Environmental migration: Growing challenges and wicked realities

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• Migration Working Group
• MPC: Migration Policy Centre

Join us for this session to reconsider the interconnectedness of environmental, political and legal challenges, which calls for greater global coordination to address the growing issue of climate-induced displacement.

This session will delve into the emerging challenges of climate-induced migration, exploring both its complex nature and the legal barriers to comprehensive international regulation. The first presentation will examine the "wicked problem" of climate mobility in Nairobi, Kenya, highlighting the multiple social, economic, and environmental factors that influence migration patterns. Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach, the paper underpinning the discussion reflects on the complexity of climate migration and how differing interpretations shape both policy and research efforts.

The second presentation will turn to the legal domain and examine the obstacles to establishing an international legal framework on environmental migration. It will highlight definitional ambiguities, political reluctance, and the fragmented international response as key obstacles that leave millions of environmentally displaced persons without adequate protection. 

The Migration Working Group (MWG) is a researcher-led research group, whose aim is to foster exchange on the latest, cutting-edge migration research and give the opportunity to early career scholars and PhD researchers to present their research.