Climate Change and Migration : Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa
Climate change is a major source of concern in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and migration is often understood as one of several strategies used by households to respond to changes in climate and environmental conditions, includin...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Publication |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/07/19798427/climate-change-migration-evidence-middle-east-north-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18929 |
| Summary: | Climate change is a major source of
concern in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,
and migration is often understood as one of several
strategies used by households to respond to changes in
climate and environmental conditions, including extreme
weather events. This study focuses on the link between
climate change and migration. Most micro-level studies
measure climate change either by the incidences of extreme
weather events or by variation in temperature or rainfall. A
few studies have found that formal and informal institutions
as well as policies also affect migration. Institutions that
make government more responsive to households (for example
through public spending) discourage both international and
domestic migration in the aftermath of extreme weather
events. Migration is often an option of last resort after
vulnerable rural populations attempting to cope with new and
challenging circumstances have exhausted other options such
as eating less, selling assets, or removing children from
school. This study is based in large part on new data
collected in 2011 in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and the
Republic of Yemen. The surveys were administered by
in-country partners to a randomly selected set of 800
households per country. It is also important to emphasize
that neither the household survey results nor the findings
from the qualitative focus groups are meant to be
representative of the five countries in which the work was
carried, since only a few areas were surveyed in each
country. This report is organized as follows: section one
gives synthesis. Section two discusses household perceptions
about climate change and extreme weather events. Section
three focuses on migration as a coping mechanisms and income
diversification strategy. Section four examines other coping
and adaptation strategies. Section five discusses
perceptions about government and community programs. |
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