Migratory Issues in Climate Adaptation Policies: A New Conceptualisation of Population Displacements?

Abstract

The issue of climate change has shed a new light on the migration/development nexus and led to reflection on the link between population displacement and adaptation to environmental degradation. This article examines how the rethinking of population displacements through the climate prism – mainly happening in western countries – impacts climate adaptation and migratory policy-making in least developed countries. It primarily questions the foundations of a widespread approach which tends to address climate-related migration as a new kind of displacement, disconnected from economic, political or social factors and that should be addressed at the global level by specific legal responses and new international settings. Through a reflection on the causes and impacts of climate-related migration, it insists on the complexity of the linkage between population displacements and adaptation. It secondly draws the first conclusions of a case study lead in Mali. While investigating a topic recently put on the agenda of LDCs (climate change) and a renewed conceptualisation of migration issues, this national lens shows that national political responses actually reflect usual donors' and recipients' strategies and dynamics in aid-dependent countries. Despite a lack of reliable data, policy documents relay the common assumption linking climate to migration. This might be explained by external influence on agenda-setting and policy formulation but also by an instrumentalization of these topics by national actors. Furthermore, an analysis of the national framework unveils a poor articulation of migration and climate issue on the field and the weight of a national network of experts.