Migration is a universal and common process and is linked to development in multiple ways. When mainstreamed in broader frameworks, especially in development planning, migration can benefit the communities on both ends.

This report assesses and maps 184 peer-reviewed, empirical research articles selected for their focus on linkages between water stress and human migration. First and most importantly, this literature asserts that migration is universal. Migration is an extremely common social process and is normal in almost every society on earth. Moreover, migration is not a pathological response to environmental change. Environment- influenced migration is rarely (if ever) a resource threat to the regions to which people move. The literature does, however, observe that negative social outcomes can result from narratives that stigmatize migrants and/or cast migrants as a security threat – especially when these narratives are used to justify increased surveillance and monitoring of these people.

Migrants can and do increase the resilience of their home communities and support them through remittances as well as the knowledge and skills while playing a positive role in the host communities’
development.

Migration can also be a part of climate change adaptation efforts. Safe, orderly and regular migration can contribute to agricultural development, economic growth, food security and rural livelihoods. Yet, those migrants who are poor and low-skilled face the biggest challenges emanating from migration that occurs on involuntary, unsafe and irregular basis.

International cooperation and sound policies in dealing with migration can help establish critical linkages between emergency efforts and development with important positive outcomes. The domain for these policies and cooperation spans from very local to global, and many sectors of the socio economic life. A good understanding of the many aspects of migration is therefore essential to dealing with migration.

Patterns of human settlement and population movement have always been affected by long-term changes in climate and weather patterns and the availability of and access to natural resources. Today, concerns over how changes in the environment and climate might affect migration have been growing. It is intuitive to link impacts of climate change, water scarcity, and droughts to migration. Indeed, important claims and assertations about these interactions abound in the media and in many policy documents. But what are the scientists and researchers saying about them?