Global mobility during global warming. Will climate change increase intercontinental migrations? Cover Image

Globalna mobilność w dobie globalnego ocieplenia…. Czy zmiany klimatu wpłyną na nasilenie migracji międzykontynentalnych?
Global mobility during global warming. Will climate change increase intercontinental migrations?

Author(s): Małgorzata Krywult Albańska
Subject(s): Physical Geopgraphy, Human Geography, Environmental Geography, Environmental interactions, Migration Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie
Keywords: environmental migration; climate change; environmental change;

Summary/Abstract: A widely held view in the academic circles is that there is a growing impact of humans on climate. Empirical data and analyses prove unambiguously that anthropogenic climate change is real, whereas its consequences, such as flooding of coastal areas, fires, droughts and heat waves, threaten the livelihoods of mostly the populations of the countries of the Global South, while increasingly affecting also the countries of the Global North. The aim of the article is to demonstrate whether climate change may increase international migrations, and intercontinental ones in particular. The first part reports the main issues in the academic debate on the relationship between human migrations and the environment. The second part summarizes the research conducted so far on migrations as a response to environmental change. The article ends in an attempt to forecast future trends. Despite the fact that – as research so far confirms – most environmental migrations are temporary and shirt-distance, the answer to the title question is positive: climate change is so profound that it will lead to an intensification of also intercontinental migrations.

  • Issue Year: X/2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 182-197
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish