By Daria Mokhnacheva, Thematic Specialist at the Migration, Environment and Climate Change Division, International Organization for Migration (IOM), with contributions by Dina Ionesco, Head of the Migration, Environment and Climate Change Division (IOM) and François Gemenne, Executive Director of the Politics of the Earth Programme at Sciences Po, and Senior Research Associate at the University of Liège – Hugo Observatory

 

Environmental migration is a fact. Most countries experience some form of migration associated with environmental and climate change, or forced immobility for those populations that end up trapped. Sudden-onset disasters as well as slow-onset environmental change taking place around the world, whether natural or manmade, profoundly affect migration drivers and migration patterns, even though the relationship between concrete environmental factors and migratory response is seldom direct and linear. Indeed, environmental migration or immobility results from the interplay of intricate economic, political, social and environmental dynamics, where the environmental component is sometimes hard to identify but is nonetheless critical.

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