ABSTRACT
The process of producing “surplus” populations in postcolonial countries is a consequence of ecological marginality also. Against the background of the colonial history of resource exploitation, agrarian crisis, and displacement this chapter discusses the political economy of environmental displacement. It seeks to show the links between environmental displacement and a particular model of development, and the implications of the environmental and developmental displacement in terms of accumulation of capital and the production of mobile labour. It also points out that in the migration literature the phenomenon of “climate refugees” is raised often in a way that omits labour and life from climate, as if inhospitable climate makes living labour dead. The chapter poses the question: Does climate change override the fault line running through the landscape of global migration? As an answer it alerts the reader to the fact that unfortunately even critical commentaries on the historical knowledge of climate change and disorders do not engage in that enquiry. The writings on the historical sensitivities of the theme do not give insights into how labour operates as an organising principle in reshaping societies facing environmental challenges.
