ABSTRACT
The concept was coined by environmental scholars in the late 1970s: along with many nongovernmental organizations and think tanks such as the Worldwatch Institute, they initially described environmental migration as a new and distinct category of migration, an unavoidable by-product of climate change. Migration scholars, however, first insisted on the multi-causality of migration, and on the impossibility of isolating environmental factors from other migration drivers. The concept of “environmental migrants” encompasses a wide array of diverse environmental changes, but also of migration patterns. Key environmental disruptions that can induce migration include flash floods, earthquakes, droughts, storms, and hurricanes, but also slow-onset changes such as sea-level rise, desertification, or deforestation. Regional governance solutions have been promoted, especially in Asia-Pacific, the region most affected by environmental migration. Many have turned to the negotiations related to the climate change regime as a suitable forum to design policy responses.
