ABSTRACT
Climate change has attracted considerable academic attention over recent years. The first emphasis was on the description and correct measurement of the phenomenon as well as the development of appropriate models to predict its course. Later the discourse was extended to the global and local inequalities regarding the impact of climate change and the political economy surrounding it. In the most general terms, climate change should be understood as part of the dynamic
environmental context in which human actions take place. Changing environmental conditions have been migration drivers throughout human history. Climate change is the most current example of this, and it is important to investigate its unique dynamics related to migration. Recently, there has been a clear emphasis on developing interdisciplinary perspectives to understand the links between human and natural systems. In this endeavor demography has a crucial role, building on the long history of demographic research on the links between population dynamics and the environment. In this chapter, using the perspective of social demography, I provide a conceptual framework
to facilitate the understanding of the links between migration and climate change. Following an overview of scholarship on population, migration, and the environment, I discuss the mechanisms through which climate change impacts migration behavior, such as changing temperature and humidity, sea-level rise and extreme weather hazards.
