Environmental Migration in the MENA Region: The Case of Morocco

The importance of environmental factors in the process of human mobility is acknowledged by the IPCC, UNFCCC and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. However, the complexity of the drivers of migration tends to limit its analysis from an environmental change perspective, due to the multifaceted decision of migration. On the other hand, migrants can also contribute to adaptation strategies to climate change in their home communities. In order to address the challenges and positive potential of migration, it is relevant to integrate it in the overall discussion of adaptation to climate change. This chapter aims to present an overview of the studies that focus on the migration-environment-climate nexus in the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region, highlighting the gaps in the existing knowledge, which reflect the lack of studies for several countries in the region, despite the foreseen impacts of climate change and the high prevalence of migratory movements in the region. A special emphasis is given to Morocco, a polymorphic country in terms of migration flows, which registers one of the highest frequencies of studies in the region for the climate change and migration nexus. The main source of information is the CliMig, which is a database that compiles the bibliographic resources addressing the migration-environment-climate nexus.

The importance of environmental factors in the process of human mobility is acknowledged by the IPCC, UNFCCC and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. However, the complexity of the drivers of migration tends to limit its analysis from an environmental change perspective, due to the multifaceted decision of migration. On the other hand, migrants can also contribute to adaptation strategies to climate change in their home communities. In order to address the challenges and positive potential of migration, it is relevant to integrate it in the overall discussion of adaptation to climate change. This chapter aims to present an overview of the studies that focus on the migration-environment-climate nexus in the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region, highlighting the gaps in the existing knowledge, which reflect the lack of studies for several countries in the region, despite the foreseen impacts of climate change and the high prevalence of migratory movements in the region. A special emphasis is given to Morocco, a polymorphic country in terms of migration flows, which registers one of the highest frequencies of studies in the region for the climate change and migration nexus. The main source of information is the CliMig, which is a database that compiles the bibliographic resources addressing the migration-environment-climate nexus.

Ferreira Fernandes, C. S., & Alves, F. (2022). Environmental Migration in the MENA Region: The Case of Morocco. Em M. Behnassi, H. Gupta, F. Kruidbos, & A. Parlow (Eds.), The Climate-Conflict-Displacement Nexus from a Human Security Perspective (pp. 111–127). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94144-4_6