Guest editorial

Climate change, migration and displacement of populations: a special issue

Assessing the nature and scale of migration that is directly attributable to climate change in the decades ahead is far from straightforward. The interconnectedness of the various drivers of migration, and the complex interactions of climate change with those drivers, make it difficult to attribute specific environmental impacts (Chang Seng and Birkmann, 2011). In the past few decades, potential linkages and implications of climate change on human mobility have taken hold in the literature (Black et al., 2011; Felli and Castree, 2012; Upadhyay et al., 2015). It is becoming clearer that one single factor is rarely a sufficient reason for migrating. Migration causes are usually multi-faceted, with climate change adding to already increasing levels and complexities of population mobility (de Sherbinin et al., 2011; Felli and Castree, 2012; Chang Seng and Birkmann, 2011; Hugo, 2011).

The current debate revolves around many questions: “how many” migrants, “where” they move from and to and “what” consequences could result. “Why” it happens, especially exploring climate change in wider migration contexts is less frequently explored (Upadhyay et al., 2015). In this context, and based on the relevance of the subject even after the Conference of Parties 21 (COP21), Paris, 2015, the goal of this special issue is to collect new studies on climate change, migration and displacement to indicate points of contention, to identify areas where more knowledge is needed and to recommend possible policy-related actions that could be pursued.

In this special issue we were in general interested in deepening our theoretical and practical understanding on Migration and Climate Change, thus we encouraged the submission of papers related to:

• relationship between climate change and other drivers of migration;

• different forms of migration influenced by climate change including rural–urban, short-term, illegal/irregular migration;

• future migration scenarios in relation to projected climate change;

• migration as possible adaptation strategy to climate change;

• recommendations to contribute toward better understanding how to analyze and address the concepts and contexts within “climate change and migration” work;

• global and local problems and/or solutions related to the “climate change migrant” and “climate change refugees”.

A total of 11 papers from Europe (two), Africa (two), Asia (five), the USA (two) have been double-blind peer-reviewed.

Three papers face the topic of the special issue at global level. In particular, I found very interesting the paper of Ahmed (on this issue), from Bangladesh. The author proposes an innovative method for undertaking the responsibility of the climate refugees. Bangladesh, representation a top climatic extreme events victim country, is has been taken as an example. The methods consider the status of climate pollution, resource consumption, economy and consequent human development status rankings to resolve address the problem for by bringing humanitarian justice for the ultimate climate victims refugees. Whereas Shao (on this issue) analyzes the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on carbon intensity observing a significant negative effect on carbon intensity of both high-income countries and middle- and low-income countries. An another interesting conceptual work is proposed by Schwan and Yu (on this issue). The authors explore the roles of social protection (provision of protection, transfers and insurance, as well as of rights and legislation empowering the disadvantaged) in reducing and facilitating migration due to climate change. Findings indicate that social protection can provide temporary support to facilitate migration, in situ adaptation or integration and adaptation in destination areas.

Policy and legislation related to the climate-induced migration is faced by three authors. Yamamoto et al. (on this issue) examine what extent South American countries focus on human mobility in the context of disasters and climate change in their national norms and policies. This article first analyses the treatment of human mobility in the Sendai Framework and Paris Agreement. Then, it addresses disaster laws, National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to assess the treatment of human mobility in national laws and policies of South American countries. Thomas and Benjamin (on this issue) explore existing gaps in policies and mechanisms and challenges faced by Caribbean and Pacific small island developing states in developing strategies to address climate-induced migration and displacement. Best practices and recommendations to address migration and displacement are provided. Whereas Crncevic and Orlovic-Lovren (on this issue), taking into account the global policies and current trends within climate change and disaster risk reduction respecting the displacement of people, present the status of the Republic of Serbia and its capacities regarding resilient development with special reference to the planning policy and capacities of professionals and citizens.

The link between climate change and migration is explored by some authors in India, Ethiopia and Iran. Jha et al. (on this issue) found that the perception of farmers living in Bihar, India influences migration along with socio-economic characteristics. Assen et al. (on this issue) face the problem of migration induced by drought in arid lands as north-east highlands of Ethiopia investigating the trends of drought incidence in the last three decades pointing out a significant increasing tendencies at three-month (summer). Whereas, Rajabi and Babakhani (on this issue) forecast for the next decades an increasing scarcity of water resources for agriculture purposes in West Iran.

Adaptation strategies are presented in two completed different contexts: in Ghana with concerns related to drought evidences and in Vietnam as regards as floods. Musah-Surugu et al. (on this issue) argue that migrants’ remittances in Ghana provide a unique complementary opportunity for financing adaptation and have a wider impact on those who are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Whereas Duy et al. (on this issue) face the problem of flood and urban mobility in Vietnam presenting a case-study showing a growing concern that a combination of rapid urban expansion and climate changes will increase the vulnerably of the area.

Finally, I would like to take the opportunity of acknowledging all those who have contributed towards this thematic volume of IJCCSM – International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management. I warmly thank all authors who submitted their manuscripts for consideration of inclusion in this thematic volume. The reviewing was a double-blind process. I also thank the reviewers who have taken time to provide timely feedback to the authors, thereby helping the authors to improve their manuscripts.