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  • Human Migration in a Changing Climate
  • Clark Gray (bio)
Piguet, Étienne, Antoine Pécoud, and Paul de Guchteneire, eds. 2011. Migration and Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.
White, Gregory. 2011. Climate Change and Migration: Security and Borders in a Warming World. Oxford University Press.

As the evidence for global climate change has mounted, increasing attention by academics, policy-makers, and humanitarian agencies has focused on the possibility that vulnerable populations will be involuntarily displaced, creating “climate refugees.” The literature on this topic was initially driven by neo-Malthusian predictions of imminent large-scale displacement,1 but most academic authors are now skeptical of these claims. Current debates instead focus on the appropriate terminology and methodologies for this field,2 the continued appearance of neo-Malthusian claims,3 and the appropriate global response to this issue.4 The two books reviewed here attempt to summarize this growing literature in quite different formats: Migration and Climate Change is a lengthy edited volume intended for an academic audience, whereas Climate Change and Migration is a shorter book appropriate for undergraduates or the general public. Despite these differences in approach, the two volumes touch on many of the same themes.

The first question addressed by both volumes is the appropriate terminology for individuals who have migrated due to climate change or variability. The terms “climate refugee” and “environmental refugee” still appear regularly in the literature but are rejected by the authors of both volumes considered here. Instead, “climate migrants” or “climate-induced migrants” are preferred. These terms more accurately reflect the fact that most climate-induced moves are at least partly voluntary, particularly for “slow-onset” changes such as drought, and most climate-induced migrants do not cross an international border and [End Page 128] thus are not considered refugees under international law. That this terminological debate is ongoing reflects the relative newness of this field of inquiry. The proposed terms are still imperfect in that they presume we can identify a clear subset of migrants who have been induced to move primarily by climate, which even in the case of extreme events is not necessarily practical to do. The awkwardness of the phrase “climate-influenced migrants” means that the term “climate migrants” is likely here to stay.

A second issue addressed by both volumes is the ongoing presence in this literature of two competing narratives about the nature and magnitude of climate-induced migration. The first narrative is a neo-Malthusian one which assumes that vulnerable populations have little ability to adapt and that climate change will inevitably result in long-distance and long-term displacements of large populations, primarily in the developing world.5 This narrative was dominant in the early years of the field and continues to appear regularly, particularly in non-academic literature on this topic. This narrative has been useful for climate activists and humanitarians to rally support for their causes, as well as for national security experts who draw on it as an additional argument to militarize international borders. The latter use is a major focus of the volume by White, who documents how climate change has been used to argue for increased border security in both traditional destination regions such as Europe and in “transit countries” such as Morocco. However, as documented in the chapter by Jane McAdam in Migration and Climate Change, the “climate migrants” label has also been actively resisted by migrants from the Pacific islands of Tuvalu and Kiribati, countries that are presumed to be highly vulnerable to sea level rise.

Competing with this neo-Malthusian view, an alternative narrative is slowly emerging that recognizes the significant adaptive capacity of rural households in the developing world (often viewed as the population most vulnerable to climate change) with migration as but one option to respond. There is also increasing recognition of the significant social and economic barriers to migration in the developing world, including the need to access migrant networks and financial capital in order to migrate. Within the two volumes, this alternative view is expounded clearly by White and also emerges at places in Piguet et al, particularly in the chapter on Bangladesh. Unlike the neo-Malthusian view, this view is consistent with the...

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