With the advance of climate change and environmental changes threatening livelihoods, their impacts on migration and displacement are receiving increasing attention in research, politics, and civil society. The issue is complex and multi-dimensional, with environmental changes affecting human mobility in diverse ways. The three reports in this series thus evaluate the evidence base for policymaking, and provide entry points for responses in the field of climate change adaptation.

This second report focuses on the impacts of migration, environment and climate change, and explores four of the main ways in which environmental change and migration are linked to date. The analysis also includes consideration of how these impact types might develop in the future.

This paper explores some of the main ways in which environmental change and migration have been linked to date. Reflecting the complexity and multi-dimensionality of the issue, it seeks to illustrate how environmental changes impact on human mobility in diverse and often subtle ways, reflecting differentiated vulnerabilities, and contexts often characterised by the presence of multiple “migration drivers”. Alongside environmental factors, the analysis will consider key economic, political, demographic and social trends and drivers. These include factors such as level of socio-economic development, economic growth, resource scarcity, governance frameworks, population growth, and urbanisation.
The following four “impact types” are considered:
1) Mobility responses to sudden-onset hazards
2) Mobility responses in the context of slow-onset hazards
3) Linkages between environmental change, conflict and mobility
4) Immobile populations
Analysis will include consideration of how these impact types might develop in the future.