Is moving a good way
An multinational research team is attempting to provide a comprehensive response to the challenging topic of whether migration can be viewed as a successful adaptation to climate change. Researchers from Africa, Asia, and Europe made up the team that recently carried out a study that identifies three crucial factors for assessing the efficacy of migration as a response to climate change: sustainability, equity, and well-being.
The study shows that migration is not a perfect answer, despite being recognised as a potential way to reduce climate risks. Remittances, or the transfers of cash, ideas, talents, and things that migrants bring home, are one facet of this complex interaction, according to the study.
Remittances can improve the material well-being of families and households in migrants' home countries, which can help with climate change adaptation, but they frequently come at a high cost to the migrants themselves.
The study portrays a picture in which the welfare of migrants is frequently jeopardised by drawing on data from every continent throughout the recent decades. For instance, in Bangladesh, urban planning and policy generally ignore migrants, which excludes them from urban structures and services. All facets of their lives in their new urban homes are impacted by this neglect, including their housing arrangements, their level of financial security, and their capacity to continue providing for their families back home.
Dr. Lucy Szaboova, the study's principal investigator from the University of Exeter, voiced worry about this circumstance. The concept of migration as adaptation, according to Dr. Szaboova, "puts the burden of anticipating and addressing future risks on individuals and could justify policy inaction." She pointed out that migration might worsen vulnerabilities and marginality when it is not accompanied by the proper governmental support, endangering the viability of adaptation efforts.
Possibly harmful side effects
One of the study's key conclusions is that migration frequently creates tensions within and between the three sustainability criteria of equality, sustainability, and well-being. There may be winners and losers as a result of these tensions. Migration has a different effect on different people depending on criteria including age, gender, and ethnicity, among others.
For instance, while remittances may help a home's financial status, the relocation of men may result in an increase in the workload for the female members of the household. The increased responsibility of running the farm can force people to make challenging decisions that could eventually jeopardise the efficacy of migration as a climate adaption strategy.
The Regional Institute for Population Studies at the University of Ghana's Dr. Mumuni Abu emphasised the potential drawbacks of migration.
long-term effects
While remittances are frequently hailed for their ability to promote development and adaptation, Dr. Amina Maharjan of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) noted that their role must be assessed in the context of longer time horizons. Migration has long-lasting effects on how successfully adaption occurs.
The authors contend that in light of these findings, evaluations of the effectiveness of migration as adaptation should consider not only the results for migrants but also their families and family members in their countries of origin as well as the host society. Additionally, these assessments must take into account the possibility that some ramifications won't be immediately clear but may become so over time.
Possible solutions
The authors urge migration to be incorporated into policy and planning in order to address the conflicts and challenges associated with successful migration as a strategy for climate adaptation. They promote the development of a supportive policy environment that encourages migration as a workable adaptation tactic.
The study's contributor, Professor Neil Adger of the University of Exeter, talked about possible approaches to developing this supportive environment.
He claimed that "migrants in cities are disproportionately exposed to social and environmental hazards that have a negative impact on their health and wellbeing." "Despite this, they continue to be mostly unheard and unrepresented in policy circles.
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