Environmental Change, Adaptation and Migration Bringing in the Region

by Hillmann, Felicitas; Pahl, Marie; Rafflenbeul, Birte; Sterly, Harald

• ISBN13: 9781137538901
• ISBN10: 1137538902
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-09-23
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

In recent years, migration and mobility have increasingly been promoted as one possible adaptive strategy within climate change scenarios and environmental change, and even constituting a solution for locally problematic situations. This edited collection presents empirical and theoretical insights into the current debate on environmental change, adaptation, and migration by analysing these issues from a regional perspective. Individual chapters focus on countries in the global south which are already subject to ongoing environmental degradation: Sudan, Mexico, the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Ghana. People living in these countries are likely to suffer from growing ecological inequalities. The contributors call for a greater involvement of the local population in empirical studies, for the acknowledgment of their agency, and for a systematic link between development studies and migration studies. The book attempts to overcome the strongly policy-driven discourse encouraging the research community to focus on the regional setting.

Author Biography

Felicitas Hillmann is Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, and Head of the Migration Unit for the project 'New regional formations: rapid environmental change and migration'. She has published in the field of international migration, migrant entrepreneurship and urban transformation.

Marie Pahl is a researcher in the 'Megacities-Megachallenge. Informal Dynamics of Global Change' programme at the University of Cologne, Germany. Her research investigates the competition for high-skilled migrants in Chinese city with a focus on urban transformation.

Birte Rafflenbeul is a researcher in the 'Megacities-Megachallenge. Informal Dynamics of Global Change' programme and a research associate at the University of Cologne. She conducts research on highly-skilled international migration and its impact on urban development in Guangzhou, China.

Harald Sterly is Scientific Coordinator of the research programme 'Megacities-Megachallenge. Informal Dynamics of Global Change' at the University of Cologne. Current research interests include translocality and social change in South Asia and Western Africa.

Table of Contents

Introduction: (Re-)locating the Nexus of Migration, Environmental Change and Adaptation; Felicitas Hillmann, Marie Pahl, Birte Rafflenbeul and Harald Sterly
PART I: FRAMING THE DEBATE
1. Climate Mobilities from a Human Geography Perspective – Considering the Spatial Dimensions of Climate Change; Johannes Herbeck
2. Human Mobility and Adaptation: Reducing Susceptibility to Climate Stressors and Mainstreaming; Koko Warner, Juan Hoffmaister and Andrea Milan
PART II: UNDERSTANDING REGIONAL VULNERABILITIES
3. 'Migration as adaptation': new perspective for migration research or dead-end?; Sabine Dorlöchter-Sulser
4. Migration and Social Protection as Adaptation in Response to Climate-related Stressors: The Case of Zacatecas in Mexico; Mustafa Aksakal and Kerstin Schmidt-Verkerk
5. The Role of a Priori Cross-border Migration after Extreme Climate Events: The Case of the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan; Cleovi Mosuela and Denise Margaret Matias
6. Migration as Future Adaptive Capacity: the Case of Java – Indonesia; Wiwandari Handayani and Novia Riska Kumalasari
PART III: EXTREME REGIONAL SITUATIONS: BANGLADESH
7. Indigenous Women's Migration to Cities: Root Causes, Coping Mechanisms and Gendered Transformations; Meghna Guhathakurta
8. Disaster-induced Migration and Adaptation Discourse in Bangladesh; Bishawjit Mallick and Tamanna Siddiqui
Climate Change Induced Migration and Post Disaster Remittance Responses through a Gender Lens; Priyanka Debnath
PART IV: EXTREME REGIONAL SITUATIONS: GHANA
9. Changing Reproductive Behaviour and Migration in Response to Environmental Change: Evidence from Rural Northern Ghana; Stephen A. Adaawen
10. Dealing with Climate Change in the Coastal Savannah Zone of Ghana: In Situ Adaptation Strategies and Migration; Joseph Kofi Teye and Kwadwo Owusu
11. Finding the Right Path: Climate Change and Migration in Northern Ghana; Francis Xavier Jarawura and Lothar Smith
12. Beyond Adaptation? The Changing Nature of Seasonal Migration in Northern Ghana in the Context of Climate Change, Agricultural Decline and Food Insecurity; Benjamin Schraven and Christina Rademacher-Schulz
PART V: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER: CONCLUSIONS
13. Conclusion: Linking Migration, Environmental Change and Adaptation – Lessons Learnt (Felicitas Hillmann, Marie Pahl, Birte Rafflenbeul, Harald Sterly)
Index