Climate-induced international migration and conflicts

Abstract

Population movements will help people cope with the impacts of climate change. However, large-scale displacements may also produce security risks for receiving areas. If climate change intensifies the process of out-migration, destination countries may face waves of migrants so large and fast that integration becomes increasingly hard. The objective of this article is to empirically estimate if the inflows of climate-induced migrants increase the risk of conflicts in receiving areas. Using data from 1960 to 2000, we show that climate-induced migrants are not an additional determinant of civil conflicts and civil wars in receiving areas.