Migration amid Climate Change: Adaptation, Displacement, and People Trapped in Place

Climate change is driving and altering migration in a variety of ways. Patterns of human movement often differ in the face of fast-moving environmental disasters such as floods and wildfires, versus slow-onset changes including extreme heat, drought, and sea-level rise. Other factors, including the resilience of a community’s infrastructure and their dependence on agricultural livelihoods, can help determine whether, when, and how people migrate.

At the same time, leaving home can be a way for individuals to adapt to a more precarious climate. The money that migrants earn and send back can help families and communities invest in defenses against changing climates and ultimately help them stay in place long term. As the effects of climate change increase globally in the coming years, the ramifications for human migration—as well as forced immobility—will only grow.

On this webinar, speakers discuss on-the-ground experiences of climate change and migration in East Africa, South Asia, and other global contexts.

Speakers:

• Julian Hattem, Editor, Migration Information Source, MPI; Author, Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration
• Rose Kobusinge, Founder and Director, Vital Crest Foundation
• Zahid Amin Shashoto, Head of Program, Climate Change and Water Governance, Uttaran, Bangladesh

Opening Remarks: Andrew Selee, President, MPI

Moderator: Lawrence Huang, Policy Analyst, MPI

www.migrationpolicy.org

• MPI’s related resource can be found at: https://bit.ly/climateandmigration
• Listen to MPI’s podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration at https://bit.ly/ClimateMigrationPod
• Check out Julian Hattem’s book “Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration” – https://bit.ly/climatemigration-hattem