Publications by category
Journal articles
Parsons L, Safra De Campos R, Moncaster A, Siddiqui T, Cook I, Jayasinghe AB, Billah T, Pratik M, Abenayake C (2022). Trading disaster: containers & container thinking in the production of climate precarity.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,
47(4), 990-1008.
Abstract:
Trading disaster: containers & container thinking in the production of climate precarity.
This. paper. examines. how. global. trade. shapes. and. intensifies. disasters. Juxtaposing three basic, everyday consumer goods –. a t- shirt, a brick, and a tea bag –. with disasters manifesting in their respective global supply chains, it high-lights. how. climate. change. local. environmental. degradation. and. carbon. emis-sions are dynamically shaped by consumption. Analysis of data collected in South and. Southeast. Asia. reveals. that. local. environmental. degradation. linked. to. in-ternational trade interacts with global climate change and the policies intended to mitigate it, influencing how and where disasters manifest. Underpinning this analysis is the physical and conceptual presence of the container. With more and more of the natural environment packaged and redistributed for global trade, the container thinking that underpins these logistics is increasingly imbricated in en-vironmental. processes. Indeed. as. this. paper. aims. to. show. the. container. logic. that frames analysis of these processes –. linked to and drawn from the logistics of. global. trade. –. serves. as. both. obfuscator. and. actor. in. the. global. landscape. of. environmental risk.
Abstract.
Adger WN, de Campos RS, Codjoe SNA, Siddiqui T, Hazra S, Das S, Adams H, Gavonel MF, Mortreux C, Abu M, et al (2021). Perceived environmental risks and insecurity reduce future migration intentions in hazardous migration source areas. One Earth, 4(1), 146-157.
Das S, Hazra S, Haque A, Rahman M, Nicholls RJ, Ghosh A, Ghosh T, Salehin M, Safra de Campos R (2021). Social vulnerability to environmental hazards in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, India and Bangladesh. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 53, 101983-101983.
Franco Gavonel M, Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Boyd E, Carr ER, Fábos A, Fransen S, Jolivet D, Zickgraf C, Codjoe SNA, et al (2021). The migration-sustainability paradox: transformations in mobile worlds. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 49, 98-109.
Speelman LH, Nicholls RJ, Safra de Campos R (2021). The role of migration and demographic change in small island futures.
Asian and Pacific Migration Journal,
30(3), 282-311.
Abstract:
The role of migration and demographic change in small island futures
Low-lying atoll islands are especially threatened by anticipated sea-level rise, and migration is often mentioned as a potential response of these island societies. Further, small island states are developing population, economic and adaptation policies to plan the future. Policies, such as raising of islands or land reclamation, require a long-term vision on populations and migration. However, population and migration systems in small island settings are poorly understood. To address this deficiency requires an approach that considers changing environmental and socio-economic factors and individual migration decision-making. This article introduces the conceptual model of migration and explores migration within one small island nation, the Maldives, as an example. Agent-based simulations of internal migration from 1985–2014 are used as a basis to explore a range of potential demographic futures up to 2050. The simulations consider a set of consistent demographic, environmental, policy and international migration narratives, which describe a range of key uncertainties. The capital island Malé has experienced significant population growth over the last decades, growing from around 67,000 to 153,000 inhabitants from 2000 to 2014, and comprising about 38 percent of the national population in 2014. In all future narratives, which consider possible demographic, governance, environmental and globalization changes, the growth of Malé continues while many other islands are effectively abandoned. The analysis suggests that migration in the Maldives has a strong inertia, and radical change to the environmental and/or socio-economic drivers would be needed for existing trends to change. Findings from this study may have implications for national development and planning for climate change more widely in island nations.
Abstract.
Cundill G, Singh C, Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Vincent K, Tebboth M, Maharjan A (2021). Toward a climate mobilities research agenda: Intersectionality, immobility, and policy responses. Global Environmental Change, 69, 102315-102315.
Szaboova L, Safra de Campos R, Adger WN, Abu M, Codjoe SNA, Franco Gavonel M, Das S, Siddiqui T, Rocky MH, Hazra S, et al (2021). Urban sustainability and the subjective well‐being of migrants: the role of risks, place attachment, and aspirations.
Population, Space and Place,
28(1).
Abstract:
Urban sustainability and the subjective well‐being of migrants: the role of risks, place attachment, and aspirations
AbstractWhile material conditions of migrant populations on average tend to improve over time as they become established in new destinations, individual trajectories of material and subjective well‐being often diverge. Here, we analyse how social and environmental factors in the urban environment shape the subjective well‐being of migrant populations. We hypothesise these factors to include (a) perceived social and environmental risk, (b) attachment to place, and (c) migrant aspirations. We analyse data from a cross‐sectional survey of 2641 individual migrants in seven cities across Ghana, India, and Bangladesh. The results show that the persistence of inferior material conditions, exposure to environmental hazards, and constrained access to services and employment affect migrants' subjective well‐being. Hence, social and environmental risks constitute urban precarity for migrants whose social vulnerability persist in their destination. Meeting migration‐related aspirations and developing an affinity to urban destinations have the potential to mitigate negative sentiments from perceived risks. These findings have implications for future urban planning and sustainability.
Abstract.
Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Siddiqui T, Szaboova L (2020). Commentary: Inequality, precarity and sustainable ecosystems as elements of urban resilience.
Urban Studies,
57(7), 1588-1595.
Abstract:
Commentary: Inequality, precarity and sustainable ecosystems as elements of urban resilience
the science of resilience suggests that urban systems become resilient when they promote progressive transformative change to social and physical infrastructure. But resilience is challenged by global environmental risks and by social and economic trends that create inequality and exclusion. Here we argue that distortionary inequality and precarity undermine social processes that give access to public infrastructure and ecosystems thereby undermining urban resilience. We illustrate how inequality and precarity undermine resilience with reference to social exclusion and insecurity in growing urban settlements in the Asia-Pacific region. Inequality and exposure to environmental risks represent major challenges for governance that can be best overcome through inclusion and giving voice to marginalised populations.
Abstract.
Adger WN, de Campos RS, Siddiqui T, Gavonel MF, Szaboova L, Rocky MH, Bhuiyan MRA, Billah T (2020). Human security of urban migrant populations affected by length of residence and environmental hazards.
Journal of Peace Research,
58(1), 50-66.
Abstract:
Human security of urban migrant populations affected by length of residence and environmental hazards
It is widely suggested that migration is a key mechanism linking climate change to violent conflict, particularly through migration increasing the risks of conflict in urban destinations. Yet climate change also creates new forms of insecurity through distress migration, immobility and vulnerability that are prevalent in urban destination locations. Here we examine the extent and nature of human security in migration destinations and test whether insecurity is affected by length of residence and environmental hazards. The study develops an index measure of human security at the individual level to include environmental and climate-related hazards as well as sources of well-being, fear of crime and violence, and mental health outcomes. It examines the elements of human security that explain the prevalence of insecurity among recent and established migrants in low-income urban neighbourhoods. The study reports on data collected in Chattogram in Bangladesh through a survey of migrants (N = 447) and from qualitative data derived using photo elicitation techniques with cohorts of city planners and migrants. The results show that environmental hazards represent an increasing source of perceived insecurity to migrant populations over time, with longer-term migrants perceiving greater insecurity than more recent arrivals, suggesting lack of upward social mobility in low-income slums. Ill-health, fear of eviction, and harassment and violence are key elements of how insecurity is experienced, and these are exacerbated by environmental hazards such as flooding. The study expands the concept of security to encompass central elements of personal risk and well-being and outlines the implications for climate change.
Abstract.
Das S, Ghosh A, Hazra S, Ghosh T, Safra de Campos R, Samanta S (2020). Linking IPCC AR4 & AR5 frameworks for assessing vulnerability and risk to climate change in the Indian Bengal Delta. Progress in Disaster Science, 7, 100110-100110.
Maharjan A, de Campos RS, Singh C, Das S, Srinivas A, Bhuiyan MRA, Ishaq S, Umar MA, Dilshad T, Shrestha K, et al (2020). Migration and Household Adaptation in Climate-Sensitive Hotspots in South Asia.
Current Climate Change Reports,
6(1), 1-16.
Abstract:
Migration and Household Adaptation in Climate-Sensitive Hotspots in South Asia
Abstract
Purpose of Review
South Asia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, owing to the high dependency on climate-sensitive livelihoods and recurrent extreme events. Consequently, an increasing number of households are adopting labour migration as a livelihood strategy to diversify incomes, spread risks, and meet aspirations. Under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) initiative, four research consortia have investigated migration patterns and their inherent linkages to adaptation to climate change in climate hotspots. This article synthesizes key findings in regional context of South Asia.
Recent Findings
The synthesis suggests that in climate-sensitive hotspots, migration is an important livelihood diversification strategy and a response to various risks, including climate change. Typically, one or more household members, often young men, migrated internally or internationally to work in predominantly informal sectors. Remittances helped spatially diversify household income, spread risks, and insure against external stressors. The outcomes of migration are often influenced by who moves, where to, and what capacities they possess.
Summary
Migration was found to help improve household adaptive capacity, albeit in a limited capacity. Migration was mainly used as a response to risk and uncertainty, but with potential to have positive adaptation co-benefits.
Abstract.
Siddiqui T, Szaboova L, Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Bhuiyan MRA, Billah T (2020). Policy Opportunities and Constraints for Addressing Urban Precarity of Migrant Populations.
Global Policy,
12(S2), 91-105.
Abstract:
Policy Opportunities and Constraints for Addressing Urban Precarity of Migrant Populations
AbstractAddressing sources and drivers of precarity among marginalized migrant populations in urban spaces is central to making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable for all. Yet dominant policy discourses continue to frame migrants as problematic causes of insecurity and tend to exclude them from policy processes. Deliberative democratic theory suggests that inclusive processes have the potential to create innovative solutions for resilient cities. This study elicits and reports on self‐identified sources of precarity and insecurity as experienced by new low‐income migrant populations. It combines visual ethnography and deliberative democracy tools in an action research process that facilitated dialogue between migrant populations, urban planners and policy stakeholders. The objective is to elicit policy opportunities and constraints for changing dominant discourses, with a view to enhance marginalized lives and to implement sustainable urban infrastructure in Chattogram, the second largest city of Bangladesh. The results show options for addressing precarity, developed through facilitating migrants and planners to engage with each other’s perspectives. Priorities include focusing on insecure tenure, exposure to environmental hazards, and representation in planning processes. Integrating the perspectives and lived experiences of migrant urban populations into policy processes potentially leads to more effective, sustainable and legitimate solutions.
Abstract.
Adger WN, Boyd E, Fábos A, Fransen S, Jolivet D, Neville G, de Campos RS, Vijge MJ (2019). Migration transforms the conditions for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Lancet Planetary Health, 3(11), e440-e442.
Conway D, Nicholls RJ, Brown S, Tebboth MGL, Adger WN, Ahmad B, Biemans H, Crick F, Lutz AF, De Campos RS, et al (2019). The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions.
Nature Climate Change,
9(7), 503-511.
Abstract:
The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions
Studies of climate change at specific intervals of future warming have primarily been addressed through top-down approaches using climate projections and modelled impacts. In contrast, bottom-up approaches focus on the recent past and present vulnerability. Here, we examine climate signals at different increments of warming and consider the need to reconcile top-down and bottom-up approaches. We synthesise insights from recent studies in three climate-sensitive systems where change is a defining feature of the human-environment system. Whilst top-down and bottom-up approaches generate complementary insights into who and what is at risk, integrating their results is a much-needed step towards developing relevant information to address the needs of immediate adaptation decisions.
Abstract.
Mortreux C, Safra de Campos R, Adger WN, Ghosh T, Das S, Adams H, Hazra S (2018). Political economy of planned relocation: a model of action and inaction in government responses. Global Environmental Change, 50, 123-132.
Safra de Campos R, Bell M, Charles-Edwards E (2017). Collecting and Analysing Data on Climate-related Local Mobility: the MISTIC Toolkit.
Population, Space and Place,
23(6).
Abstract:
Collecting and Analysing Data on Climate-related Local Mobility: the MISTIC Toolkit
It is widely recognised that environmental events may trigger permanent and seasonal migration but less attention has been given to the way they shape the everyday mobility that shapes household livelihood strategies. This dearth of attention can be traced to a lack of statistical data, the difficulties of collecting information on local space-time trajectories and the absence of sound statistical measures by which to express them. We review prior work on the migration–environment nexus and trace the development of methods that aim to capture and measure temporary population movement. We identify nine discrete dimensions of mobility and introduce the Mobility in Space and Time among Individuals and Communities (MISTIC) toolkit that is designed to capture the spatio-temporal patterns of household everyday mobility using a flexible, participant centred approach that facilitates data recording and subsequent analysis. We illustrate application of the toolkit using data from 90 smallholder, subsistence households in semi-arid rural Northeast Brazil. The empirical evidence reveals systematic changes in the frequency and duration of both production and consumption-related movements in response to the 2010–2013 drought. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Abstract.
Chapters
Adger N, Safra De Campos R (2020). Climate change disruptions to migration systems. In Bastia T, Skeldon R (Eds.)
Routledge Handbook of Migration and Development, London: Routledge, 382-395.
Abstract:
Climate change disruptions to migration systems
Abstract.
Vincent K, Safra De Campos R, Lazar A, Begum A (2020). Gender, migration and environmental change in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta in Bangladesh. In (Ed)
Engendering Climate Change Learnings from South Asia, Routledge Chapman & Hall, 152-171.
Abstract:
Gender, migration and environmental change in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta in Bangladesh
Abstract.
Safra De Campos R, Codjoe S, Adger N, Mortreux C, Hazra S, Siddiqui T, Das S, Atiglo Y, Bhuiyan R, Rocky MH, et al (2020). Where People Live and Move in Deltas. In Nicholls R, Adger WN, Hutton C, Hanson S (Eds.) Deltas in the Anthropocene, London: Palgrave, 153-177.
Adger N, Safra De Campos R, Mortreux C (2018). Mobility, displacement and migration and their interactions with vulnerability and adaptation to environmental risks. In McLeman R, Gemenne F (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement and Migration, London: Routledge, 29-41.
Reports
Parsons L, Safra De Campos R, Moncaster A, Cook I, Siddiqui T, Abenayake C, Jayasinghe AB, Pratik M, Scungio L, Billah T, et al (2021). Disaster trade: the hidden footprint of UK production overseas. Egham, Royal Holloway, University of London. 111 pages.
Publications by year
In Press
Safra de Campos R (In Press). Living with drought: a study of spatial mobility in semi-arid Northeast Brazil.
2022
Parsons L, Safra De Campos R, Moncaster A, Siddiqui T, Cook I, Jayasinghe AB, Billah T, Pratik M, Abenayake C (2022). Trading disaster: containers & container thinking in the production of climate precarity.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,
47(4), 990-1008.
Abstract:
Trading disaster: containers & container thinking in the production of climate precarity.
This. paper. examines. how. global. trade. shapes. and. intensifies. disasters. Juxtaposing three basic, everyday consumer goods –. a t- shirt, a brick, and a tea bag –. with disasters manifesting in their respective global supply chains, it high-lights. how. climate. change. local. environmental. degradation. and. carbon. emis-sions are dynamically shaped by consumption. Analysis of data collected in South and. Southeast. Asia. reveals. that. local. environmental. degradation. linked. to. in-ternational trade interacts with global climate change and the policies intended to mitigate it, influencing how and where disasters manifest. Underpinning this analysis is the physical and conceptual presence of the container. With more and more of the natural environment packaged and redistributed for global trade, the container thinking that underpins these logistics is increasingly imbricated in en-vironmental. processes. Indeed. as. this. paper. aims. to. show. the. container. logic. that frames analysis of these processes –. linked to and drawn from the logistics of. global. trade. –. serves. as. both. obfuscator. and. actor. in. the. global. landscape. of. environmental risk.
Abstract.
2021
Parsons L, Safra De Campos R, Moncaster A, Cook I, Siddiqui T, Abenayake C, Jayasinghe AB, Pratik M, Scungio L, Billah T, et al (2021). Disaster trade: the hidden footprint of UK production overseas. Egham, Royal Holloway, University of London. 111 pages.
Adger WN, de Campos RS, Codjoe SNA, Siddiqui T, Hazra S, Das S, Adams H, Gavonel MF, Mortreux C, Abu M, et al (2021). Perceived environmental risks and insecurity reduce future migration intentions in hazardous migration source areas. One Earth, 4(1), 146-157.
Das S, Hazra S, Haque A, Rahman M, Nicholls RJ, Ghosh A, Ghosh T, Salehin M, Safra de Campos R (2021). Social vulnerability to environmental hazards in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, India and Bangladesh. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 53, 101983-101983.
Franco Gavonel M, Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Boyd E, Carr ER, Fábos A, Fransen S, Jolivet D, Zickgraf C, Codjoe SNA, et al (2021). The migration-sustainability paradox: transformations in mobile worlds. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 49, 98-109.
Speelman LH, Nicholls RJ, Safra de Campos R (2021). The role of migration and demographic change in small island futures.
Asian and Pacific Migration Journal,
30(3), 282-311.
Abstract:
The role of migration and demographic change in small island futures
Low-lying atoll islands are especially threatened by anticipated sea-level rise, and migration is often mentioned as a potential response of these island societies. Further, small island states are developing population, economic and adaptation policies to plan the future. Policies, such as raising of islands or land reclamation, require a long-term vision on populations and migration. However, population and migration systems in small island settings are poorly understood. To address this deficiency requires an approach that considers changing environmental and socio-economic factors and individual migration decision-making. This article introduces the conceptual model of migration and explores migration within one small island nation, the Maldives, as an example. Agent-based simulations of internal migration from 1985–2014 are used as a basis to explore a range of potential demographic futures up to 2050. The simulations consider a set of consistent demographic, environmental, policy and international migration narratives, which describe a range of key uncertainties. The capital island Malé has experienced significant population growth over the last decades, growing from around 67,000 to 153,000 inhabitants from 2000 to 2014, and comprising about 38 percent of the national population in 2014. In all future narratives, which consider possible demographic, governance, environmental and globalization changes, the growth of Malé continues while many other islands are effectively abandoned. The analysis suggests that migration in the Maldives has a strong inertia, and radical change to the environmental and/or socio-economic drivers would be needed for existing trends to change. Findings from this study may have implications for national development and planning for climate change more widely in island nations.
Abstract.
Cundill G, Singh C, Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Vincent K, Tebboth M, Maharjan A (2021). Toward a climate mobilities research agenda: Intersectionality, immobility, and policy responses. Global Environmental Change, 69, 102315-102315.
Szaboova L, Safra de Campos R, Adger WN, Abu M, Codjoe SNA, Franco Gavonel M, Das S, Siddiqui T, Rocky MH, Hazra S, et al (2021). Urban sustainability and the subjective well‐being of migrants: the role of risks, place attachment, and aspirations.
Population, Space and Place,
28(1).
Abstract:
Urban sustainability and the subjective well‐being of migrants: the role of risks, place attachment, and aspirations
AbstractWhile material conditions of migrant populations on average tend to improve over time as they become established in new destinations, individual trajectories of material and subjective well‐being often diverge. Here, we analyse how social and environmental factors in the urban environment shape the subjective well‐being of migrant populations. We hypothesise these factors to include (a) perceived social and environmental risk, (b) attachment to place, and (c) migrant aspirations. We analyse data from a cross‐sectional survey of 2641 individual migrants in seven cities across Ghana, India, and Bangladesh. The results show that the persistence of inferior material conditions, exposure to environmental hazards, and constrained access to services and employment affect migrants' subjective well‐being. Hence, social and environmental risks constitute urban precarity for migrants whose social vulnerability persist in their destination. Meeting migration‐related aspirations and developing an affinity to urban destinations have the potential to mitigate negative sentiments from perceived risks. These findings have implications for future urban planning and sustainability.
Abstract.
2020
Adger N, Safra De Campos R (2020). Climate change disruptions to migration systems. In Bastia T, Skeldon R (Eds.)
Routledge Handbook of Migration and Development, London: Routledge, 382-395.
Abstract:
Climate change disruptions to migration systems
Abstract.
Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Siddiqui T, Szaboova L (2020). Commentary: Inequality, precarity and sustainable ecosystems as elements of urban resilience.
Urban Studies,
57(7), 1588-1595.
Abstract:
Commentary: Inequality, precarity and sustainable ecosystems as elements of urban resilience
the science of resilience suggests that urban systems become resilient when they promote progressive transformative change to social and physical infrastructure. But resilience is challenged by global environmental risks and by social and economic trends that create inequality and exclusion. Here we argue that distortionary inequality and precarity undermine social processes that give access to public infrastructure and ecosystems thereby undermining urban resilience. We illustrate how inequality and precarity undermine resilience with reference to social exclusion and insecurity in growing urban settlements in the Asia-Pacific region. Inequality and exposure to environmental risks represent major challenges for governance that can be best overcome through inclusion and giving voice to marginalised populations.
Abstract.
Vincent K, Safra De Campos R, Lazar A, Begum A (2020). Gender, migration and environmental change in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta in Bangladesh. In (Ed)
Engendering Climate Change Learnings from South Asia, Routledge Chapman & Hall, 152-171.
Abstract:
Gender, migration and environmental change in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta in Bangladesh
Abstract.
Adger WN, de Campos RS, Siddiqui T, Gavonel MF, Szaboova L, Rocky MH, Bhuiyan MRA, Billah T (2020). Human security of urban migrant populations affected by length of residence and environmental hazards.
Journal of Peace Research,
58(1), 50-66.
Abstract:
Human security of urban migrant populations affected by length of residence and environmental hazards
It is widely suggested that migration is a key mechanism linking climate change to violent conflict, particularly through migration increasing the risks of conflict in urban destinations. Yet climate change also creates new forms of insecurity through distress migration, immobility and vulnerability that are prevalent in urban destination locations. Here we examine the extent and nature of human security in migration destinations and test whether insecurity is affected by length of residence and environmental hazards. The study develops an index measure of human security at the individual level to include environmental and climate-related hazards as well as sources of well-being, fear of crime and violence, and mental health outcomes. It examines the elements of human security that explain the prevalence of insecurity among recent and established migrants in low-income urban neighbourhoods. The study reports on data collected in Chattogram in Bangladesh through a survey of migrants (N = 447) and from qualitative data derived using photo elicitation techniques with cohorts of city planners and migrants. The results show that environmental hazards represent an increasing source of perceived insecurity to migrant populations over time, with longer-term migrants perceiving greater insecurity than more recent arrivals, suggesting lack of upward social mobility in low-income slums. Ill-health, fear of eviction, and harassment and violence are key elements of how insecurity is experienced, and these are exacerbated by environmental hazards such as flooding. The study expands the concept of security to encompass central elements of personal risk and well-being and outlines the implications for climate change.
Abstract.
Das S, Ghosh A, Hazra S, Ghosh T, Safra de Campos R, Samanta S (2020). Linking IPCC AR4 & AR5 frameworks for assessing vulnerability and risk to climate change in the Indian Bengal Delta. Progress in Disaster Science, 7, 100110-100110.
Maharjan A, de Campos RS, Singh C, Das S, Srinivas A, Bhuiyan MRA, Ishaq S, Umar MA, Dilshad T, Shrestha K, et al (2020). Migration and Household Adaptation in Climate-Sensitive Hotspots in South Asia.
Current Climate Change Reports,
6(1), 1-16.
Abstract:
Migration and Household Adaptation in Climate-Sensitive Hotspots in South Asia
Abstract
Purpose of Review
South Asia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, owing to the high dependency on climate-sensitive livelihoods and recurrent extreme events. Consequently, an increasing number of households are adopting labour migration as a livelihood strategy to diversify incomes, spread risks, and meet aspirations. Under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) initiative, four research consortia have investigated migration patterns and their inherent linkages to adaptation to climate change in climate hotspots. This article synthesizes key findings in regional context of South Asia.
Recent Findings
The synthesis suggests that in climate-sensitive hotspots, migration is an important livelihood diversification strategy and a response to various risks, including climate change. Typically, one or more household members, often young men, migrated internally or internationally to work in predominantly informal sectors. Remittances helped spatially diversify household income, spread risks, and insure against external stressors. The outcomes of migration are often influenced by who moves, where to, and what capacities they possess.
Summary
Migration was found to help improve household adaptive capacity, albeit in a limited capacity. Migration was mainly used as a response to risk and uncertainty, but with potential to have positive adaptation co-benefits.
Abstract.
Siddiqui T, Szaboova L, Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Bhuiyan MRA, Billah T (2020). Policy Opportunities and Constraints for Addressing Urban Precarity of Migrant Populations.
Global Policy,
12(S2), 91-105.
Abstract:
Policy Opportunities and Constraints for Addressing Urban Precarity of Migrant Populations
AbstractAddressing sources and drivers of precarity among marginalized migrant populations in urban spaces is central to making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable for all. Yet dominant policy discourses continue to frame migrants as problematic causes of insecurity and tend to exclude them from policy processes. Deliberative democratic theory suggests that inclusive processes have the potential to create innovative solutions for resilient cities. This study elicits and reports on self‐identified sources of precarity and insecurity as experienced by new low‐income migrant populations. It combines visual ethnography and deliberative democracy tools in an action research process that facilitated dialogue between migrant populations, urban planners and policy stakeholders. The objective is to elicit policy opportunities and constraints for changing dominant discourses, with a view to enhance marginalized lives and to implement sustainable urban infrastructure in Chattogram, the second largest city of Bangladesh. The results show options for addressing precarity, developed through facilitating migrants and planners to engage with each other’s perspectives. Priorities include focusing on insecure tenure, exposure to environmental hazards, and representation in planning processes. Integrating the perspectives and lived experiences of migrant urban populations into policy processes potentially leads to more effective, sustainable and legitimate solutions.
Abstract.
Safra De Campos R, Codjoe S, Adger N, Mortreux C, Hazra S, Siddiqui T, Das S, Atiglo Y, Bhuiyan R, Rocky MH, et al (2020). Where People Live and Move in Deltas. In Nicholls R, Adger WN, Hutton C, Hanson S (Eds.) Deltas in the Anthropocene, London: Palgrave, 153-177.
2019
Adger WN, Boyd E, Fábos A, Fransen S, Jolivet D, Neville G, de Campos RS, Vijge MJ (2019). Migration transforms the conditions for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Lancet Planetary Health, 3(11), e440-e442.
Conway D, Nicholls RJ, Brown S, Tebboth MGL, Adger WN, Ahmad B, Biemans H, Crick F, Lutz AF, De Campos RS, et al (2019). The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions.
Nature Climate Change,
9(7), 503-511.
Abstract:
The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions
Studies of climate change at specific intervals of future warming have primarily been addressed through top-down approaches using climate projections and modelled impacts. In contrast, bottom-up approaches focus on the recent past and present vulnerability. Here, we examine climate signals at different increments of warming and consider the need to reconcile top-down and bottom-up approaches. We synthesise insights from recent studies in three climate-sensitive systems where change is a defining feature of the human-environment system. Whilst top-down and bottom-up approaches generate complementary insights into who and what is at risk, integrating their results is a much-needed step towards developing relevant information to address the needs of immediate adaptation decisions.
Abstract.
2018
Adger N, Safra De Campos R, Mortreux C (2018). Mobility, displacement and migration and their interactions with vulnerability and adaptation to environmental risks. In McLeman R, Gemenne F (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement and Migration, London: Routledge, 29-41.
Mortreux C, Safra de Campos R, Adger WN, Ghosh T, Das S, Adams H, Hazra S (2018). Political economy of planned relocation: a model of action and inaction in government responses. Global Environmental Change, 50, 123-132.
2017
Safra de Campos R, Bell M, Charles-Edwards E (2017). Collecting and Analysing Data on Climate-related Local Mobility: the MISTIC Toolkit.
Population, Space and Place,
23(6).
Abstract:
Collecting and Analysing Data on Climate-related Local Mobility: the MISTIC Toolkit
It is widely recognised that environmental events may trigger permanent and seasonal migration but less attention has been given to the way they shape the everyday mobility that shapes household livelihood strategies. This dearth of attention can be traced to a lack of statistical data, the difficulties of collecting information on local space-time trajectories and the absence of sound statistical measures by which to express them. We review prior work on the migration–environment nexus and trace the development of methods that aim to capture and measure temporary population movement. We identify nine discrete dimensions of mobility and introduce the Mobility in Space and Time among Individuals and Communities (MISTIC) toolkit that is designed to capture the spatio-temporal patterns of household everyday mobility using a flexible, participant centred approach that facilitates data recording and subsequent analysis. We illustrate application of the toolkit using data from 90 smallholder, subsistence households in semi-arid rural Northeast Brazil. The empirical evidence reveals systematic changes in the frequency and duration of both production and consumption-related movements in response to the 2010–2013 drought. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Abstract.
