Human Migration and Natural Resources: Global Assessment of an adaptive complex system

Ali, S. H., Kniveton, D., & Djalante, R. (2023). Human Migration and Natural Resources: Global Assessment of an adaptive complex system. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) , Nairobi, Kenya.

Preview

Text human_migration_and_natural_resources_full_report_0.pdf - Published Version Available under License All Rights Reserved. Download (13MB) | Preview

Abstract

Availability, access to and use of natural resources are key intervening variables for understanding, analysing and managing local or global relationships between climatic or environmental changes and population distribution and movements. While much debate and research has focused on the effect of climate change on migration worldwide, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the role and governance of natural resources in this relationship.

Since 2007 the International Resource Panel has provided independent, authoritative and policyrelevant scientific assessments on the status, trends and future state of natural resources. This report opens a discussion about the natural resource nexus with human mobility, using an integrative approach that considers multiple causalities and networks of interaction.

The research in this report, which involved qualitative and quantitative methods, shows that the relationship between natural resources and migration calls for a consideration of human-environment interactions as a complex adaptive system. This report finds that natural resources have a significant impact on human mobility, but that the relationships are not linear. They can both mitigate or exacerbate involuntary migration, depending on specific ecological and economic constraints. Natural resources act as an intervening pathway between environmental change, climate change and human mobility. Hydropower projects represent the most direct connection between natural resource development and involuntary migration, and their expansion as a cleaner source of power generation in the years to come will need to be carefully managed.
As an example of such complexity, mineral rushes can accentuate localized migration but may reduce voluntary international migration.

Actions (login required)

View Item