ABSTRACT
In Denmark and Sweden, the links between climate change and human mobilities are starting to be considered as concerns of international development. However, at the same time, international development policy is increasingly being organised around migration deterrence objectives, accompanying an entrenchment of restrictive migration policy in both countries more broadly. This differs greatly from international policy discourses on climate change and human mobilities, where the argument that migration can itself be a climate change adaptation strategy has gained traction. In Denmark and Sweden however, although the policy discourse on climate change and human mobilities is being articulated in development policy terms, it is heavily securitised and constructs in situ climate adaptation as a strategy for preventing mass displacement, but also undesirable migration to Denmark and Sweden. This has implications for the Danish and Swedish context, in that securitised narratives surrounding climate change and human mobilities risk stoking the already raging fires of anti-migration politics. For the international sphere, it highlights a glaring mismatch between international and national policy discourses, which will be an important stumbling block should it come to agreeing, ratifying and implementing international agreements on climate change and human mobilities in the future.
