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Impacts World 2017: Climate change and human migration

Oct 12, 2017
Event
Thursday 12 October, 11:00am, Kongress-Saal
Potsdam, Germany
 
This year’s Impacts World shines a spotlight on the challenges that lie ahead to count the true costs of climate change, going beyond monetary accounting to cover the impacts on human lives and livelihoods. In order to estimate the consequences of climate change, its impacts must be aggregated across affected natural and human systems. In order to estimate the consequences of climate change, its impacts must be aggregated across affected natural and human systems. This can only be done with a consistent framework for simulations and analyses in a holistic manner - accounting for extreme events, tipping points and long-term changes. At Impacts World 2017, plenary sessions, workshops and an interactive poster session will be devoted to addressing these tasks with a focus on four key challenges in quantifying climate impacts.

Climate change and human migration 

Human migration and displacement, be it within a country, or across borders, is driven by myriad interacting factors, not least conflicts and natural disasters. Climate change is already adding to these strains, through the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events, the prolonged effects of enduring changes to climatic conditions on food systems and water availability, or the disappearance of land due to rising sea levels.

  • What is needed in order to grasp the scale and scope of climate-induced migration under different climate-change scenarios?

  • How can the influence of climate change on migration be separated from other influences?

  • How do we define the climate, social and economic thresholds leading to migration?

  • How can societies adapt their livelihoods in the face of climate stressors to avoid migration?

  • How can policy and science enable people to make informed decisions about when, how or where to migrate in the face of climate stressors?

  • How do displacement and longer-range migration interact with one another and with the societies and environments in regions of origin and destination?

  • What is the relationship between migrants and societies in regions of origin as well as destination?
  • For whom is migration a viable and preferred adaptation option? What happens to the trapped populations left behind?
 
 
Chair: Kira Vinke
Co-chairs: Sophie Rottmann, Jacob Schewe and Jonathan Donges
  • Topic, Coming soon
    Dr. Andrea Tilche, European Commission: DG Research and Innovation (DG RTD), Belgium
  • Rural-urban migration and climate change: evidence from Southeast Asia
    Prof. Dr. Ulrike Grote, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, Leibniz University, Germany
  • Climate change adaptation: the role of human mobility
    Susanne Melde, Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Germany
  • Resilience and Transition: Opportunities and limits of human mobility as a vehicle for managing climate impacts and risks
    Dr. Koko Warner, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Germany