• woodrow wilson center
  • ecsp

New Security Beat

Subscribe:
  • mail-to
  • Who We Are
  • Topics
    • Population
    • Environment
    • Security
    • Health
    • Development
  • Columns
    • China Environment Forum
    • Choke Point
    • Dot-Mom
    • Navigating the Poles
    • New Security Broadcast
    • Reading Radar
  • Multimedia
    • Water Stories (Podcast Series)
    • Backdraft (Podcast Series)
    • Tracking the Energy Titans (Interactive)
  • Films
    • Water, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (Animated Short)
    • Paving the Way (Ethiopia)
    • Broken Landscape (India)
    • Scaling the Mountain (Nepal)
    • Healthy People, Healthy Environment (Tanzania)
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Contact Us

NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
  • Reading Radar

    2015 Migration Factsheet, and the Effects of Policy on Climate-Migration Trends in South America

    June 16, 2016 By Sreya Panuganti

    Climate change is expected to affect rural to urban migration and IDB-Graphic-1Omar O. Chisari and Sebastian Miller, in a recently released working paper by the Inter-American Development Bank, analyze the various policy options available in two cases: domestic migration to São Paulo, and international migration from Bolivia and Paraguay to Argentina. Migration into cities will impact climate change mitigation strategies. As migrants seek opportunity in urban areas, it is likely they will increase their consumption of more energy-intensive goods and services (like transportation), which will in turn increase emissions. The authors use an economic model to illustrate how policies aimed at reducing emissions, like a carbon tax, could reduce the amount of intra-regional migration from rural to urban areas in Brazil and Argentina. For instance, increasing transfers from the government to individuals, whether through pensions or in direct aid to poor families, could both spur and deter migration. Migrants may find cities where they are included in welfare programs more attractive. Alternatively, these programs could reduce the demand for labor and thereby increase the rate of unemployment, discouraging migration.

    IOM-Graphic-1More than one in seven people, or one billion people, were migrants last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s 2015 Global Migration Trends Factsheet. Of this figure, 59.5 million individuals were forcibly displaced due to human rights violations, persecution, conflict, or general violence – the most since World War II. 5,400 migrants are estimated to have died or gone missing as they attempted to cross international borders, up 15 percent since 2014. Syria has the highest number of internally displaced persons worldwide at 7.6 million, or at least 35 percent of the population. More than 19.3 million people were displaced by weather-related disasters. The IOM estimates the likelihood of being displaced by a natural disaster is 60 percent higher today than 40 years ago. Finally, based on a Gallup poll conducted across 140 countries between 2012 and 2014, the IOM says people are more likely to be in favor of migration than they are against it, with the notable exception of Europe.

    Sources: Inter-American Development Bank, International Organization for Migration.

    Topics: adaptation, climate change, conflict, development, environment, environmental security, Latin America, mitigation, population, Reading Radar, risk and resilience, security, Syria, urbanization

Join the Conversation

  • RSS
  • subscribe
  • facebook
  • G+
  • twitter
  • iTunes
  • podomatic
  • youtube
Tweets by NewSecurityBeat

Trending Stories

  • unfccclogo1
  • Pop at COP: Population and Family Planning at the UN Climate Negotiations

Featured Media

Backdraft Podcast

play Backdraft
Podcasts

More »

What You're Saying

  • Ocean Fish Stocks on “Verge of Collapse,” Says IRIN Report Ocean Fish Stocks on “Verge of Collapse,” Says IRIN Report
    Kevin: I am an evangelical who disagrees with the Bible Thumpers/Literalists. The good news is that these...
  • Sophia Heat Pregnancy Photo High Temperatures Threaten Maternal and Newborn Health–Climate Change Policy Must Adjust
    Maya: Wow! Very informative!
  • A,Port,Las,Palmas,De,Gran,Canaria.,Canary,Islands,,Spain. China Leads the Race to the Bottom: Deep Sea Mining for Critical Minerals
    Jo-jo: Very Objective and I am surprised that circular economy is one of the factors to taking into account

Related Stories

No related stories.

  • woodrow
  • ecsp
  • RSS Feed
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Wilson Center
  • Contact Us
  • Print Friendly Page

© Copyright 2007-2023. Environmental Change and Security Program.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. All rights reserved.

Developed by Vico Rock Media

Environmental Change and Security Program

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center

  • One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
  • 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
  • Washington, DC 20004-3027

T 202-691-4000