Introduction
The connection between climate change and migration has been an important subject for many years. Migration and conflict have become the most important reasons causing researchers’ interest in climate change. Environmental threats caused by climate change affect rural areas, creating an initiative for migration. In such circumstances, urban areas need to be ready to accept the refugees and take necessary steps to protect their own space from climate change. This is not an easy task: certain policies must be undertaken, long-term plans need to be created, potential issues need to be taken into consideration, and responsibility must be accepted.
Methodology
In the research, the author uses the case study method to examine several “cases” of different regions: Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh, and Malawi. These are used in conjunction with the more general information on urban areas in semi-deductive research. The secondary sources are used to allow the creation of a unified understanding of migration during climate change; for that, systematic methods and research synthesis are employed. The use of secondary resources also indicates utilizing secondary data analysis.
Urban areas: realization
Preparing urban areas for climate change means adapting the following: Food, Housing and Urban Settlements, Urban Water, Storm, and Waste Systems, as well as Transport and Telecommunications. Actions have to be coordinated across multiple urban jurisdictions. The private sector will need to see the financial justification for involvement; without transformative change in urban development planning, private sector investments in adaptation will remain limited. Private investment or standard insurance markets will also not protect low-income urban dwellers (Revi et al., 2014).
The co-production of knowledge
This is how the co-production of knowledge and policy for adaptation, mitigation, and development in urban systems works (Revi et al., 2014, p. 576).
Knowledge producers include academic science, community, business, and non-governmental organization-produced research.
The most important knowledge actors or users are local government, often in collaboration with partners.
Knowledge filters mediate between knowledge production and action (the media, lobby groups).
Africa
Evidence of warming over land regions across Africa, consistent with anthropogenic climate change, has increased. African ecosystems are already being affected by climate change.
Climate change will amplify existing stress on water availability in Africa. This impact will be superimposed onto already water-stressed catchments.
Climate change will exacerbate the vulnerability of agricultural systems. Increasing temperatures are likely to reduce cereal crop productivity.
National governments are initiating systems for adaptation but cannot yet effectively coordinate them (Niang et al., 2014).
The five principles for adaptation
Five common principles for adaptation and building adaptive capacity can be distilled based on African experiences:
- supporting autonomous adaptation through recognizing the multiple-stressor nature of vulnerable livelihoods;
- increasing attention to the cultural, ethical, and rights considerations;
- combining “soft path” options and flexible and iterative learning approaches with technological and infrastructural approaches;
- focusing on building resilience and implementing low-regrets adaptation with development synergies;
- building adaptive management and social and institutional learning into adaptation processes (Niang et al., 2014, p. 1203).
New Zealand
Those negotiating the preparations will have to be mindful of fear and racism. The media will have to think about how to frame the migration story. Leaders from vulnerable island states have rejected the ‘climate refugee’ image and instead talk about the ‘resilience’ of their peoples. Developing a policy to prepare New Zealand for climate change migration will require the participation of several sectors of society (Cass, 2018).
Bangladesh
Those with greater human capital, access to land, and off-farm professional training are more likely to migrate. Those who are not employed in the core agricultural industries are much more likely to migrate. There are two sets of factors shaping migration: resources facilitating it, and environmental stressors, such as loss of arable land, cyclone damage and living in a shrimp growing area. The effects of climate change have been relatively limited but are anticipated to grow (Bernzen et al., 2020).
Malawi
A better understanding of the relationship between climate change and migration is essential for effective planning in all sectors of society.
This can be achieved through the systematic and homogenous application of conceptual frameworks to local contexts.
A lack of data, particularly for low-income settings, obstructs furthering the understanding of climate change in Malawi (Parrish et al., 2020).
Conclusion
Preparing for climate change requires the participation of every sector of society, especially of knowledge filters, producers, and actors.
Regarding the fact that people with higher incomes are more likely to migrate, the media must pay attention to social matters like racism and discrimination, and in propaganda, the emphasis must be put on resilience. In addition, autonomous adaptation must be supported. Urban areas need to make their communications and technologies more reliable. There is a need in governmental involvement since the private sector is unlikely to assist unless financially motivated.
References
Bernzen, A., Jenkins, J., & Braun, B. (2019). Climate Change-Induced Migration in Coastal Bangladesh? A Critical Assessment of Migration Drivers in Rural Households under Economic and Environmental Stress. Geosciences, 9(1), 51.
Cass, P. (2018). A plan nobody hopes they will need: New Zealand and climate change migration. Pacific Journalism Review, 24(1), 138–154.
Niang, I., Ruppel, O.C., Abdrabo, M.A., Essel, A., Lennard, C., Padgham, J., & Urquhart, P. (2014). Africa. In V.R. Barros, C.B. Field, D.J. Dokken, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, & L.L. White (eds.), Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 1199–1265). Cambridge University Press.
Parrish, R., Colbourn, T., Lauriola, P., Leonardi, G., Hajat, S., & Zeka, A. (2020). A Critical Analysis of the Drivers of Human Migration Patterns in the Presence of Climate Change: A New Conceptual Model. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17), 6036.
Revi, A., Satterthwaite, D.E., Aragón-Durand, F., Corfee-Morlot, J., Kiunsi, R.B.R., Pelling, M., Roberts, D.C., & Solecki, W. (2014). Urban areas. In C.B. Field, V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, & L.L. White (eds.) Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 535–612). Cambridge University Press.