Conclusion: Inequality and Migration as Adaptation—Where Do We Go from Here?

Abstract

The chapters in this volume illustrate how the relationship between migration and adaptation is as complex and multilayered as is the relationship between migration and environmental change. In this concluding chapter, we summarize some of the key discussions about inequalities within the environmental migration debate and draw attention to issues such as the role of remittances and inequality within households. We reflect on the preceding chapters, focusing on how the contributing authors have traced and assessed the influence of inequalities on environmental migration in their empirical findings, methodological approaches, and policy discussions. We then compare these with recent theoretical and empirical developments in the broader migration literature. We also consider how social inequality is presently addressed in legal and policy instruments that address environmentally induced migration, and offer suggestions for future research and discussion.