“Environmental degradation has measurable impacts on migration and presents humanity with unprecedented challenges,” writes Laurence Turbiana in The State of Environmental Migration, edited by François Gemenne  and Pauline Brücker of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations and Dina Ionesco of the International Organization for Migration. The report presents the findings of students at the Paris School of International Affairs who examined a number of case studies in 2011, including sudden disasters like the floods in Thailand, Colombia, China, and Bangladesh, as well as slower-onset events like droughts in Somalia and Mexico. The editors conclude that “environmental migration, in its forced and voluntary forms, is a reality.”

With a new report on South Asia (the third in a series),the Center for American Progress, supported by Heinrich Böll Stiftung, continues its look at the “intersecting challenges of climate change, human migration, and national and international instability.” Arpita Bhattacharyya and Michael Werz write that climate change, migration, and security are “three distinct layers of tension” and assess scenarios in which they overlap. South Asia, particularly India and Bangladesh, are especially at risk not only because of their vulnerability to extreme weather events like flooding but also because of social, political, and demographic drivers of migration have already caused some conflict between immigrants and host populations in the area. Climate change, therefore, will likely “stress existing migration patterns.”