks to determine if, when controlling for income and the health conditions, biophysical and geographical variables help to explain variation in the rates of child malnutrition. The literature on this subject is inconclusive precisely because the survey data, upon which most studies of malnutrition rely, rarely include va…
People and Pixels 20 years later
Food security among dryland pastoralists and agropastoralists
During the last decades, pastoralist, and agropastoralist populations of the world's drylands have become exceedingly vulnerable to regional and global changes. Specifically, exacerbated stressors imposed on these populations have adversely affected their food security status, causing humanitarian emergencies and catastrophes. Of these stressors, climate variability and change, land-use and management practices, and dynamics of human demography a…
A future agenda for research on climate change and human mobility
In the past 15 years, research activities focusing on the interlinkages between climate change and human mobility have intensified. At the same time, an increasing number of actors and processes have sought to address human mobility in the context of climate change from a policy perspective. Hitherto, research has been limited in terms of geographical preferences as well as conceptual and methodological focus areas. This paper argues that to addr…
Completing the Picture
Supporting the agency of cities as climate migration destinations
As climate migration has garnered the interest of research and policy communities over the last two decades, the focus has been on whether, how and where climate stresses might precipitate out‐migration, and how to assist and protect those affected. Less attention has gone to the places that receive climate migrants, and how their arrival might affect adaptation at destination. Against the backdrop of increasingly severe climate disruptions, this…
A global indicator of wastewater treatment to inform the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Mapping the future
We describe the development of climate vulnerability maps for three Sahelian countries - Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger - and for coastal West Africa, with a focus on the way the maps were designed to meet decision-making needs and their ultimate influence and use in policy contexts. The paper provides a review of the literature on indicators and maps in the science-policy interface. We then assess the credibility, salience, and legitimacy of the …
Rural migration under climate and land systems change
Completing the Picture
Population and Environment
The interactions between human population dynamics and the environment have often been viewed mechanistically. This review elucidates the complexities and contextual specificities of population-environment relationships in a number of domains. It explores the ways in which demographers and other social scientists have sought to understand the relationships among a full range of population dynamics (e.g., population size, growth, density, age and …
Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment
The vulnerability of global cities to climate hazards
This paper examines the vulnerabilities of three global coastal cities — Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai — to climate hazards. The paper highlights system characteristics that, in unique combinations, create place-based vulnerabilities to climate hazards. It describes these vulnerabilities then discusses the implications of the results for city planners and managers. A concluding section assesses some of the political obstacles to better disa…
The biophysical and geographical correlates of child malnutrition in Africa
Hunger is a major problem in sub‐Saharan Africa, and unlike other world regions the problem seems to be worsening. This paper seeks to determine if, when controlling for income and the health conditions, biophysical and geographical variables help to explain variation in the rates of child malnutrition. The literature on this subject is inconclusive precisely because the survey data, upon which most studies of malnutrition rely, rarely include va…
Preparing for Resettlement Associated with Climate Change
Mitigation and adaptation projects will lead to increased population displacement, calling for new research and attention to past lessons.
Migration and risk
The potential for altered ecosystems and extreme weather events in the context of climate change has raised questions concerning the role that migration plays in either increasing or reducing risks to society. Using modeled data on net migration over three decades from 1970 to 2000, we identify sensitive ecosystems and regions at high risk of climate hazards that have seen high levels of net in-migration and out-migration over the time period. Th…
Transition towards a new global change science
Introduction
Inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to population–environment research for sustainability aims
Using satellite data to develop environmental indicators
Environmental indicators are increasingly being used in policy and management contexts, yet serious data deficiencies exist for many parameters of interest to environmental decision making. With its global synoptic coverage and the wide range of instruments available, satellite remote sensing has the potential to fill a number of these gaps, yet their potential contribution to indicator development has largely remained untested. In this paper we …
Mapping the unmeasurable
A global indicator of wastewater treatment to inform the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
A Quantitative Evaluation of the Multiple Narratives of the Recent Sahelian Regreening
A spatial analysis is presented that aims to synthesize the evidence for climate and social dimensions of the “regreening” of the Sahel. Using an independently constructed archival database of donor-funded interventions in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal in response to the persistence of drought in the 1970s and 1980s, the spatial distribution of these interventions is examined in relation to population density and to trends in precipitati…
Temperature and humidity based projections of a rapid rise in global heat stress exposure during the 21st century
As a result of global increases in both temperature and specific humidity, heat stress is projected to intensify throughout the 21 st century. Some of the regions most susceptible to dangerous heat and humidity combinations are also among the most densely populated. Consequently, there is the potential for widespread exposure to wet bulb temperatures that approach and in some cases exceed postulated theoretical limits of human tolerance by mid- t…
Mapping the future
We describe the development of climate vulnerability maps for three Sahelian countries - Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger - and for coastal West Africa, with a focus on the way the maps were designed to meet decision-making needs and their ultimate influence and use in policy contexts. The paper provides a review of the literature on indicators and maps in the science-policy interface. We then assess the credibility, salience, and legitimacy of the …
Groundswell
This report, which focuses on three regions—Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America that together represent 55 percent of the developing world’s population—finds that climate change will push tens of millions of people to migrate within their countries by 2050. It projects that without concrete climate and development action, just over 143 million people—or around 2.8 percent of the population of these three regions—could be forced to m…
Uncertainty in Estimates, Incentives, and Emission Reductions in Redd+ Projects
The accurate monitoring and measurement of emission reductions is a critical step in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). However, the existence of uncertainty in emission reduction estimates affects the performance of REDD+ projects. We assert that incentive could be a valuable policy tool for reducing monitoring errors and transaction costs. Using Stackelberg models and simulation research, this paper examines the effe…
The spatial allocation of population
Population data represent an essential component in studies focusing on human–nature interrelationships, disaster risk assessment and environmental health. Several recent efforts have produced global- and continental-extent gridded population data which are becoming increasingly popular among various research communities. However, these data products, which are of very different characteristics and based on different modeling assumptions, have ne…
Science for Loss and Damage. Findings and Propositions
The debate on “Loss and Damage” (L&D) has gained traction over the last few years. Supported by growing scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change amplifying frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related hazards as well as observed increases in climate-related impacts and risks in many regions, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage” was established in 2013 and further supported through the Paris Agreement in 2015…
Climate vulnerability mapping
Maps synthesizing climate, biophysical and socioeconomic data have become part of the standard tool‐kit for communicating the risks of climate change to society. Vulnerability maps are used to direct attention to geographic areas where impacts on society are expected to be greatest and that may therefore require adaptation interventions. Under the Green Climate Fund and other bilateral climate adaptation funding mechanisms, donors are investing b…
People and Pixels 20 years later
China's poverty alleviation resettlement
Groundswell Africa
Uganda is a diverse and verdant country. From the tall volcanic mountains along the eastern and western borders to the densely forested wetlands of the Albert Nile River and the rainforests in the center of the country, it encompasses many different ecosystems. Kampala, the capital city, is built around seven hills not far from the shores of Lake Victoria. These varying landscapes provide Ugandans with ample resources to capitalize on tourism and…
Groundswell Africa
Between its natural wealth with diverse cultures, increasingly rapid urbanization, and some of the world’s most impressive wildlife, Tanzania strikes visitors as a country of diversity and dynamism. At the same time, the country is facing challenges from climate change that will put its people, policymakers, and ecosystems to a test. Migration has long been a strategy of Tanzanians to deal with adverse climatic conditions, but as this report illu…
Geography (28 works) · Political science (24 works) · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration (20 works) · Environmental resource management (18 works) · Economics (17 works) · Climate change (16 works) · Computer Science (15 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Environmental Science (12 works) · Population (12 works)