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Climate change & migration: how a destabilized climate is reshaping human mobility


INTRODUCTION

Lots of studies show that the climate is changing at a faster pace than what most scientists expected. This means that many families and communities have to abandon their homes due to natural disasters and climate change.


Migration has been an important adaptation strategy since ancient times, as a reaction to extreme weather conditions, and also nowadays it is practiced by individuals and entire communities to respond to the increasingly frequent impact of climate change.


CLIMATE MIGRATION’S CAUSES

Migration is not directly caused by natural disasters, but rather the factors that influence and cause climate migration are the lack of basic services like infrastructures, access to national resources and social support from governments or international actors. The risks of natural disasters are also sharpened by governments’ unsustainable development policies and private investments that take advantage of our planet’s natural resources.


Several climate changes are expected to occur over the next few years in multiple places, such as more extreme temperatures and an increase in heavy rainfall and droughts. These factors and the future degradation of soils, ecosystems and natural resources are going to have a direct impact on people’s lives and on the places they belong to; which is why there’s the strong possibility that more and more people will migrate in search of a better future.


CLIMATE FACTORS

Various climate factors are a cause of migration. Some of them occur rapidly, like tropical storms, heavy rainfall, hurricanes and floods. These weather events force many people to abandon their homelands, but rarely permanently. Usually, most people who move due to these causes, move to places near their land of origin, so they can return as soon as possible to rebuild their homes.


Other climate factors, instead, occur gradually. One of them is sea level rise: this phenomenon is the most likely to continue causing constant and permanent migrations, because this is an irreversible event.


Conversely, other gradual climate factors are: drought, desertification and rising temperatures. This series of events cause progressive departures and typically, as in the case of drought, the number of displaced people is smaller than the real number of people affected by the event, because in many cases just a small part of the population is able to migrate.


CLIMATE REFUGEES

Those who leave their homelands in search of a better future, are commonly called “climate refugees”, although this term has no  basis in international law. In fact a refugee is defined as “anyone who has crossed international borders and cannot return to their country of origin due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion". Only in a few cases is the definition extended to anyone who escapes from “events that seriously compromise public order”. However, there is no universally recognized or legal definition that links refugees to environmental change.


MIGRATION’S COST

People who are forced to move due to natural disasters and climate change cannot do so without cost: moving is expensive, both economically and psychologically. Therefore, although poorer people have greater incentives to migrate (due to their greater exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change), on the other hand they often cannot afford the costs of migration.


The consequence is that climate change, in addition to generating the migration of entire communities, on the other hand can also lead to immobility, as each new natural disaster reduces the resources needed to move. For this reason there are entire populations and groups of people defined as trapped, due to their inability to move, despite their desire to do so.


AFFECTED AREAS

Some areas will be increasingly affected by climate change and by the consequent displacement of large numbers of people. These are defined as “hot spots”, and include islands, coastal areas, river deltas (which will experience erosion and flooding) and semi-arid regions (where desertification and drought will intensify). As a result, people living in these areas and depend heavily on local resources for water, food and their livelihood will find themselves in an unsafe water, food and economic situation that will force them to move to different rural and urban areas with greater resources and alternative means of subsistence. According to a World Bank report, the number of climate displaced people could reach 140 million by 2050.


MIGRATIONS AND CONFLICTS

Another aspect about climate change to consider is their possible correlation with conflicts: migrants, moving to new areas, become a source of instability because they put pressure on the resources of destination countries. This pressure could further worsen due to language and cultural barriers which make interactions between locals and migrants more difficult: ethnic diversity is already considered a contributing factor of conflict, which, combined with migration, can further fuel it.


However, from another perspective, it can be argued that it is not migration but, on the contrary, the absence of migration that is responsible for an increase in conflicts. Migration, as we already saw, is expensive, and the people most vulnerable to climate change are typically the poorest. So, the absence of migration could increase economic pressure on the local population, reduce available resources and enhance the risk of conflicts in the homelands: migration therefore becomes a crucial relief valve.


CONCLUSION

Migration due to climate change shows that this is a highly serious problem, which endangers both the planet and the lives of millions of people. It is essential to take action to responsibly safeguard the world we live in, stopping its reckless exploitation, with the aim of achieving a more ecologically sustainable and better future for all populations, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.


Climate migration is a global challenge that calls for collective responsibility. Reducing emissions, advocating for stronger protections for displaced communities, and demanding accountability from representatives are all concrete steps anyone can take.


If you want to go further, here is a list of organizations working on the front lines of this crisis — whether to support them, actively join them, or use them as a resource for further research:



BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Ambiente, calamità naturali e cambiamenti climatici.” UNHCR, UNHCR Italia, https://www.unhcr.org/it/cosa-facciamo/ambiente-calamita-naturali-e-cambiamenti-climatici/cambiamenti-climatici-e-migrazioni. Accessed 10 04 2026.


Cattaneo Cristina. “Cambiamento climatico e migrazioni.” Energia, ambiente e innovazione, 02 2018, https://www.eai.enea.it/component/jdownloads/?task=download.send&id=221&catid=8&Itemid=1176. Accessed 11 04 2026.


Energia, ambiente e innovazione. “Cambiamento climatico e migrazioni.” Energia, ambiente e innovazione, https://www.eai.enea.it/archivio/decarbonizzazione/cambiamento-climatico-e-migrazioni.html. Accessed 11 04 2026.


Gianpaolo Mattia, and Aurora Ianni. “Cambiamento climatico e migrazioni.” Volti delle migrazioni, 11 2019, https://www.focsiv.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BackGround-Document-n.-1-ITA-24.02.2020.pdf. Accessed 10 04 2026.


Google Translate. (n.d.)  https://translate.google.com/ . Accessed 11 04 2026.



Written by Margherita Maglione,

Communication Assistant,

Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Art at the Academy of Fine Art of Venice


 
 
 

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