This podcast explore the relationship between climate change disasters and migration. 
Credits: 
Music: Chris Zabriskie (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/chris_zabriskie)
Cover image: Henry Donati/Department for International Development Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Not all disasters happen at the same speed. Consider two examples.

1. Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda made landfall in the Philippines on the 8th of November. It had been identified as one of the most powerful Typhoons ever recorded only hours before. In a few hours it had killed 6,000 people and injured nearly 30,000. The typhoon displaced 4 million. By the 9th of November the storm had moved into Vietnamese and Chinese territory.

2. In July 2011 a severe drought hit the Horn of Africa. It lasted almost an entire year. By September 2012 nearly a million people had fled Somalia to camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Early warning systems first forecast the looming disaster 11 months before it hit. The massive displacement was created partly by the fact the region had been made more vulnerable by previous droughts.



Exploring climate, disasters and migration

People in the Pacific are increasingly using migration as a way of protecting their livelihoods in the face of climate change. At the moment many are using temporary migration to help their communities adapt. But what happens when climate change means people have to move permanently? And what can be done to protect the rights of people who move? We interview Sophia Kagan who works with the International Labor Organisation about their work on migration and climate change in the Pacific. Music: Chris Zabriskie, Creative Commons - http://bit.ly/1GbjnOG. Image: Luigi Guarino, Creative Commons http://bit.ly/1Mw92hJ

Podcast: The Pacific -  migrating to adapt to climate change

One of the most talked about and controvercial topics in the field of climate and migration is the idea of 'migration as adaptation'. In this podcast we argue that for many people migration may be their most viable way of adapting. However we also argue that this can open up a new set of risks for migrants including exploitation in new work places. If migration is truely to become an empowering way for people to adapt, states must act to protect the welfare of people who move. 

Image: Rakib Hasan Sumon, Creative Commons - (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Railway station in Dhaka, Bangldesh. https://flic.kr/p/kwVF8e


How can we protect people who move to adapt to climate change?

Earlier this year we were part of an artistic installation exploring migration linked to climate change. While there we interviewed one of the artists - Tracey Zengeni - about her art work.

Tracey Zengeni created the installation African Fragments. The art work explores how people in rural Zimbabwe are responding to climate change. In the interview she discusses her own childhood in Zimbabwe and the visible impacts of climate change - including how people are migrating as a response to the drying landscape. 

More about Tracey Zengeni: http://bit.ly/1jlp69X
More about the exhibition: 

Image: Part of African Fragments on display at the Durham Miners hall in 2015. Copyright Metaceptive Arts. 

Artists engage with climate & migration: Tracey Zengeni, African fragments

We interviewed climate and migration expert Walter Kälin. The key topic of our conversation was how this issue might (or might not) be addressed at the climate change negotiations. 

Music: Cylinders by Chris Zabriskie, Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Image: NASA Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Expert view: migration, displacement and climate negotiations - with Walter Kälin

During 2015 the media started connecting climate change with the conflict in Syria and subsequent refugee movements across Europe. Many reports were in direct response to new research making this connection. Other reports mentioned this research while examining other major events such as the drownings in the Mediterranean, the refugee camp in Calais and the terrorist attacks in November 2015. But did those media reports accurately represent the research they referenced? (Cover image: EC/ECHO/Dina Baslan  CC BY-SA 2.0 From Flickr https://flic.kr/p/cMmfEb)

Syria and climate change - Podcast / lecture

In this talk we make the case that the climate change talks have lead to progress on climate-linked migration. But that to protect the rights of people who move, progress must also be made in several other places.

The key points in the talk are:

The climate negotiations on their own cannot provide a complete answer to climate-linked migration. Other negotiations will also be needed.
While the climate negotiations could eventually lead to an agreement on how states might plan for and be compensated for climate-linked migration - they are unlikely to help when it comes to protecting the rights of people who move.
Progress on the rights of people displaced by climate change is likely to come from other places - especially the Platform on Disaster Displacement.

Climate & Migration

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