Migration and Climate Change Resource Guide
List of publications and resources
Academic Background (conceptual debate about environmental migrants/refugees)
Black, R. (1998): Refugees, Environment and Development, Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman
Limited.
Black, R. (2001): Environmental Refugees: myth or reality?, Working paper 34, Geneva:
UNHCR.
Cairns, J. (2002): ‘Environmental Refugees’, The Social Contract, 13 (1): 34-44.
El-Hinnawi, E. (1985): Environmental Refugees, Nairobi: United Nations Environment
Programme.
Ferris, E. (2007): ‘Making sense of climate change, natural disasters and displacement: a work
in progress’, Calcutta Research Group - Winter Course Lecture, 14 December 2007,
Washington D. C.: Brookings Institution.
Flintan, F. (2001): Environmental Refugees – A Misnomer or a Reality?, Report of the Wilton
Park Conference on Environmental Security and Conflict Prevention, 1-3 March 2001.
Jacobson, J. (1988) Environmental Refugees: A Yardstick of Habitability, Worldwatch Paper
86, Washington: Worldwatch Institute.
Kibreab, G. (1997): ‘Environmental Causes and Impact of Refugee Movements: A Critique of
the Current Debate’, Disasters, 21 (1): 20-38.
McGregor, J. (1993): ‘Refugees and the Environment’ in Black, R. and Robinson, V. (eds.):
Geography and refugees: Patterns and processes of change, London: Belhaven Press.
Myers, N. (2005): Environmental Refugees, an emergent security issue, Paper presented to the
13th Economic Forum, Prague, Czech Republic, 23-27 May 2005.
Myers, N. (2002): ‘Environmental refugees: a growing phenomenon of the 21st century’,
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series Biological Sciences,
357 (1420): 609-613.
Myers, N. (1997): ‘Environmental refugees’, Population and Environment, 19 (2): 167-182.
Myers, N. (1993): ‘Environmental refugees in a globally warmed world’, Bioscience, 43 (11):
752-761.
Myers, N. and Kent J. (1995): Environmental Exodus, an Emergent Crisis in the Global Arena,
Washington: Climate Institute.
Piguet, E. (2008): Climate change and forced migration: How can international policy respond
to climate-induced displacement?, Geneva: UNHCR Evaluation and Policy Analysis
Unit.
Saunders, P. L. (2000): ‘Environmental refugees: The origins of a construct’ in Stott, P. and
Sullivan, S. (eds.): Political Ecology: Science, Myth and Power, London: Arnold.
Reflections on the climate (environment) – migration link
Brown, O. (2008): Migration and Climate Change, IOM Migration Research Series Paper No.
31, 2008, Geneva: International Organization for Migration.
Brown, O. (2007): “Eating the Dry Season” - Labour mobility as a coping strategy for climate
change, IISD Commentary, Winnipeg, Canada: International Institute for Sustainable
Development.
Hugo, G. (1996): ‘Environmental Concerns and International Migration’, International Migration
Review, 30 (1), Special Issue: Ethics, Migration and Global Stewardship: 105-131.
Hunter, L. M. (2007): Climate Change, Rural Vulnerabilities, and Migration, Washington DC:
Population Reference Bureau.
Kniveton, D., Schmidt-Verkerk, K., Smith, C. and Black, R. (2008): Climate Change and
Migration: Improving Methodologies to Estimate Flows, IOM Migration Research Series
Paper No. 33, Geneva: International Organization for Migration.
Laczko, M. (2008) Migration and climate change: What are the implications of the dynamic
between migration and climate change?, Geneva: International Organization for
Migration.
Lee, S.-W. (1994): Emerging Threats to Post-Cold War Security: Environment, Refugees and
Conflicts, Synopsis of a Seminar held at the Program on Non-violent Sanctions and
Cultural Survival, Harvard University, October 1994.
Lonergan, S. and Swain A. (1998): ‘The role of environmental degradation in population
displacement’, Environmental Change and Security Project Report, Issue 4,
Washington: GECHS.
McLeman R.and Smit B. (2004): Climate change, migration and security, Commentary No. 86,
Ottawa: Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
McLeman R. and Smit B. (2006) ‘Migration as an Adaptation to Climate Change’, Climate
Change, 76: 31–53.
Salehyan, I. (2005): Refugees, Climate Change and Instability, paper presented to the
International Workshop on Human Security and Climate Change, Oslo, Norway, June
2005.
Smith, D. and Vi Vekanan Da, J. (2008): A climate of conflict: Will climate change lead to
violent conflict?, SIDA Studies, Stockholm: SIDA.
Suhrke, A. (1994): ‘Environmental Degradation and Population Flows’, Journal of International
Affairs, 47: 473-496.
Swain, A. (1996): ‘Environmental migration and conflict dynamics: focus on developing
regions’, Third World Quarterly, 17 (5): 959-973.
Wood, W. (2001): ‘Ecomigration: Linkages between Environmental Change and Migration’ in
Zolberg A. and Benda P. (eds.): Global Migrants, Global Refugees: Problems and
solutions, New York: Berghahn Books.
NGO (policy) papers
Action Aid International (2007): Unjust waters: climate change, flooding and the protection of
poor urban communities: experiences from six African cities.
Christian Aid (2006): The climate of poverty: facts, fears and hopes – A Christian Aid report,
London: Christian Aid.
Christian Aid (2007): Human tide: the real migration crisis – A Christian Aid report, London:
Christian Aid.
Conisbee, M. and Simms A. (2003): Environmental Refugee: The case for recognition, London:
New Economics Foundation.
Gleditsch, N. P., Nordås, R. and Salehyan, I. (2007): Climate Change and Conflict: The
Migration Link, Coping with Crisis Working Paper Series, New York: International
Peace Academy.
Jakobeit, C. and Methmann, C. (2007): Klimaflüchtlinge – Die verleugnete Katastrophe,
Hamburg: Greenpeace.
Renaud, F. et al. (2007): ‘Control, Adapt or Flee – How to Face Environmental Migration?’,
InterSecTions, 5, 2007, Bonn: United Nations University Institute for Environment and
Human Security (UNU-EHS)
Trolldalen, J. M. et al. (1992): Environmental Refugees: a Discussion Paper, Oslo: World
Foundation for Environment and Development and Norwegian Refugee Council.
Empirical studies (drought and migration)
Ezra, M. and Gebre-Egziabher, K. (2001): ‘Rural Out-Migration in the Drought Prone Areas of
Ethiopia: A Multilevel Analysis’, International Migration Review, 35 (3): 749-771.
Findley, S. E. (1994): ‘Does Drought Increase Migration? A Study of Migration from Rural Mali
during the 1983-1985 Drought’, International Migration Review, 28 (3): 539-553.
Gleditsch, N. P., Nordås, R. and Salehyan, I. (2007): Climate Change and Conflict: The
Migration Link, Coping with Crisis Working Paper Series, New York: International
Peace Academy.
Henry, S., Schoumaker, B. and Beauchemin, C. (2004): ‘The Impact of Rainfall on the First
Out-Migration: A Multi-level Event-History Analysis in Burkina Faso’, Population and
Environment, 25 (5): 423-460.
Meze-Hausken, E. (2004): ‘Migration Caused by Climate Change: How Vulnerable are People
in Dryland Areas?’, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 5 (4): 379406.
Rain, D. (1999): Eaters of the Dry Season – Circular Labor Migration in the West African Sahel,
Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
Empirical studies (cyclones and migration)
Falk, W. W., Hunt, M. O. and Hunt, L. L. (2006): ‘Hurricane Katrina and New Orleanians’ Sense
of Place – Return and Reconstitution or “Gone with the Wind“?’, Du Bois Review, 3 (1):
115-128.
Landry, C. E., Bin O., Hindsley, P., Whitehead, J. C., and Wilson, K. (2007): Going Home:
Evacuation-Migration Decisions of Hurricane Katrina Survivors, Working Paper,
Greenville, North Carolina, USA: Center for Natural Hazards Research.
Paul, B. K. (2005): ‘Evidence against disaster-induced migration: the 2004 tornado in northcentral Bangladesh’, Disasters, 9 (4): 370-385.
Smith, S. K. and McCarty, C. (1996): ‘Demographic Effects of Natural Disasters: A Case Study
of Hurricane Andrew’, Demography, 33 (2): 265-275.
Empirical evidence environmental change
Massey, D., Axinn, W. and Ghimire, D. (forthcoming): Environmental Change and OutMigration: Evidence from Nepal.
This list of publications and resources was compiled by Kerstin Schmidt-Verkerk.