ENVIRONMENTAL MIGRATION AND POPULATION DISPLACEMENT AS A RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has established that human influence on the climate is evident and that greenhouse gas emissions are now the highest they have ever been during human history. Climate change has already had significant impacts on human and natural systems and is estimated to cause an increase in population movement under future projections. Migration and displacement as a response to environmental changes or shocks is not an unknown phenomenon, but is one of the oldest adaptation strategies for humans dealing with environmental changes. Climate change will amplify the population's existing risks as well as create new risks for natural and human systems. The risks have uneven geographical distribution and are generally greater for the already disadvantaged population and communities. Risks are intensified for those lacking essential infrastructure and services or living in poor-quality housing and exposed areas. Southeast Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate change due to the dependence on agriculture, densely populated coastal regions, weak institutions, and poverty among a considerable proportion of the population. This study investigates the role of climate change in affecting past and future environmental migration and population displacement in Southeast Asia. The identified events of environmental migration and population displacement over the last 100 years that might be linked to climate impact are characterised as different environmental hazards that may have led to migration or displacement and discuss the future outlooks of environmental migration and displacement under the ongoing and projected future climate change.