Migration, Environment, Climate Change and Risk Reduction Unit for Europe and Central Asia

Environmental factors have long had an impact on global migration flows, as people have historically left places with harsh or deteriorating conditions. However, the scale of such flows, both internal and international, is expected to rise as a result of the worsening impacts of climate change, with unprecedented impacts on livelihoods and communities. These movements can have both positive and negative effects on local coping capacity as well as the sending and receiving communities. 

Different forms of migration - disaster displacement, pastoralism, labour migration, and planned relocation - are shaped by climatic and environmental hazards. People can be displaced as a result of the loss of their place of residence or economic disruption due to extreme events. For example, in 2023, disasters triggered 4.1 million new internal displacements in the Republic of Türkiye [1]. At the same time, refugees, IDPs, and migrants in transit centres could be vulnerable to climate change impacts. It is essential to strengthen national and local capacities to avert, manage, and address migration-related challenges in the context of climate change, as a recognised form of actual and potential loss and damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with special attention to gender-differentiated risks. 

Migration often seems to be misperceived as a failure to adapt to a changing environment. Migration can also be an adaptation strategy to climate and environmental change and is an essential component of the socio-environmental interactions. When enabling conditions are present, migration can also support climate action. IOM estimates that over 281 million migrants were living abroad in 2020 or 3.6 per cent of the global population [2]. In 2022, migrants, seasonal workers, and diaspora members in the United Kingdom sent around USD 10.92 billion in the form of remittances [3]. In the United Kingdom, IOM is exploring how to engage diaspora groups from Bangladesh, Ghana, Jamaica, and Moldova to spur climate action. In other countries, migration for work has been shown to have considerable positive impacts on climate change adaptation at the household level. For example, remittances from migrants in South-East Asia are used to cover basic household needs, repay debts, and improve living conditions which can reduce individual families’ and communities’ vulnerability to climate shocks [4]. In communities of origin, it is also important to enable the families of migrants, especially women, to leverage remittances to boost household adaptation to climate change. In Tajikistan, an IOM Development Fund project explored which capacity-building initiatives improved household adaptation using an action research methodology [5]. The interventions targeted female-headed households and increased savings by up to 20 per cent, improving how remittance savings are used. Fifty per cent of households developed a household-level adaptation plan using the savings generated.  

Moreover, those with the fewest resources are least able to move away from the adverse impacts of environmental shocks and stressors while being simultaneously the most vulnerable to such impacts [6]. There is a need to provide opportunities for regular migration pathways or consider planned relocation as a last resort strategy. For example, in Tajikistan, planned relocation is used to move due to environmental degradation due to disasters induced by natural hazards. IOM encourages States to plan relocations using a rights-based framework that is consultative and encourages the participation of affected communities.   

This complex nexus needs to be addressed holistically, taking into account other possible mediating factors including, inter alia, human security, human, and economic development, and livelihood strategies. IOM applies its comprehensive migration management approach to the complex linkages between climate change, the environment, and migration. Through its activities, IOM helps to reduce the vulnerability of populations exposed to environmental risk factors; assists populations on the move as a result of environmental causes; and builds the capacities of governments and others to face the challenge of environmental migration. In line with IOM's Institutional Strategy on Migration, Environment and Climate Change 2021–2030, IOM’s programming contributes to three strategic objectives, which address different stages of the migration cycle: 

1. Developing solutions for people to move - Managing migration in the context of climate change, environmental degradation, and disasters due to natural hazards. 
2. Developing solutions for people on the move - Assisting and protecting migrants and displaced persons in the context of climate change, environmental degradation, and disasters due to natural hazards. 
3. Developing solutions for people to stay - Making migration a choice by building resilience and addressing the adverse climatic and environmental drivers that compel people to move. 

IOM developed the Climate Mobility Road Map whose five pillars below guide IOM’s programming worldwide.  

1. Evidence-Base and Data 
2. Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilisation 
3. Advocacy and Policy 
4. Sectoral and Cross-sectoral Sustained Solutions 
5. Climate Mobility Innovation Lab 

Sources

[1] Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). Global Report on Internal Displacement 2024. IDMC, Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, 2024.  

[2] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (UN DESA). International Migration 2020 Highlights. UN DESA, New York.  

[3] World Bank (n.d.). Personal remittances, received (current US$). Data set (Accessed 14 August 2024). 

[4] Vigil, S. and D. Kim (2023). International Labour Migration in a Changing Climate: Insights from Malaysia and Thailand. International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Bangkok, Thailand. 

[5] IOM (n.d.). Tajikistan: Understanding the Nexus of Migration, Gender, Climate Change and Agriculture. Website (Accessed 22 August 2024). 

[6] United Kingdom Government Office for Science (2010). Migration and Global Environmental Change: Future Challenges and Opportunities. Final project report. The Government Office for Science, London.