Migration and climate justice in times of planetary crises

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

Addressing the climate crisis becomes more urgent with every passing year. Scientists, politicians, and the public all debate the influence of global warming on the daily lives of people around the world. In such discussions, it is often assumed that climate change will create a ’cli­mate refugee crises’ that elicits a range of responses, from empathetic concern to alarmism. While it is important it is to talk about climate displacement, especially in relation to climate justice, this narrative often overlooks the complexities of climate-related mobility.This report, written by students in the Ethnic and Migration Studies Masters Programme at Linköping University, is an attempt to shed light on the nexus of the climate crisis and migration, deconstruct the often-oversimplified climate migration problem and discuss how the impacts of climate change are variegated and contextual across the different cases profiled. While we focus on contemporary situations of escalat­ing climate threats and their adverse effects on global livelihoods, the report also hints at potential futures and strategies to overcome ecological emergencies. In the articles that follow, we explore how climate change is a form of colonial power, producing displacement and shattering traditional ways of living. As we see globally, the production of gas emissions and the repercussions of the climate crisis are disproportionately shared: the Global South largely shoulders the environmental cost of global consumption and emissions, while often con­tributing the least. Related to this, indigenous knowl­edges and ways of connection to the earth are also under threat.We observe these dynamics all around the globe, from Sweden to Brazil, from Japan to Colombia, but also domestically and in local ecosystems. While the climate emergency accelerates, the solutions offered by nation states and corporations are mostly of a rhetorical nature. Consequently, this volume also dives into how civil societies, which often carry the primary responsibility for coping with climate change, organize themselves to resist.The articles mirror the diverse geographical and ed­ucational backgrounds of our class. You will find pieces that are closely linked to the personal biographies and migration journeys of the authors, while other groups engaged in exploratory writing, learning about their subject throughout the research process. Selected articles draw on the expertise of interviewees, including contri­butions from the cohort of EMS graduates. The versa­tility of our class shows in the broad range of aesthetic choices that distinguish the individual articles.This report is the fruit of the work of first year students in the Ethnic and Migration Studies Mas­ters Programme (EMS), run by the Research Institute on Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO), at Linköping University, based in campus Norrköping. It was written during the course Critical Cases in Ethnic and Migration Studies, with the precious help and guidance from our teachers Erik Berggren and Kenna Sim-Sarka. Thanks to them, we were able to put togeth­er this pluralistic report that sheds light on aspects of climate migration that you may not have encountered before.