Migratory Issues in Climate Adaptation Policies

A New Conceptualisation of Population Displacements

Bibliographic Data

ID12116477
AuthorsFanny Florémont (Université de Bordeaux, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume39
Issue1
Pages31-49
Publication date2012-02-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueForum for Development Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0803-9410 • E-ISSN: 1891-1765
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08039410.2011.635382
OpenAlexW2047508610
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited15

The issue of climate change has shed a new light on the migration/development nexus and led to reflection on the link between population displacement and adaptation to environmental degradation. This article examines how the rethinking of population displacements through the climate prism – mainly happening in western countries – impacts climate adaptation and migratory policy-making in least developed countries. It primarily questions the foundations of a widespread approach which tends to address climate-related migration as a new kind of displacement, disconnected from economic, political or social factors and that should be addressed at the global level by specific legal responses and new international settings. Through a reflection on the causes and impacts of climate-related migration, it insists on the complexity of the linkage between population displacements and adaptation. It secondly draws the first conclusions of a case study lead in Mali. While investigating a topic recently put on the agenda of LDCs (climate change) and a renewed conceptualisation of migration issues, this national lens shows that national political responses actually reflect usual donors' and recipients' strategies and dynamics in aid-dependent countries. Despite a lack of reliable data, policy documents relay the common assumption linking climate to migration. This might be explained by external influence on agenda-setting and policy formulation but also by an instrumentalization of these topics by national actors. Furthermore, an analysis of the national framework unveils a poor articulation of migration and climate issue on the field and the weight of a national network of experts

Adaptation (eye · Climate change · Development economics · Economic geography · Economics · Environmental resource management · Geography · Nexus (standard · Political economy · Political economy of climate change · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Disaster Management and Resilience · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Ecology

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