Externe Publikationen

Doom or adaptation? Research findings on the complex interlinkages between climate change and human mobility and their implications for societal and political discourses

Schraven, Benjamin
Externe Publikationen (2026)

in: Erol Esen / Cem Şentürk / Veli Cetintürk (eds.), Climate Change and Migration: Global Challenges and Local Mitigation Strategies, Berlin: Peter Lang

ISBN: 978-3-631-94419-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/b23370
Open access

In the face of ever-new temperature records and serious natural disasters, the effects of climate change no longer appear to be just abstract visions of
the future. The fears triggered by global warming, particularly in the Global North, are strongly focused on the issues of forced displacement and migration. The fear that climate change could rob millions of people—especially in the Global South—of their homes soon, and that these people could
then set off for Europe or North America as climate refugees, is reflected in countless media reports in recent years. Furthermore, non-governmental
organizations regularly use the alarmist, if not to say doomsday, narrative of a steady increase in the number of climate refugees and the existential
threat posed by climate change to billions of people worldwide to promote their work. The scientific debate on the links between climate change and human mobility has intensified considerably over the last 15 years, and numerous research projects, some of them large-scale, have been launched on the topic of “climate migration.” This chapter wants to reflect on the findings of these research activities, also considering global migration trends. The fundamental implications for the political and (global) social handling of the nexus between climate change and human mobility will be worked out.

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