Climate Change and Human Mobility: An Analysis of Migration and Its Impacts, Slide di Geografia

Scarica Climate Change and Human Mobility: An Analysis of Migration and Its Impacts e più Slide in PDF di Geografia solo su Docsity! Climate change and human mobility. 
 An introduction to migration Geographies of global challenges A very old relationship • Climate has always affected human mobility • Today this connection is becoming critical because free transnational movement of people is not possible any longer in the largest part of the planet and the drivers for human mobility have expanded • We will analyse 2 examples of human mobility Migration Tourism Migrations as a human right “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecution genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.” 5 Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1945) 6 Migratory models Several classfications: • Entity: mass/infiltration • Time: permanent/temporary/commuters • Political space: domestic/international • Typology of movement: forced/voluntary (Vallega, 1989; Dagradi, 1995) 7 Mass/infiltration • Historically, mass migrations coincided with invasions or flight from devastating political or eonomic situations (Pilgrims on the Mayflower, 1620; Irish people by mid 1800s) • Infiltration migrations, on their side, started with te Europeans moving to the new continents (few and only men) 10 Voluntary/forced migrations Voluntary • The majori ty of today migrations • The main driver is poverty → are they relly voluntary? • Another example is brain drain • Diaspora of the Jews • Slave trade • Internal/international refugees (UNHCR, 2017, https://www.unhcr.it/risorse/statistiche) 11 Europe and migrations: from the past flows to the contemporary European migratory space • XV century: only a few adventures, traders and missionaries • XIX century: massive flows towards the Americas (expecially after the Napoleon wars), mainly by North-West Europe • End of XIX century- WWI: massive flow from South-East Europe towards the Americas • 3 main flows toward Europe today: • Euro-African Space (South): flows mainly from the Maghreb • Euro-Asian space (South-East): flows mainly form the Balcans and Middle East • Continental space (East): flows mainly form Central-Eastern Europe, Russia, etc 12 12 Main migration flows in modern times 15 Push/Pull factors • Economic conditions • Political circumstances • War, conflicts, civil wars, etc • Environment (environmental degradation + climate crisis) • Culture (i.e. Indi/pakistan after independence) • Technological progress • Social climbing (De Blij, Murphy, 1999) 16 Territorial impacts of migrations In the receiving country: • Economics: availability of n e w l a b o u r f o r c e , c o m p e t i t i o n o v e r j o b positions, unemployment.. • Socio-Cultural: coexistence of d i f f e r e n t c u l t u r e s , integration, social conflics, xenofobia… In the country of origin: • Economics: solution to unemployment, remittances, lack of work force… • Sociali: lack of the most active groups of society, dependance on fore ign remittances, lack of culture… Very complex system of impacts: are these positive or negative aspect? Migrations in the EU: the official data • 4.3 million people immigrated to EU in 2016 • Among these, 2 millions are citizens of non EU countries; 1.3 millions are citizens of a different EU country; 929.000 are EU citizens moving to another EU country of which they are citizens; nearly 16.000 are stateless persons (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Migration_and_migrant_population_statistics) • In 2016 the EU countries with the highest number of immigrants were Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland and Romania • In respect to the size of the resident population, Luxembourg recorded the highest rates of immigration in 2016, followed by Malta (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Migration_and_migrant_population_statistics/it) 17 Rapid- and slow-onset environmental crisis and migrations • Rapid-onset environmental events: the IDMC-Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (2017) estimates that 18.8 million people are displaced by sudden-onset events (East Asia, The Caribbean and the Pacific regions) (http://www.internal-displacement.org/database/displacement-data) • Slow-onset environmental changes: No certainties as a consequence of lack of time series data (presumed impacts deriving from sea level rise, heat waves and droughts, etc) There is still much to understand on how slow and progressive degradation of natural environment will affect human’s life in the future Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) • The majority of the environmental-related migration are internal migrations • Since 2008 an average of nearly 20 million people are displaced by weather-related sudden onset hazards – such as floods, storms, wildfires, extreme temperature (UNHCR, 2015). • Very difficult recognition: the reasons for migration are very complex and most of the times an environmental/climate connection is not easily identifiable Trapped people • Often the most vulnerable - either because they are the most exposed to the risk or the are the most destitute - do not have the means to migrate • The migratory process depends on 3 main factors: the need, the desire and the ability to migrate…often the poorest lack the latter, or even more than one of these features… A matter of definition…refugees, environmental migrants, eco- displaced persons… • Climate change does not recognise borders nor national laws, while people escaping from environmental/climate crisis are forced to respect them • No agreement on how to define these people: are they free or forced migrants? Can they be recognized as environmental refugees? Or as environmental migrants? • The definition of a legal status is fundamental in order to grant them some kind of legal protection • Nowadays, they cannot be protected under the Geneva Convention (1951) because they are nor persecuted nor they pass a national border, most of the times Regional or national initiatives… • Some regions or States have developed initiatives of their own, such as Sweden and Finland, that recognize these migrants in their national migration policies, as persons otherwise in need of protection • In 2010 (COP 16) the Cancún Outcome Agreement was signed. In paragraph 14 (f), states recognized climate change-induced migration, displacement and relocation as an adaptation challenge, and agreed to enhance their understanding and cooperation in this respect. Based on the outcome of the Nansen Conference on Climate Change and Displacement in Oslo (June 2011), Norway and Switzerland pledged at the UNHCR Ministerial Conference in December 2011 to address the need for  a more coherent approach to the protection of people displaced across borders in the context of disasters and the effects of climate change. The pledge was welcomed by several states and provides the basis of the Nansen Initiative • A state-led, bottom-up consultative process intended to identify effective practices and build consensus on key principles and elements to address the protection and assistance needs of persons displaced across borders in the context of disasters, including the adverse effects of climate change. https://www.nanseninitiative.org/