Showing papers on "Human migration published in 2019"

Human Migration in the Era of Climate Change

Abstract: Migration is one response to climatic stress and shocks. In this article we review the recent literature across various disciplines on the effects of climate change on migration. We explore...

A mobilities perspective on migration in the context of environmental change

Abstract: Academic, political, and policy debates about the connection between environmental change and human migration have long focused on migration drivers and outcomes, resulting in a limited discussion between the discourses of “desolate climate refugees” and “environmental migrants as agents of adaptation.” These perspectives remain dominant, particularly in policy and media circles, despite academic critique and the recent emergence of more diverse approaches. In this intervention, we contribute to the recent turn in environmental migration research by seeking to better ground and pluralize our understanding of how environmental change and human mobility relate. We do so by offering a mobilities perspective that centers on the practices, motives, and experiences of mobility and immobility in the context of environmental change: When and why do people decide to move—or not to move—in response to environmental changes? How do they cope with migration pressures? Where do they move, under what conditions, and who can or must stay behind? This approach attends to the diverse aspirations and differential capabilities that underlie particular practices of movement or nonmovement, reflecting both individual characteristics as well as interconnections with uneven power relations across local, regional, and global scales. A mobilities approach offers a starting point for an expanded research agenda on environmental im/mobilities. This enables academic analysis and policy discussion of the human (im)mobility-environmental change nexus to become better attuned to the actual practice and heterogeneous needs of those affected. This article is categorized under: Climate and Development > Social Justice and the Politics of Development Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Values-Based Approach to Vulnerability and Adaptation.

Late Pleistocene human genome suggests a local origin for the first farmers of central Anatolia

Abstract: Anatolia was home to some of the earliest farming communities It has been long debated whether a migration of farming groups introduced agriculture to central Anatolia Here, we report the first genome-wide data from a 15,000-year-old Anatolian hunter-gatherer and from seven Anatolian and Levantine early farmers We find high genetic continuity (~80–90%) between the hunter-gatherers and early farmers of Anatolia and detect two distinct incoming ancestries: an early Iranian/Caucasus related one and a later one linked to the ancient Levant Finally, we observe a genetic link between southern Europe and the Near East predating 15,000 years ago Our results suggest a limited role of human migration in the emergence of agriculture in central Anatolia

Infectious diseases at different stages of migration: an expert review

Abstract: Background Human migration is increasing in magnitude and scope. The majority of migrants arriving in high-income countries originate from countries with a high prevalence of infectious diseases. The risk and burden of infectious diseases are not equally distributed among migrant groups and vary with migration stage. Methods A broad literature review was conducted on the drivers for infectious diseases and associated health outcomes among migrants across different stages of migration. The aim was to provide practitioners with an overview of the key infectious disease risks at each stage to guide health promotion strategies. Results A complex interaction of factors leads to infectious diseases and associated poor health outcomes among migrants. The most important drivers are the epidemiology of infectious diseases in their countries of origin, the circumstances and conditions of the migration journey and barriers accessing healthcare post-arrival. During the recent large waves of forced migration into Europe, the primary health concerns on arrival were psychological, traumatic and chronic non-communicable diseases. In the early settlement period, crowded and unhygienic living conditions in reception camps facilitated outbreaks of respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin infections and vaccine preventable diseases. After re-settlement, undetected and untreated latent infections due to tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, HIV, chronic helminthiasis and Chagas' disease led to poor health outcomes. Migrants are disproportionally affected by preventable travel-related diseases such as malaria, typhoid and hepatitis due to poor uptake of pre-travel prophylaxis and vaccination. Infectious diseases among migrants can be decreased at all migration stages with health promotion strategies adapted to their specific needs and delivered in a linguistically and culturally sensitive manner. Conclusions Tailored health promotion and screening approaches and accessible and responsive health systems, regardless of legal status, will be needed at all migration stages to limit the burden and transmission of infectious diseases in the migrant population.

International migration and climate adaptation in an era of hardening borders

Abstract: Climate change will almost certainly generate higher rates of migration and displacement within low-income countries, but will it also generate more international migration? This depends on the receptiveness of destination countries, many of which are currently restricting immigration, criminalizing asylum seekers and using emergent technologies to tighten borders. Should these trends persist, migration to higher-income countries will decline, trapping people in deteriorating situations and reducing adaptive capacity in low-income countries. The United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration provides an alternative pathway for international migration that builds capacity and sustainability for a climate-disrupted future. The implications of current trends for migrants, policymakers and researchers are detailed in this Perspective. Climate change is likely to increase human migration, but future climate-related migration flows will depend heavily on the adaptive capacity of people living in vulnerable regions and on the border policies of potential destination countries. Current opportunities for mobility are constrained by increasingly strict border enforcement and the securitization of international migration.

Climate Change Migration and Displacement: Learning from Past Relocations in the Pacific

Abstract: It has been projected that the single greatest impact of environmental changes will be on human migration and displacement. Migration has been extensively discussed and documented as an adaptation strategy in response to environmental changes, and more recently, to climate change. However, forced relocation will lead to the displacement of people, and although much has been written about it, very little has been documented from the Pacific Islands perspective, especially by communities that were forced to relocate as a result of colonialism and those that have been forced to migrate today as a result of climate change impacts. Using the Gilbertese resettlement from the Phoenix Islands to the Solomon Islands, in particular, Wagina Island in the 1960s as a case study of forced relocation and displacement of Pacific Islands people during the colonial period, this paper aims to underline some of the important lessons that can be learned from this historical case to inform the present and future challenges of climate change migration and displacement. Without dismissing migration as a coping strategy, the paper argues that the forced relocation of people from their home islands as a result of climate change will lead to displacement. It accentuates that in the case of Pacific Islands, forced relocation will lead to displacement if they are forced to leave their land because of their deep relationship and attachment to it. The paper also emphasizes the need to acknowledge and honor Pacific Islands’ voices and perceptions in discourses on climate change migration and displacement at national, regional and international forums.

Is the push-pull paradigm useful to explain rural-urban migration? A case study in Uttarakhand, India.

Abstract: The present study explored the motivation of rural-urban migrants who moved from the Himalaya foothills of Uttarakhand to its capital city, Dehradun. A survey of 100 migrant families reported their socio-economic profile before and after migration, personal and general reasons for migration, problems in the village and in the city, and perception of push- and pull factors. A remote sensing-based analysis of land cover and forest changes was conducted for two villages of the migrants' origin, aiming to link the reasons for migration to land cover changes. This was contextualised by reported large scale changes in forest cover. Major reasons for migration mentioned in this study were education, employment opportunities with the associated income, and facilities. These were perceived as both, push and pull factors, whereas environmental factors ranked very low. Declining environment or agriculture were never mentioned spontaneously as personal reason, and only occasionally as a presumed general reason for migration, but were frequently confirmed as a major problem in the village. Thus, although such problems existed, they seemed not a major driver of rural-urban migration. For most of the respondents their migration resulted in a profound change of livelihoods and significantly improved their socio-economic situation. Land and forest cover around the chosen villages fluctuated by up to 15% with a trend to increasing forest cover in recent years. At the district and state scales, forest cover was rather stable. These results question the narrative of deforestation and environmental degradation in the Himalayas as major push-factors for rural-urban migration in Uttarakhand. Even if environmental constraints were felt, it was rather the differences in socio-economic opportunities (education, employment, facilities) that drove people to migrate to the city. Regarding the push-pull paradigm, we conclude that scenarios of external conditions under which people migrate cannot be evaluated without taking the migrants' attitudes and choices into account.

Public Health and Mental Health Implications of Environmentally Induced Forced Migration.

Abstract: Climate change is increasingly forcing population displacement, better described by the phrase environmentally induced forced migration. Rising global temperatures, rising sea levels, increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters, and progressive depletion of life-sustaining resources are among the drivers that stimulate population mobility. Projections forecast that current trends will rapidly accelerate. This will lead to an estimated 200 million climate migrants by the year 2050 and create dangerous tipping points for public health and security.Among the public health consequences of climate change, environmentally induced forced migration is one of the harshest and most harmful outcomes, always involving a multiplicity of profound resource and social losses and frequently exposing migrants to trauma and violence. Therefore, one particular aspect of forced migration, the effects of population displacement on mental health and psychosocial functioning, deserves dedicated focus. Multiple case examples are provided to elucidate this theme. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:116-122).

Historical Migration Patterns Shape Contemporary Cultures of Emotion

Abstract: Human emotional behavior varies across cultures. Smiling at a passing stranger on the street may seem perfectly normal in one culture and profoundly strange or even suspicious in another. What are the origins of cultural differences in emotional expression, communication, and regulation? We review new evidence in favor of one answer to this question. A socioecological factor, historical heterogeneity-defined as the ancestral diversity of the world's regions based on human migration patterns over centuries-accounts for important cultural variations in emotional experience and expression. We summarize findings from studies of large global samples that link the migratory history of a country's population with present-day cultural differences in how overtly and clearly emotions are expressed to others, in the frequency and meaning of smiles, and in associated character traits. New research also extends the analysis to the historical heterogeneity of the United States, and country-level findings are replicated at the level of the states. We suggest that enduring emotional behaviors and traits evolve from the opportunities and challenges posed by the commingling of people of diverse ancestries. We conclude by highlighting the questions and challenges for future research stemming from this approach.

Droughts, livelihoods, and human migration in northern Ethiopia

Abstract: Our study examines the effects of drought on livelihoods and human migration in the rural highlands of northern Ethiopia, one of the most affected regions during the 2015 drought. We conducted a household survey contextualized by focus group discussions in two rural sending areas. Drought intensity was similar in both areas, but drought impacts and farmer’s response strategies differed. Overall, we observed significant strategy changes, including a drastic shift from subsistence crop production to livestock sale among farmers being dependent on the March–June rainfall (belg season). Our results suggest that drought increases mobility, primarily through triggering short-term migration to closer destinations to cover immediate needs like food shortages. Four out of ten households in both regions engaged in migration. Nonetheless, migration tends to be context specific with respect to barriers and opportunities for participation, with distance, duration, and perceptions of migration as well as the underlying motives being region-specific. We conclude that understanding livelihood strategy changes requires an embedding in a larger context rather than focusing on one particular driver. Migration—one important livelihood strategy in northern Ethiopia—is the result of a complex interplay of factors, drought perhaps being only one of them. Based on our finding, we reason the decision to migrate is strongly moderated by the drought rather than it is directly driven by it.

Climate Change, Inequality, and Human Migration

Abstract: This paper investigates the long-term implications of climate change on local, interregional, and international migration of workers. For nearly all of the world's countries, our micro-founded model jointly endogenizes the effects of changing temperature and sea level on income distribution and individual decisions about fertility, education, and mobility. Climate change intensifies poverty and income inequality creating favorable conditions for urbanization and migration from low-to high-latitude countries. Encompassing slow-and fast-onset mechanisms, our projections suggest that climate change will induce the voluntary and forced displacement of 100 to 160 million workers (200 to 300 million climate migrants of all ages) over the course of the 21st century. However, under current migration laws and policies, forcibly displaced people predominantly relocate within their country and merely 20% of climate migrants opt for long-haul migration to OECD countries. If climate change induces generalized and persistent conflicts over resources in regions at risk, we project significantly larger cross-border flows in the future.

Visualizing the largest annual human migration during the Spring Festival travel season in China

Abstract: The large human migration between different areas in China indicates unequal urban and economic development under the background of rapid urbanization and rush for economic growth. Based on...

Doctors on the move: a qualitative study on the driving factors in a group of Egyptian physicians migrating to Germany

Abstract: Migration of physicians has become a global phenomenon with significant implications for the healthcare delivery systems worldwide. The motivations and factors driving physician’s migration are complex and continuously evolving. Purpose of this study is to explore the driving forces in a group of Egyptian physicians and final-years medical students preparing to migrate to Germany. A qualitative study was conducted based on social constructivism epistemology. In five focus group discussions, there participated a total 12 residents and 6 final-year medical students from 7 different training and workplace locations in Egypt. The participants provided information about their motivation and planning for migration. We applied a coding framework based on the concept of push/pull factors and barriers/facilitators for migration, and used Atlas.ti software for analysis. The thematic analysis indicated that the migration within the study’s participants results from a specific weighting of push and pull factors. Push factors are considered to be more important than pull factors. Factors related to professional development play a leading role. The route of migration towards Germany is mainly determined by the low hurdle registration and licensing requirements in this destination country compared to other countries. In some cases, Germany is regarded as a “transit country”, a step on the road to other European countries. The intent, planning and preparation of migration is assisted considerably by the local formation of a community and culture of migration with multiple ways for information exchange, identity building and social support through face-to-face and online channels. This study specifies – in a group of Egyptian physicians and final-year medical students – the perceived push and pull factors which influenced their intent to migrate to Germany. In addition to the general wealth gap, their particular route of migration is mainly determined by the requirements in licensing and registration procedures for foreign physicians in the potential destination country. The planning and preparation of a move is substantially facilitated by their joining a social network and a community of migrating physicians.

Migration crisis in Venezuela and its impact on HIV in other countries: the case of Colombia

Abstract: © The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creat iveco mmons .org/ publi cdoma in/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. During the last few years, there has been a large migration flux of Venezuelan citizens and refugees. This is a consequence of the current political instability and the economic crisis in that country. Such a situation is leading the migration to countries in South, Central and North America, as well as to Europe, among other regions of the world. This forced displacement is leading also to the importation of infectious diseases as has been recently reported [1–3]. Malaria and other vectorborne diseases [4, 5], tuberculosis, vaccine-preventable diseases [3, 6], among others, such as sexually transmitted diseases and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. The most direct consequences in public health are to countries of the Americas, which are receiving the massive flux of migration from Venezuela, e.g. Colombia. Colombia is an example to discuss and enhance the message of the negative consequences of the massive migration from Venezuela and the impact on HIV in a near country. Using and analyzing data from the surveillance system of Colombia, during 2017 (SIVIGILA, https ://www.ins.gov.co/Pagin as/siste mas-de-infor macio n.aspx), we explored the incidence of new cases of HIV imported from other countries, particularly including Venezuela. In 2017, Colombia reported 13,310 new cases of HIV, with 108 of them imported from other countries (0.8%) [7]. From those imported cases, 83.3% of them (90) were from Venezuela (Table 1). Colombia received newly diagnosed HIV people from 12 other countries. The most affected territory, as expected, was Norte de Santander department, in the border with Venezuela (Fig. 1), followed by the capital of the country, Bogota, and La Guajira department, which is also an international border territory. Norte de Santander reported only 388 autochthonous which means a relation of 1 imported case of Venezuela per 12.9 autochthonous in that territory (Table 1). Countries emerging from a conflict or humanitarian crisis often face conditions that facilitate the spread of HIV, including significant population movements, lack of social and health services in their countries and genderbased violence that leads to these problems. Moving to border countries, where the partnership with humanitarian and assistance organizations is essential to ensure that HIV is adequately addressed in those territories receiving HIV people [8, 9]. During 2017, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that 150,000 adults and children were living with HIV in Colombia, whilst estimated for 2016 there were 120,000 in Venezuela, among whom only 59% were accessing antiretroviral therapy (ART) (only 71,210 people on ART), with only 7% with a low viral load [2, 10]. Over the past decade in Colombia, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS has been stable (Fig. 1) [11]. However, in Venezuela, more than 79,000 people living with HIV stopped receiving antiretrovirals since 2017 and the number of deaths increased from 1800 in 2014 to possibly more than 5000 in 2018. Even more, 154,000 people may be living with HIV in Venezuela, although there are no prevalence and incidence studies with significant coverage [2, 10]. Since 2016, access to ART fell alarmingly, especially due to government lack of funding for it, until it almost disappeared in 2017 and 2018, when international purchases were interrupted leading to approximately 58,000 people with Open Access Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials

Complex network of United States migration

Abstract: Economists and social scientists have studied the human migration extensively. However, the complex network of human mobility in the United States (US) is not studied in depth. In this paper, we analyze migration network between counties and states in the US between 2000 and 2015 to analyze the overall structure of US migration and yearly changes using temporal analysis. We aggregated network on different time windows and analyzed for both county and state level. Analyzing flow between US counties and states, we focus on the migration during different periods such as economic prosperity of the housing boom and economic hardship of the housing bust. We observed that nodes at county and state level usually remain active, but there are considerable fluctuations on links. This indicates that migration patterns change over the time. However, we could identify a backbone at both county and state levels using disparity filter. Finally, we analyze impact of the political and socioeconomic factors on the migration. Using gravity model, we observe that population, political affiliation, poverty, and unemployment rate have influence on US migration.

Building alliances for the global governance of migration and health

Abstract: Health governance has an important role in dealing with global migration, argue Jo Vearey and colleagues

Cliometric essays on Mexican migration to the United States

Abstract: There is a lack of cliometric literature addressing the characteristics of Mexican migration during the Age of Mass migration (1850–1914). To fill this void, I analyze an original data set—the Mexican Border Crossing Records (MBCRs) publication N° A3365—to disentangle the initial mechanics of Mexican migration in the early twentieth century. I first offer a historical overview on Mexican migration to the United States in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, I introduce these novel micro data that record individual characteristics of migrants that crossed the Mexico-US border from 1906 to 1908. In Chapter 3, I address the initial determinants of the Mexican-American migration stream. I use the migrant’s location of last residence and final destination to identify migration corridors at the local level (migration streams between Mexican municipalities and US counties). In addition, I provide a quantitative assessment of the push and pull factors that may explain differences in migration intensity across corridors. These factors include the US-Mexico wage gap, market potentials, living standards and access to railways. In Chapter 4, I use the migrant’s height—a proxy for physical productivity of labor—to quantify the selectivity of Mexican migration. In addition, I exploit the Panic of 1907 as a natural experiment of history to study the speed that migrant self-selection adjust and change to both environmental and economic factors. This financial crisis provides me with exogenous variation in height to evaluate if unexpected shocks affecting the demand of immigrant workers can induce short-run changes in migrant self-selection. To explain shifts in selection patterns, I focus on labor institutions as mechanism of adjustment. Specifically, I study the enganche, a system of labor recruiting that neutralized mobility and job-search costs. In Chapter 5, I exploit the reported locations of birth, last residence and destination to classify migrants based on their chosen migration method: direct or stage migration. The micro data reveal that forty percent of the migrants moved within Mexico before crossing the border. I estimate correlations between stage migration and potential wage at the destination controlling for the immigrants’ age, literacy, sex, marital status and birthplace. In Chapter 6, I offer some concluding remarks. My findings expand our knowledge about the initial patterns of Mexican migration using micro data not analyzed previously. They show that in the early twentieth century, the decision to migrate was a function of diverse forces, which effects and magnitudes varied across Mexican regions. Also, Mexican migration was characterized by an intermediate or positive selection, and labor institutions involved in the migration process shaped migrant self-selection. Finally, Mexicans used stage migration to reach the US border, and it was associated with a significant wage premium at the destination.

The role of conflict and organized violence in international forced migration

Abstract: Background: The growing relevance of migration in the policy agenda of both host and sending countries asks for a better understanding of factors shaping migration processes. This paper analyzes recent trends of increasing asylum applications and refugee stocks and examines the influence of conflicts, as well as political and economic factors, as primary push and pull factors. Objective: The main aim is to empirically investigate the relationship that armed conflicts have with first-time asylum applications and refugee stocks in and outside Europe. Methods: We explore different measures that capture the severity and geographical spread of armed conflicts and link them to the dependent variables by fitting a gravity model. Results: The intensity of the conflict and where the fighting is taking place explain an essential portion of the variation in flows of asylum applications and stocks of refugees. Results suggest that people flee terror and war but also violence and insecurity emerging from non-conflict-affected areas and perpetrated by different criminal actors. Results also show that economic conditions, the presence of previous migrant communities in the destination country, distance, and presence of a common language between the origin and destination countries are relevant drivers of new asylum applications. Higher rates of asylum recognition by host countries act as an important pull factor, positively correlated with receiving additional new asylum claims. Contribution: This paper contributes to the empirical literature on the determinants of international forced migration by empirically examining the latest bilateral migration data and the associations with armed conflict and growing forms of organized violence in the origin countries.

West African Migration in the Age of Climate Change : Translocal Perspectives on Mobility from Mali and Senegal

Abstract: High mobility in West Africa, regarded as one of the world’s hotspots of climate change, continues to be prominently framed by neo-Malthusian portrayals of threatened agricultural livelihoods, population pressure, and sedentarism. However, simplified notions of so-called environmental migration, especially in contexts of slow-onset environmental change, are based on fundamental conceptional flaws as well as weak, patchy empirical evidence. This thesis contributes to the debate on climate change, environment, and migration by scrutinizing conceptual and methodological deficiencies and adopting a migration research perspective. The objective is to provide a multidimensional, translocal explanation of contemporary population movements from two rural study areas in the semi-arid Sahel of Mali (Bandiagara) and Senegal (Linguere). Assuming repetitive migration as a well-established, habitual part of people’s lives and social networks spanning different places, the theoretical- conceptual framework integrates complementary approaches of translocality, migration theory, and political ecology. With this conception, circular mobility, flows of resources, knowledge, and ideas involve multidirectional, multilocal cumulative effects reshaping interconnected local contexts and environmental conditions. Accepting the complexity, contextuality, and multicausality of migration in effect contradicts the prioritization of environmental effects on human migration in the research design. Suggestive questioning and highlighting climatic or environmental stress as drivers of migration have been identified as methodological flaws in previous empirical research as they risk biasing results and preventing new insights. Moreover, data (collection) and analytical methods that aim to causally link environmental and climatic factors with migration data while neglecting spatial and temporal scale issues are susceptible to fallacies. Consequently, the methodology is primarily based on multi-sited ethnography, including observation, interviews, and the collection of migrant biographies at multiple places of identified migration networks. To reduce biases and allow for multidimensional explanations of migration, field research involved separating the topics of climate/environment and migration and avoiding suggestive interviewing about (climate and environment as) migration motives. The findings show that aside from soil characteristics and significant intra- and interannual rainfall variability, human activities considerably shape prevalent vegetation and degradation patterns as well as the productivity of agricultural land. Evidently, harvests and people’s ability to compensate shortfalls are temporally, locally, and socially differentiated. The availability of technical equipment, labor, know-how, pesticides, fertilizers, as well as field size and location significantly determine yields. Furthermore, rural livelihoods’ reliance on mobility, pooling multiple and multilocal income, and food sources are established strategies. Therefore,…

Determinants Of Emigration From Mexico, Central America, And The Caribbean

Abstract: Economic development and international migration in comparative perspective, Douglas S. Massey the determinants of international migration and policy options for influencing the size of population flows, Peter Gregory unauthorized immigration and immigration reform - present trends and prospects, Alejandro Portes emigration and development in the English-speaking Caribbean, Anthony P. Maingot relative deprivation and migration - theory, evidence and policy implications, Oded Stark and J.Edward Taylor migration and development - the case of Puerto Rico, Luis M. Falcon the determinants of undocumented migration to the United States - a research note, John M. Goering development and politically generated migration, Susan Forbes Martin labour migration and economic development, Philip L. Martin migration and development - the unsettled relationship, Demetrios G. Papademetriou migration and development - implications and recommendations for policy, Robert A. Pastor the future of international migrations, Aristide R. Zolberg.

North Korean secondary asylum in the UK

Abstract: The number of North Korean secondary migrants from South Korea has grown markedly in the last ten years. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory observation conducted between 2012-2017, this article explores the motivations for North Korean secondary migration and the role of transnational networks in the migration and settlement trajectory. Our findings suggest that many North Koreans in South Korea feel discriminated against due to their origins, and unable to engage in upward social mobility. We argue that North Korean secondary migration to the United Kingdom (UK) is not a linear process of push and pull factors but a highly reactive and unpredictable one that depends on information fed by brokers. The UK hosts one of the largest communities of North Koreans outside Northeast Asia. Most North Koreans in the UK are secondary asylum seekers from South Korea. Their life in the UK, however, comes with its own set of challenges, some of which mirror co-ethnic or ideological frictions among North Koreans themselves, with the Korean-Chinese, or with South Koreans. This paper contributes to debates on multiple migration, providing a migrant-centric perspective to answer why people who are offered material benefits in the country they arrive in choose to on-migrate to a place where life can be often more challenging.

A Regional Model of Climate Change and Human Migration

Abstract: As climate change and human migration accelerate globally, decision-makers are seeking tools that can deepen their understanding of the complex nexus between climate change and human migration. These tools can help to identify populations under pressure to migrate, and to explore proactive policy options and adaptive measures. Given the complexity of factors influencing migration, this article presents a system dynamics-based model that couples migration decision making and behavior with the interacting dynamics of economy, labor, population, violence, governance, water, food, and disease. The regional model is applied here to the test case of migration within and beyond Mali. The study explores potential systems impacts of a range of proactive policy solutions and shows that improving the effectiveness of governance and increasing foreign aid to urban areas have the highest potential of those investigated to reduce the necessity to migrate in the face of climate change.

Facing Climate Change: What Drives Internal Migration Decisions in the Karst Rocky Regions of Southwest China

Abstract: Global climate change and its influence on human migration have caused heated debates. There is no consensus about the role of environmental change in shaping migration decisions. To amass more evidence and develop a deeper understanding of the relations between the environment and migration, this paper seeks to evaluate the importance of various drivers (economic, social, political, demographic, and environmental drivers) and determine the internal mechanism in the decision process. The Likert scale was used as the tool for measuring each respondent’s perception of the drivers, and the within-group interrater agreement index was used to express the survey data and to select the actual driving forces. As a result, economic, social, and political factors were strong forces that promoted migration directly, while demographic and environmental factors were moderate or weak forces that promoted migration indirectly. The migrants’ core consideration was to effectively reduce family risks and sustain their livelihoods by moving to a destination to improve their household income, keep their original social networks, and obtain housing allowances from the local government. Land degradation and meteorological disasters were rooted in the vulnerability and risks of a family, and these factors indirectly influenced the people’s decisions by affecting the socioeconomic drivers. We concluded that isolating the environmental drivers from other drivers underlying migration decisions is difficult. Additionally, the internal mechanism indicated that both environmental and non-environmental factors all have an impact on choice in different ways. Future policies should be aimed at increasing sustainable livelihoods and the social resilience of migrant families at a personal level, balancing the development levels of the original locations and destinations, and strengthening international cooperation to reduce the negative effects of climate change at the regional level.