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Making an impact, Case 2: project Climate change and migration
Demonstrating the societal relevance and impact is an increasingly important part of social scientific research. The Environmental Policy Group has developed a series of ‘impact case studies’ to highlight how our work goes beyond the walls of academia.
Environmental Policy group researchers were asked to answer four questions in the development of their impact case studies: What was the problem? What did we do? What happened? Who did we influence?
Today: project Climate Change and Migration.
The impacts of climate change are no longer some abstract narrative used by politicians and environmentalists to raise awareness of the need for our societies to become more sustainable. Instead, communities around the world are experiencing the effects of climate change through problems of food insecurity, water insecurity, energy insecurity and extreme storms that place additional pressure on communities’ livelihoods and resilience. One of the key consequences of climate change is the impact on human mobility; both by stimulating and by curtailing it. Millions of people are at risk of losing their homes due to climate-related disasters and may be forced to move elsewhere. At the same time, many of those affected do not have the means to move to safety and may be stuck in dangerous situations. Recent problems, including the series of cyclones, periods of drought, and the ongoing migration movement within and across states, shows that both issues of climate change and human mobility form key challenges of the 21st century and require upmost attention.
Dr. Ingrid Boas’ research at ENP on the themes of Climate and Mobilities focuses exactly on these challenges; not only to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the phenomena but also to have a valuable impact on society helping in coming to grips with these issues.
You can read more about the research design, societal relevance and impact of project Climate Change and Migration on this page.