Climate change, migration, and internally displaced populations in the Indian Ocean Region–evidence from South Asia and East Africa

Abstract

The field of migration studies is increasingly widening its scope and research by addressing the complex and converging interactions between migration, internal displacement, livelihoods, and poverty. Within this space, internal migration and displacement are assuming recognition as more contextual and layered processes for vulnerable populations in the global south. A growing body of evidence indicates that regions in East and Southeast Africa and South Asia continue to witness a surge in internal and intra-regional movements of people who are termed as climate or environmental refugees. Resultantly, they are likely to move, are on the move, as also those who are unable to move and are left behind, and those who stay. The paper examines the close and often blurring linkages between environmental migrants, (climate) refugees, aspirational and economic migrants. Engaging with the question of why people move, we observe that the ‘climate-migration’ nexus is intricate and far from a facile, reductionist narrative, as is the ‘migration as adaptation and agency’ nexus –issues that are intertwined when perceiving climate migration in Africa and Asia.