Rapid evidence assessment on the impacts of climate change on migration patterns

Some areas worldwide are becoming less habitable due to increasingly extreme climate-related hazards. Other areas could become more habitable, allowing new economic activities such as agriculture or tourism. International processes, particularly those on migration and displacement, climate change and disaster risk reduction, increasingly refer to the links between climate change and human mobility.

However, these links are not always grounded in evidence, and this increased attention has not led to the coordinated, significant policy or legislative change that is required. We need to consider the current evidence base on the complex relationships between climate change and human mobility, to support the development of an informed global discourse on links between climate, displacement and migration.

Key Messages

Climate-related shocks can contribute to increases and decreases in migration, and there is no upward trend in weather shock-related migration.
There is little evidence of existing impacts of long-term climatic and related changes on migration.
There is strong evidence that adaptations to climate-related shocks and hazards can reduce migration pressures, but that ‘maladaptation’ contributes to displacement and migration.
There is strong evidence that perceptions and narratives of climate change, weather shocks and local environments affect migration practices and decisions.
Poverty-affected individuals and households are particularly affected by both migration pressures and barriers to movement, and young people are the most likely to move in response to climatic pressures.
There are no rigorous global estimates of the number of people displaced by or migrating in response to weather shocks or climate change, and high-end projections of future climate-related migration are not considered credible.

These infographics are based on the findings of the Rapid evidence assessment on the impacts of climate change on migration patterns from the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.