Climate Change and Migration: Evidence from Mekong Lowland Cambodia

Project Objective

The overall objective of this research is to understand the relationships between climate change and migration. Particularly, the study has the following sub-objectives:

• Understanding of the past and recent trend of climate change, environmental degradation, extreme weather events and migration in the study area;
• Understanding of perceptions of climate change, environmental degradation, and extreme weather events of local people and their perceived impacts on local livelihoods;
• Identifying the migration situation in study area in relation to climate change trend and gradual and sudden-onset environmental events.; and
• Exploring the influence of climate change and various factors on the migration decision.

Project Description

Efforts to address climate change, migration, and security are contextualized by the inclusion of migration concerns in the negotiation and policy processes under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). So far, according to Elliott (2012), migration concerns were conspicuously absent from formal UNFCCC agreements and decisions. Essentially, there are many factors driving people to migrate, but many scientists, policymakers, and people in local communities remain unsure about the relationship between climate change and migration (ADB, 2012). This is mainly because of the lack of empirical data, and the problem of assigning accountability, among other things.