SOCY 4007 Climate & Human Migration

anthropogenic climate change

Also known as global warming it is alterations to the environment/climate change as a result of human activities versus by Earth's natural processes.

Threat multipler

An exogenous force with the potential to alter the severity of already established threats to security. Climate change is currently seen as a threat multiplier.

Exposure

The degree to which a system, population, or place has the potential to be affected/impacted by climatic stimuli and biophysical systems as well as other economic, political, and cultural processes that are impacted by climate change.

Sensitivity

The degree to which some types of human livelihood systems are affected by particular events or conditions, such as climatic stimuli, to which they are exposed because of inherent characteristics. (Agricultural systems are inherently sensitive to drought)

Food security

The degree to which a human system of any size (nation, household, city etc.) has access to enough food to ensure that all members meet their basic dietary requirements.

How does the 2007 IPCC summary define vulnerability?

The degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability & extremes. This means vulnerability is an antonym to opportunity.

What does mean sea level rise (MSLR) refer to?

The phenomena, beginning in the late 19th century, by which sea levels have been rising at an average rate of 1.7 mm per year throughout the 20th century.

Adaptive capactiy

The potential for a system, population, or place to adapt to the exposure of conditions or events that may lead to loss or harm.

What does the MESA function say in words?

The potential for migration increases with the severity of the event and with the sensitivity of the exposed population (positively related to those factors), and decreases as a population's in-situ adaptive capacity (actions that do not entail migration) becomes stronger.

What does the term "vulnerability" refer to in this text?

The potential to experience loss of harm. People living in areas where natural hazards are prevalent are most at risk of forced migration. (Society's most disadvantaged and powerless people are vulnerable to disasters because they lack the social, political, and economic wherewithal to ensure their entitlement to the basic resources they require).

What is the importance of the term "vulnerability" for the social sciences?

The vulnerability concept is an attempt at explaining linkages between human and natural systems (aka socio-ecological linkages) that originates from natural hazard scholarship and entitlement theory (fields that deal with phenomena where population displacement & migration are potential outcomes of physical processes researched by professionals in other fields).

What are the key features of the case study for the Brahmaputra River Basin Flooding

-Annual flooding in this region increases the fertility of the soil thereby boosting agricultural productivity from the land after the flood. -Farmers distinguish between "good floods" that benefit rice and shrimp farming and "bad floods" that hurt food production during which 33% of the country is inundated or flood waters have not receded by late September. -Severe or prolonged flood events are often accompanied by outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera -The length of the inundation has more negative effects in comparison to the depth -The rural poor occupy low-level chars aka the most flood-prone locations and are hit the hardest economically because they rely on farming for a living but they have strong social ties and so they do not leave -Farmers plant different varieties of rice at different times of year and perform household level adaptations (after rice is planted during flood season they go to nearby urban centers in search for wages aka seasonal migration which negatively impacts the women left behind

Define the components of the vulnerability calculation (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity).

-Exposure: Climatic stimuli & biophysical conditions that may affect human systems (but in reality exposure varies by factors like infrastructure and settlements based on human/social processes). -Sensitivity: The reality that some types of human livelihood systems are inherently more affected by climatic stimuli than others: agricultural systems high risk of drought, coastal settlements with storm surges etc. -Adaptation/adaptive capacity: Process by which initiatives and measures are taken to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems against actual or expected effects of climate change. *Adaptive capacity: the ability to recognize the need for adaptation and to take action. All components are continually changing.

Give examples of low-agency and high-agency migrants.

-Low-agency migrants are people who migrate for safety reasons, such as insecurity and violence, or people who are forced to move. ex. Prisoners, trafficking victims, refugees. -High-agency migrants are people who move by choice for various reasons: amenity-seeking/lifestyle migration, migrating to be with family, or migrating to find employment.

What are the key features of the island abandonment of the Carteret islands?

-as storms damaged local crops, islanders began relying more on food imported from Kuveria -people began to migrate to Kuveria on their own as well as through a government resettlement scheme in 1984 -Carteret Islanders became frustrated with the government resettlement programs and their inability to acquire clear title to land on Kuveria so they returned to Carteret to take claims on land there

What are key takeaways from the Dust-Bowl Migration case study?

-droughts helped to accelerate the transition from small, family-operated farms to more mechanized, less labor-intensive farms -families left their farms to try and establish financially-stable roots elsewhere and were not naturally transient. they left in response to droughts and the economic depression -household access to economic and social capital distinguished those who did not migrate from those who became IDPs -people with portable cultural, economic, and social capital (the rural middle class) more likely to migrate. Young, healthy families with farming skills who were not destitute but did not own land and were connected via social networks to people outside of the plains were more likely to migrate and typically did not return -People with place-specific capital less likely to migrate. Landowners, people with strong local social networks, and people with little to no capital (such as the elderly or broken families) were less likely to migrate -most people who migrated did so without government assistance

What are the key lessons to be learned from Hurricane Katrine with respect to the potential for internal migration in response to extreme weather events?

1. Damage to housing is a key determinant or whether people return (or stay, if evacuation does not occur) or migrate elsewhere 2. The competency of institutional authorities to provide relief and recovery assistance is an important influence on how people adapt, especially the poor and marginalized 3. Adaptation and migration decisions strongly exhibit path dependency 4. Wage labor opportunities exist in the aftermath of the event, and these can influence migration patterns 5. Strong social capital can overcome institutional inadequacy and economic adversity in helping people adapt in situ

What human activities heighten the risk of flooding?

1. Deforestation 2. Drainage or wetlands 3. Construction of impermeable surfaces (like rooftops or paved roadways) 4. Building storm drains 5. Straightening and narrowing of channels

What are the three types of extreme weather events (with examples)?

1. Extreme wind events (such as tropical cyclones) 2. Extreme storm events and tornadoes/precipitation (such as a hail storm) 3. Extreme temperature events (heat waves and cold snaps)

What are the 5 categories of impact of MSLR?

1. Greater rates of flooding 2. Loss or change of coastal wetlands 3. Erosion (especially coastal erosion) 4. Saltwater intrusion into surface water and ground water 5. Poor drainage of coastal soils, salinization, and higher water tables.

What are 5 human sensitivities to drought?

1. Impacts of crop losses on incomes and livelihoods. -Subsistence and family farmers can be devastated 2. Effects of Drought on Livestock Production and Pastoralism -Soil, fodder, and animals all impacted -pastoralist (mobile) herders are especially prone 3. Sensitivity in Forest-Based Lievelihood System -stresses trees and all things that depend on trees -elevates risks of fire and pests 4. Urban Sensitivity -150 million+ people worldwide live in cities with regular water shortages -depends on factors such as human-use patterns, access to reliable surface water, structure of built water system and sewage infrastructure . . . 5. Sensitivity of Global Food Systems -As food production becomes more specialized, a drought in one region can affect the whole system

What are four options for action in response to MSLR by "an enlightened international community?"

1. Mitigate: Curtail greenhouse gas emissions through a global agreement. 2. Provide adaptive assistance to communities/nations that need it the most (will cost trillions of dollars) 3. Protect & assist displaced people 4. Create legal rights/treaties among nations to deal with refugees & IDPs

What five human processes increase sensitivity/vulnerability/exposure to extreme weather events?

1. Population Growth 2. Landscape modification such as deforestation 3. Residential location: Ex. higher flooding risk in coastal areas 4. Housing quality: wooden vs. brick houses against fire 5. Social Inequality: Homeless people freeze to death because they cannot afford to live inside.

What are 3 emergent themes in social research of climate change?

1. Relationship between climate migration and state security -U.S. dept. of defense ranks state insecurity as the second largest threat posed by climate change 2. The 3 connections between CC, Food Security & Migration a. Temporary labor migration of wage-seeking migrants (in order to pay for food) in response to changing hydrology b. The growing role of remittances of food and money (remittance = sum of $ sent in payment for goods or services) c. Distress Migration: When agricultural systems go under thereby displacing large masses of people 3. Positive and Negative Climate Surprises (that are difficult to predict aka "black swans") -Bad: Aral Sea pumped dry for production thereby ending agriculture and the availability of potable water in that region -Good: Development of the city of Chicago due to transportation and production regions

What are Ravenstein's (11) laws of human migration?`

1. The majority of migrants travel only short distances 2. Migration proceeds in a step-by-step fashion. People move from remote parts of rural areas to less remote places, village to town, and town to city. 3. The farther the distance traveled, the more likely the migrant is destined to an urban center. 4. Migration in one direction generates migration in the opposite direction. 5. People who live in urban centers are less likely to undertake migration than people living in rural areas. 6. Females are more likely than males to migrate within their country of birth, but males are more likely to undertake international migration. 7. Most migrants are individual adults; entire households rarely undertake more than local moves. 8. The population of urban centers grows more from migration than it does from natural increase. 9. The rate of migration increases in concert with commercial and industrial expansion and with improvements in transportation. 10. Most migration flows from rural areas to urban centers. 11. The major causes of migration are economic.

What two physical processes lead to MSLR?

1. Thermal expansion (warmer water occupies more space) 2. Melting of Greenland and Antarctic Ice

What are three things we can do to try and anticipate black swans?

1. Understand how human and natural systems are sensitive to climate change 2. Take steps to reduce exposure to adverse climate conditions 3. Build adaptive capacity at household, community, and national levels

What 5 social processes does cc serve as a threat multiplier to?

1. Volatile weather patterns 2. Hydrological events that promote transmission of disease in more humid climates 3. Unregulated migration/displacement that will lead to more intense border conflicts 4. New disputes over access to and control of newly accessible areas (such as the Arctic passage) 5. Soil salinization that accompanies MSLR

What 3 human activities contributed to the depression-era migration (the "dust bowl" migration) in the North America plains?

1. WWI -increased demand for wheat during a time of rising wheat prices 2. The Great Depression -Wheat prices dropped and so people planted a bunch of other crops on new land to compensate (part of land grab process) 3. Changing federal land policies and the ensuing land-grab -Kinkaid and Enlarged Homestead Acts attracted a great number of new and inexperienced farmers -Land became over-plowed

Refugees

A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

Mitigation

A proactive approach to combating climate change (versus a reactive approach like adaptation) such as developing procedures to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases

Path dependency

Decisions on whether or not to migrate and to what destination are rooted in history (people stick to the common path of their ancestors)

What is the MESA function (definition and equation)?

Def: A shorthand function used to describe the relationship between migration and adaptation. M=f(E, S, (A-M)) -M=Migration in context of vulnerability -E=Exposure to climatic stimulus -S=Sensitivity of the population to that stimulus -A-M=adaptation options other than migration

What hydrological event has killed the most people in the last century?

Drought, kills 100 million annually

Push/pull factors

Factors that push people to migrate, such as local violence or unemployment, versus factors that draw or pull people toward a new destination, such as job opportunities or a good school system.

Which type of natural hazard affects the greatest number of people worldwide?

Flooding

Climate determinism

Focuses on the role of climate to the exclusion of other influences on migration. McLeman rejects this notion acknowledging that there are a number of other political, economic, and cultural motivations for migration.

What is the general relationship between migration and adaptation/the rate of adaptive capacity?

If adaptive capacity cannot keep pace with the effects of anthropogenic climate change (such as changing precipitation patterns), events to which the system is vulnerable become more frequent and, in these situations, there is increased potential for changes in migration patterns.

Statelesness

Individuals who are not considered nationals or citizens under the operation of the laws of any country.

Remittances

Money migrants send back to family and friends in their home countries, often in cash, forming an important part of the economy in many poorer countries

Human life course

People migrate at key and predictable points in their careers, usually in their early 20s and for life events such as marriage and retirement.

Internally Displaced Persons

People that migrate within one country/do not cross national borders. IDPs make up the bulk of migrants today

What are the various forms of capital?

Social networks, cultural tools, human skills and abilities, religious capital, economic capital etc. These various forms can help or hurt and vary widely from people to people. The more capital someone possesses the easier time they have.

Climate surprise

Unforeseeable human-climate interactions that lead to unpredictable patterns in migration

What is vulnerability a function of according to the 2007 IPCC report?

Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity. This means vulnerability is an antonym to opportunity.

How is vulnerability calculated today?

Vulnerability is the function of Exposure to conditions or events that may lead to loss or harm, the inherent Sensitivity of a given system, population, or place to the particular events or conditions to which it is exposed, and the capacity of said system to, population, or place to Adapt to the given exposure. *V = f(E, S, A)

When does drought occur?

When precipitation falls below expected levels for a period of time sufficiently long for adverse effects on natural or human systems to be noticed.

Flood

When water flows onto land that is not ordinarily underwater.