By Ruby Doan 

New research on climate migration says it can be both a challenge and opportunity for host communities around the world. 

The study by researchers at Harvard University says that because of the ‘sunk cost’ fallacy ingrained into the foundations of human behaviour, people are naturally loss averse and prone to committing to a declining living situation in hope of recovering their losses. 

Thus, migrating, with its implications of immense loss and uprooting one’s life, is often the final recourse when alternative measures have been exhausted, the report, by sociology Professor Mary C. Waters, says. 

Also, institutions such as emergency services and governments have historically adopted policies and measures that encourage communities to remain stationary, increasing scepticism towards climate change.

While climate migration is no longer a prediction but a global certainty, widely quoted hyperbolic estimations such as the relocation of areas within 100 kilometres of the coast under 10 meters of elevation will only serve to fear-monger and contribute to growing doubts about climate change. 

Due to their apprehension of unfavourable change, climate migration could impose on their socio-political economy, right wing voters in Europe and the United States perpetuate climate scepticism and oppose climate change alleviation policies. 

With the instability that migration brings, receiving countries must allocate resources towards not only regulating migrants but supporting their integration in order to foster a multicultural community.  

As per the Realities of Climate Migration Theory, social networks are the biggest influence on those undertaking migration, thus, their relocation is often short distance and internal to the country, with successful integration upon arrival dependent on state efforts to facilitate their transition. 

In saying so, policymakers are now debating how to legally classify climate migrants, as critics argue that doing so is not only impossible at the individual level but will have negative implications, turning the affected population into the scapegoats for the consequences of climate change. 

Additionally, there is ongoing debate about the onus on developed countries to accommodate climate migrants, as whilst they exacerbate the harms of global warming with industrialised processes, global south nations are bearing the costs. 

Proposed solutions include permanent visas for those fleeing declining living conditions, which would benefit those who are financially able to relocate overseas, solving developed nation’s labour shortage and ageing populations. 

It is vital for state representatives of the Western world to depict immigration as a positive occurrence, prioritising the needs of displaced communities and receiving populations in order to reduce notions of preferential treatment and disharmony. 

This will aid in portraying climate migrants as a revitalising influx of community and labour, facilitating a smoother reception in admitting countries and regions for internal and international migration. 

Even so, proposed solutions are inadequate in supporting lower-socioeconomic populations or those unable or unwilling to move, as financial compensation from the state will only be a temporary solution, in addition to benefitting Western populations and normalising the displacement global south residents. 

Read the full paper here: Climate Migration and Inte0067ration | Harvard Kennedy School