Paste yMigration scores an old record on the history of human movements, with the earliest or first recorded movement or human migration due to climate or ecological changes as old as 1.9 million years ago which saw the dispersal of the early Hominids from Africa. McMichael C .et al. (2012).Recent centuries have also continued recording climate-related migrations from factors of droughts, food shortage and cooling among others. Examples of such recent climate change events include the early 17th-century surge and displacements in Europe after the long “cold nadir of the Little Ice Age” McMichael. C et al. (2012) which lead food availability declines, wars, hunger and diseases, the Mesopotamia mass migration due to droughts and famine in the millennium BCE. McMichael. C et al. (2012). Among the nomadic communities, migration or seasonal movements have been an element of their livelihood.Therefore, migration of varying magnitudes is not a new phenomenon per se, but its current populace gained grounds at the time the International Organization for Migration (IOM) made a publication in 2008 that in 50 years time, climate and environmental change will lead to more than 200 million migrants.IOM (2007) and the intergovernmental panel on climate change(IPCC) in the same vain had earlier by 1990 noted this challenge when they made a statement that “the greatest single impact of climate change could be on human migration ” with many likely to be displaced from coastal erosion, droughts and flooding. McMichael. C et al.(2012).
It is at this point that the subject attracted huge public, media and research interest across the globe which then saw going viral of pictures and messages of concern and fears events such as people packed in boats trying to cross the Mediterranean sea from Africa to Europe, Physical barriers like that of Mexico and USA and not forgetting the wire fence of Melima intended to protect Spain and Europe at Large from African immigrants. According to Cosmin C. (2016), it has therefore been projected that displacements and planned migrations globally will rise by the coming decade due to climate change effects and many people will be displaced within the borders of their countries while others will seek international safety whose with estimated figures of ranging from 200milllion Meyers, (2005) to 1 billion and having the drivers predominantly arising from climate risks of floods and droughts, desertification and sea level rise. Lambert (2002).
Hartmann (2010) further elucidates that the current climate effects being experienced and controversies on the topic of Climate change and migration have been embarked, assessing how many will be displaced, where the migrants will originate from and the associated consequences of both the risk and migration process. With the increased threats from the changing climatic patterns, there has been increased interest in how humans can adapt to climate and environmental changes. Adaptation in the times of stress has been identified that it can either be in-situ or ex-situ. It is therefore in the Ex situ context of adaptation that the paper aims to give a critical analysis of migration or mobility as an ex-situ adaptation to climate change.
The paper will be divided into four chapters to which, Chapter one will provide an overview of a literature review of current debates and discussions on migration and climate change from various scholarly works on the topic. However, the chapter will start with providing operational definitions of keywords of the paper being; Migration/mobility, Climate change, Adaptation/maladaptation and Resilience.
The second chapter will compose the core focus of the paper looking at how migration is a form of adaptation to climate change. The paper, therefore, argues that migration as an adaptation strategy can be adaptive as well as maladaptive to the migrants, community of origin and destination. Case study examples will, therefore, be used to justify this assertion. Chapter three will then sum up the papers’ discussion with the conclusion.
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS
Migration-Mobility
According to Hugh .D And Alistair V.D (2007), Migration or mobility is a relocation process in this case of humans, undertaken on a greater scale with the movement being of a lengthy duration than those undertaken on a daily routine. The movement can be Voluntary, involuntary and seasonal with populations moving to and from between two regions where conditions are either favourable or unfavourable and have a spatial redistribution effect of these populations. The process of migration creates a person known as a Migrant. And in the view of this paper looking at migration as an adaptation to climate change, it is mainly going to concentrate interest on an environmental migrant who it defines to be, a person or group of people who have been made to voluntarily or forcibly, temporarily or permanently abandon their habitual homes due to progressive or sudden environmental changes which impacts their livelihoods and displaces them either within the borders of their countries or internationally. I.O.M. (2007).
Climate change
The United Nations Forum Convention on climate change (UNFCCC) defines climate change as alterations in the global atmospheric conditions resulting from either direct or indirect human activities and leads to variability of the natural climate over an extended period of time. Roger A. P. Jr (2004).It was also defined by the Intergovernmental panel on climate change as “changes in climate over time resulting from natural variability or induced by human activities”. Roger A. P. Jr (2004)
Adaptation / Maladaptation
Adaptation is the process through which human and natural systems undergo adjustments aimed at moderating harm or exploiting beneficial opportunities arising from experienced (actual) or expected climatic stimuli and their associated effects. Douglas K. B. and Graeme J. H.(2010 ). Adaptation can be in-situ or ex-situ. According to Parry et al (.2007, p. 869) In situ adaptation simply refers to adaptation in place or within a specific geographical or spatial location, while ex-situ is simply a contrast of in situ with migration or human mobility as one kind of its composition. Therefore, ex-situ is characterised by movements away from a place of vulnerability by people and their associated systems and assets. Douglas K. B. and Graeme J. H. (2010 ). Maladaptation is the opposite of adaptation and simply implies failed adaptation or process of adaptation which fails to reduce vulnerability but instead increases the vulnerability of the very system initiating the adaptation strategy as well as the other systems. ( Barnett and O’Neill 2010; McCarthy et al., 2001; Field et al., 2014).Hence for migration, it implies negative adaptation effects to the migrants, their communities of origin and destination. Barnett and ’Neill (2010).
Resillience
Resilience is the ability of a system and its component parts to resist, recover, adapt and self-organisation in order to retain the basic structure and functionality following to experienced shock or change. IPCC. (2012).
Therefore having set the operational definitions which will be used in this paper, following is an in-depth overview based on literature reviewed of what other researchers have provided on the migration and climate change nexus. This is intended to provide a foundation for this paper’s viewpoint of human mobility/ migration as a form of adaptation to climate change.
Since the dawn of time, man has sought refugee from effects of extreme climatic and environmental events such as droughts, land degradation desertification sea level rise and much more. Anthony O.S., Xiaomeng S. (2009).However, up to today, there has not been an agreed definition of a person who leaves their current habitat due to environmental stressors. A definition provided by Essam El-Hinnawi (1985) categories Environmental migrants to be “people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of a marked environmental disruption (natural and/or triggered by people) that jeopardized their existence and/or seriously affected the quality of their life “.
Climate-induced migration was noted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as early as 1990 when it emphasized that the most trivial impact of climate change effects in the coming decade was going to lead to increased human migration with estimated figures of about 200million by Meyers, (2005) while Christain Aid, (2007) projected it to 1billion. Recent studies on the climate and migration issues have further provided estimates on populations at risk from climate effects to which we find Anthoff et al (2006) stating that there is expected sea level rise of about 1meter which will about 145million people at risk and of these, 32% will be people from South East Asia and 41% from South Asia. On the other hand, Warren et.al (2006) estimates an additional 6million of coastal residents to be exposed to climate risk of flooding by 2020, while water resource stress expected to affect between,800 and 1800 by 2085.Other climatic effects which have been predicted to drive human mobility or migration include, droughts which will lead to serious hunger and lead to displacement of about 600million people by 2080 Warren et.al (2006) and increased health challenges due to breeding of new disease vectors as a result of changes in temperatures, and in Africa alone, malaria has been estimated to be likely to increase by 16 to 28 percent. Tanser et al (2003). It is therefore assessed that these changes in climate and consequent effects on the socio-ecological systems determines people’s perception of the risks and benefits of staying or migrating especially in instances of an experienced or anticipated increase in morbidity and mortality, loss of natural capital and reduced incomes.
However, it has been realised as Kniveton et al. (2008) puts it, that migration can either be forced or voluntary and determined by the levels of vulnerability and individual or household’s well being. Figure 1 below illustrates this relationship and simply explains that in instances of low vulnerability and well-being, individuals or households are less likely to migrate and in the aspect of someone unable to migrate due to limitations in their well-being even amidst perceived future environmental risks in their place of habitation, such people are said to be in a trapped state, and trapped people suffer high vulnerability. In the figure, it is also worth highlighting that vulnerability is also reduced when households’ well-being are high as the people are able to move and leave the area of risk should it happen that their perceived benefits of relocation are higher than the cost or implication of migrating
Figure 1 Relationship between vulnerability to environmental change and mobility
Source: Source: Black R. et al. (2013).
Therefore, it is the changes in climate and social-ecological systems which affect people’s perceptions of the risks and benefits associated with staying as compared to those associated with migrating. Where climate change exacerbates morbidity and mortality, reduces incomes, and decreases access to important forms of natural capital, people may be more likely than otherwise to choose to migrate to places which they perceive to offer prospects for a better life. Therefore, going by Douglas K. B. and Graeme J. H. (2010) assertion, climate change impacts are likely to manifest themselves on migration pattern through three ways:
• Experiences of risks from Environmental Hazards and social-ecological events would increase
• Changes in the nature of natural resources over time, which leads to people or local communities to no longer be able to access and harness the resources and affects their livelihoods or well-being
• Anticipated or perceived risks of climate change impacts, despite not having the physical experience of them.
Therefore, as earlier stated, migration as a strategy to climate change is indeed twofold (voluntary or involuntary) with complex, multiple non-linear, time bound (seasonal gradual, recurrent) and above all, multidimensional factors which can act either as pull or push factors. Kniveton et al. (2008).During Voluntary migration, drivers are mainly slow or incremental environmental changes such reduced precipitation over time and perceived risks of future environmental changes, while involuntary migration happens in instances where people have little if not no choice at all but to move such as in times of natural disasters. Hugo, (1996) Hence, migration can be an outcome of environmental change or a decision made as an adaptation strategy to adjust and avert further undesirable climate impact outcomes. Kniveton et al.(2008). Furthermore, findings from other researchers such as Locke et al. (2000) have shown that the factors that trigger migration and their associated consequences are usually dependant on the systems (socio-ecological) prevalent at the place of origin and destination. However, in response to climate change stimuli, people make different decisions and the core decision to migrate or not has been established that it’s mainly undertaken at the household level and happens at such a point which Granovetter (1978) terms, threshold or tipping point. Hence he defines a threshold as a point at which an individual’s perception of the benefits of doing something outweighs the cost associated with it. And in the case of migration it is the point at which climate change impacts are so severe and frequent such that they erode the socio-ecological system in place thereby having the in situ adaptation options failing or seen to be inadequate to curb the situation such that the affected people turn to migration as the that “impacts of climate change are so severe or so frequent that the resilience of socio-ecological systems is breached, or such that the existing in situ adaptation options either fail or perceived as inadequate, leaving people with little or no option but to embark on migration as the only adaptation option. Kniveton D.et al.(2008). Figure 2 below illustrates the stages and factors that trigger the decision to migrate.
Figure 2 Stages for Migration Decision
Stage 1.
Rising vulnerability
Population rising or stable
Stage 2
Transition to population
Decline Stage 3
Abandonment
Exposure to drivers • Emerging or Increase in frequency and severity of migration drivers such as anthropogenic or environmental threats • extended period of occurrence and increased severity of these drivers
• there is synergy of multiple drivers
• lack of appropriate institutional response, likely to magnify the impact. • Persistence and intensification of existing drivers
• Emergence of new drivers
• Eroding of in situ adaptation strategies due to increased out migration. and migration becomes a driver itself.
Adaptation Responses • There is dominant in situ adaptation at this stage undertaken by residents or institutions • Resources enabling in situ adaptation get drained
• Benefits of migrating outweighs the costs and other settlement destinations become more appealing
• Embarking of out migration on temporal as well as permanent t kicks off.
• Experiences of population instability and decline emerge • In situ resources for adaptation get completely drained
• Increased out migration
• Indefinite temporal migration
• Further decline in population
• Critical need for institutional decision over the situation
Source: Adapted from: McLeman R.A (2011)
Therefore, going by the information provided in figure 2, it can be stated that there are mainly three ways in which impacts of climate change would manifest themselves in the patterns of migration:
•Increase risks experience from environmental hazards and socio-ecological events;
• Changes in the state of resources through time which alters the access and effective resource utilisation.
• Ability to perceive future risks despite not having real experience of them.
It is also worth noting that sometimes in situ or local adaptation strategies or policies are can also lead to migration Local adaptation policies could in themselves lead to displaced populations and lead to new types of migration. Massey et al.(1993).
However, despite these factors outlined in figure two above of factors that lead to people to embark on migration, migration due to climate change effects is still seen by many as a failure for individuals to adapt effectively. Douglas K. B. and Hugo G.J. (2010).This paper therefore resonates with Douglas K. B. and Hugo G.J. (2010) assertion and other researchers’ standpoint from the different literature reviewed, that migration as a result of experienced or perceived future climate change impacts can be a very effective adaptation option or response, but however the paper also suggests that migration is not only always adaptive as it can also be maladaptive. Hence the following chapter provides a critical analysis of this viewpoint using case study examples and pros and cons synthesis of the assertion.
3.0 HUMAN MOBILITY/MIGRATION AS A FORM OF ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE.
Adaptation to climate change effects by means of migration as illustrated in chapter one is found to be promoted in most literature and in this 21st century, migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change effects is gaining more recognition and attention among the scientific community because of the current and future anticipated increase in climate change effects which are projected to cause increased the “rate of both planned and unplanned human displacements or mobility”. Cosmin Corendea (2016). But there is still some gap on the aspect of whether the strategy really does tally with the perspectives of the people who ought to adapt. According to Adger (2009), migration possesses a challenge factor in times when the affected community is unwilling or unable to vacate the risky or dangerous region and circumstance which simply highlights that differences in risk perception as well as failure of the at-risk population to link current experiences with future events and unwillingness to leave usually constrain the capability of migration to be an effective climate change response option. Adger (2009), further states that, although climate change impacts may be so concerning, they are usually removed in time by feelings of not yet and in space by taking it that the impacts are not yet here hence life can still go on until an incidence of urgency occurs.
This then brings one to a realisation that migration has limits and in the case of adaptation to climate change effects, it can only be seen as an effective strategy if it does not erode the migrants’ culture, social order, traditions and knowledge. Adger et al. (2011). Furthermore, if the core focus of migrating in the view of adaptation happens not to bring about a reduction in vulnerability, then it would not be an effective climate risks response strategy because, in the actual sense, migration due to environmental effects has been practised as a strategy by at-risk communities to spread risks. Adger et. al. (2003).However, sometimes things don’t just work out, and the migration process may lead to detrimental effects to either the migrants themselves, hence the next section of the chapter provides an analysis how migration can be twofold (adaptive/maladaptive).
1. ADAPTIVE MIGRATION
There are many ways in which migration or mobility has been realised to be a form of adaptation to climate change. The International Organisation (IOM: 2010) therefore puts it that migration can only be a form of adaptation when it is carried out voluntarily. And the following are the many ways in which migration processes transform into adaptation strategies:
• The ability for out-migration to reduce vulnerability of those left behind
• It leads to reduced pressure on resources of the place of origin
• Reduces vulnerability to disasters and
• Brings about social knowledge and innovation for climate change adaptation.
Ex situ adaptation to climate change through migration as a way of spread risks by communities at risk has been practised throughout human history as accounts of nomadic lifestyle as a traditional adaptation form to climate change was in practice dating as back as the 6200BC climatic crisis. Modelski G. and Denemark R.A. (2009).The spreading of risks through migration reduces vulnerability of those left behind in a way that sending households usually receive remittances from the migrant which then enhances the adaptive capacity of the community as the community of origin will have for instances source of income which would sustain them in times when climate shocks may affect the livelihood of people in that given locality. For example, when there is a drought, a particular region may be affected through failed crop production, water scarcity and lack of income from the usual sales of harvested crops. Hence, households with migrants away from that region are privileged to receive remittances which enable the affected family or community to be able to source food and other basic living stuff since they have money from their connections abroad or other parts of the region which would not be affected by that climate shock. Black et al, (2011).
A case study from Senegal highlights how migrants contribute to their home communities through remittances. In Senegal, the regions of Podor, Bakel (South East) and Matam (North) are marked with a history of emigration since the 1970s due to droughts which have reduced agricultural production which is mainly rain dependant. Scheffran J. Et al. (2012).It has therefore been noted that emigration in these regions is a very important household as well as the national strategy for climate change adaptation as it enables the sending homes and the country at large to receive remittances in financial terms.
Based on the survey conducted, it was established that of the entire households surveyed, 2/3 of them had at least one migrant either nationally or internationally. Plaza, S.et al. (2011) When the remittances are sent back home; they are then used to meet basic needs which boost the resilience of the communities and help in facilitating national climate adaptation projects. For example in 2010, Senegal received about 1.16billion USD from remittances relative to the Gross National Income (GNI). Scheffran J. Et al. (2012).Thornton, (2011) further adds to say the most significant contribution of migration to climate change adaptation is mainly on remittances from migrants and the positive impact they bring therefore in sustaining livelihoods in times of environmental shocks such as droughts through sustained access to basic survives using finances received. In another case study about migration conducted in Nepal, Menon (2009) notes that in agricultural regions across Nepal where rainfall seems to be inadequate, household there employs the Sustainable livelihood strategy of augmenting their resources by means of sending some family members into off-farm employments.
Migration is also a form of adaptation to climate change in the face of reduced or depleted resource that preliminary migration which may later end up being permanent helps to reduces pressure on natural resources and other local services. With less population making use of a resource, there are possibilities of such resources to regenerate over time. In this case, migration helps to slow down environmental and resources degradation. I.O.M (2010).
Ex situ (migration) response to climate change effects also acts as an adaptation strategy in times of disasters migration helps to have few people who would be exposed to the hazard and or vulnerable disasters in that locality. Barnett, J. and O’Neill .S. (2010).
The fourth assertion is that migration enables the adaptation processes to climate change as it enhances social Knowledge, capital and innovation to the migrant, community of origin and destination. Barnett, J. and O’Neill .S.(2010). Generally, migrants usually act as agents of change because of the immense contributions they render to the host communities which they possess from where they came from. Cosmin C. (2016).A case study from THE REGION OF Kayes in Mali illustrates how migration has been an important form of adaptation to the migrants and the local community through knowledge and innovation processes.
Kayes is a region lying along the Senegal River but on the Malian side. It is inhabited by people known as Soninke whose tradition among the many is migration. Barnett J. and O’Neill .S. (2010). Migration in this region for a long time has been a result of the region’s vulnerability to droughts and subsequent desertification. Above that, migration was more motivated by the French Government’s call for independence as they needed people to work in the automobile industries. Therefore, the knowledge and capital the Malian migrants earned in France enabled them to contribute about 60% of the infrastructures back home such as the construction of Dykes, and water systems, the building of health centres, schools and grain mills. Barnett, J. and O’Neill .S.(2010). Hence by 2000 to 2004, the migrants had made contributions of about 7.8 Million USD towards Kayes developmental projects. Scheffran J. Et al. (2012).In contribution to this viewpoint of migration leading to knowledge and innovation for climate adaptation, François Gemenne and Julia Blocher (2016) states that migration usually acts to be a medium through which knowledge and innovation is transferred which helps to build up strategies which buffer for climate change effects thereby enabling the local communities to be more resilient to environmental shocks. The framework below provides a summary of how migration presents itself as a form of adaptation to climate change. It is, therefore, a summary of the discussion on adaptive migration.
Figure 3: Framework for integrating migration into community adaptation to climate change
Source: Scheffran J. Et al. (2012)
2. MIGRATION AS A MALADAPTATION
Migration implies risks. Sometimes it fails to increase the resilience of the migrant or household and may increase their vulnerability instead. It is in instances that migration has increased vulnerability that it is seen to be a maladaptation strategy of populations pursuing adaptation to climate change.A number of assertions have been made by various researchers on how migration intended for climate change adaptation end up being maladaptive. This paper, therefore, analyses migration as a maladaptation to climate change using the vulnerability index framework below..
Figure 4 Migration Maladaptation through different Vulnerability spheres
In as much as migrating would be the best alternative mitigative measure in times of disasters especially those with the possibility of reoccurring, the process of migration is not as smooth as one may imagine it. The United Nations Human Rights (2011)paper on migration based on research work undertaken in the pacific Islands highlights that environmental migrants are vulnerable to a number of negative conditions in the process of migrating and at the various destination points. Among them are; the threat of security and physical integrity, loss of social network and family contacts, inadequate accommodation, poor health facilities, sexual and gender-based violence, loss of vital identity documents, poor sanitation, access to education facilities, employment service food and other basic services.( François Gemenne and Julia Blocher 2016; UNHR:2011)
An assessment conducted through review of Poverty Reduction and Development Strategy Papers across Africa on rural Urban migrations provided findings that despite the prevalence of factual evidence, migration has been realised to be causing urban pressures of crime, land degradation, increased spread of diseases like HIV/AIDS and both rural/urban poverty (Black et al., 2006). Hence a migrant who happens to be a rural farmer or coming from a farming household who leaves their community due to environmental factors like droughts and heads to for the Urban centres to seek for jobs which would enable him or her support members of the family who remain back, would encounter maladaptation to climate change through their migration process when they end up being homeless or shelterless, contract new diseases even facing violence from the place of destination due to the inhabitants not welcoming the migrant. For example, records of growing anti-migrant sentiments in the recent mass migrations to Europe have been recorded where European citizen lament that the refugee situation has become unbearable and overwhelming (François Gemenne and Julia Blocher: 2016), which gives an overview that a migrant, in this case, is likely not to be very welcomed and chances are that they would not find it easy to be integrated in the communities hence, their vulnerability would increase as they are less likely to even find a job to raise money to sustain themselves before they even think of sending remittances to the family back home.
Empirical research further has shown that areas of high vulnerability such as coastal and deltaic cities are highly vulnerable to climate change risks as they are exposed to recurrent disasters. Hence migration flows to these areas have been found to be maladaptive as the in-migrants end up suffering further vulnerability because of the risks prevalent in these areas which they then get exposed to. Migrations on large scales to densely populated and low-lying urban cities is also another example which leads to migration maladaptation as the new migrants increase the population in the cities of destination thereby, exacerbating their vulnerabilities further through the likelihood of increased disasters which would affect them.
Rural –Urban migrations have further been realised to increase vulnerabilities due to factors of overcrowding, inadequate infrastructure or education, health and shelter and pressures on the resources. The population pressure creates negative impacts to the fragile ecosystems and also the more the population in a given locality, the more are the numbers of people who would be affected in an event of a disaster. For example, in the Philippines, among the factors that the primarily contribute to high disaster poor evaluations which then falls highly impoverished communities as they have low resilience. Taking the Environmental index of vulnerability as figure 3 indicate, maladaptation aspect of migration comes to play in situations where temperatures and rainfall variability affect the host community of the in-migrant and affect the natural resources which the community mainly depend on, it leads to increased tension and pressure which may lead to local conflicts. For example on rural to rural migration cases, cases have occurred where the community of destination of the migrant depends on boreholes as a source of water for drinking and other domestic purposes. In dry seasons when the water levels happen to get low, tension rise on how many litters each household would draw and the presence of times foreign beneficiaries or users of the water resource would always happen to be a source of conflict as they would be seen to increase the stress of the limited water quantities available since it has to be shared by many. Hence various researchers and practitioners have come to realise some grey areas of inequalities existing between migrants and members of the host communities including barriers which hinder migrants to have a full benefit of their rights to access employment, dignified living and security of tenure conditions.
However, migration does not only have effects on the migrants and host communities of their destinations, it has also effects on the communities of origin. According Black et al (2013) out-migration leads to population decline and leads to those who remain behind to be more vulnerable as these are people who may not have the resources to leave the area (Trapped), disadvantaged by age, disability gender. The departure of the more energetic, socially economically stable and possibly more elite leaves the community in some sort of being defenceless and hence more vulnerable to further climatic risks. Black further suggest that migration may lead to negative effects on the place of origin of the out-migrants in that it leads to reduced number of people which remain, which is also very vulnerable, may not be able to sustain themselves as well as pursuing and implementing adaptation initiatives or activities effectually due to lack of resources and human capacities.
Conclusion
The paper has highlighted how migration has been ongoing throughout human history and how it gained much recognition among the scientific community and its relevance in this 21st century facing high risks of climate change and the hope it gives as a form of adaptation to climate change. The study further show that in looking at the case of migration as a form of adaptation to climate changes, It is wise to look at it from both angles of the advantages and disadvantages of the whole process of migration. In looking at migration for adaptation, the paper is of the view that, migration can mainly be a form of adaptation when it is undertaken voluntarily in times of slow onset or creeping disasters, when and individual or household still have resources and capabilities to plan the relocation effectively. Migration is, therefore, less likely to be adaptive in instances of sudden onset of disasters as the affected do not have time to plan their relocation and their resources may be completely lost in the calamity and the psychological trauma of human and property loss may be detrimental to their adaptive capabilities. Douglas K. B. and Graeme J. H.(2010) also put it that “if migration is to result in positive outcomes which would translate to adaptation, it need to be carried out voluntarily when the communities at risk still have diverse options of whether or not to migrate. And if they have fewer choices of migrating or not, like in the instance of disasters, then it’s less likely that the migration strategy would yield many positive outcomes”. Finally, even if Climate change is likely to undermine people’s livelihoods in various regions of the world and forcing them to flee their home in times when conditions are unbearable, migration is an alternative adaptation measure which provides potential opportunities for reducing the pressure and numbers of those who can be affected by risks especially in climate hot spots and case studies of Senegal and Mali also has shown how migrants remittances can help finance projects back in the home communities which would enhance the resilience of the communities to further climate change risks
our essay in here…