Climate change will increase migration flows, in particular from the world’s poorest and most crisis-prone countries. The links between climate change and migration are complex and difficult to identify. In spite of disagreement about how to identify climate as a causal factor in migration, the policy challenges posed by the movement are real.
Even though climate change and environmental degradation have a significant impact on population movements worldwide, at present, there is no coherent policy approach from the European Union (EU) on how to respond to the phenomenon of environmentally-induced migration/ displacement.Discussing climate change and migration also implies a considerable debate about the terminology. Terms like environmental
or climate ‘refugee’ have been questioned, both in the academic and political sphere. It is necessary
to keep in mind that the choice of words also has important legal and policy implications. ‘People who move in the context of environmental change’ and related notions are considered to be adequate to describe the phenomenon and therefore used in this report.