Climate Change and Migration: Security and Borders in a Warming World

by Gregory White

In the modern era, two types of international migration have consumed our politically induced migration to flee war, genocide, and instability, and migration for economic reasons. Recently, though, another force has generated a new wave of refugees-global warming. Climate change has altered terrains and economies throughout the tropical regions of the world, from sub-Saharan Africa to Central America to South and Southeast Asia. In Climate Change and Migration, Greg White provides a rich account of the phenomenon. Focusing on climate-induced migration from Africa to Europe, White shows how global warming's impact on international relations has been significant, enhancing the security regimes in not only the advanced economies of the North Atlantic, but in the states that serve as transit points between the most advanced and most desperate nations. Furthermore, he demonstrates that climate change has altered the way the nations involved view their own sovereignty, as
tightening or defining borders in both Europe and North Africa leads to an increase of the state's reaches over society. White closes by arguing that a serious and comprehensive program to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change is the only long-term solution. With an in-depth coverage of both environmental and border policy from a global perspective, Climate Change and Migration provides a provocative and much-needed link between two of the most pressing issues in contemporary international politics.

180 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an important contribution to the discussions around climate induced displacement. It argues against the view held by those who see securitisation of migration as a good response to the potential for climate migration. It is also interesting in looking at how Morocco has used this concept to help solidify their importance to the West as a 'transit state'.

While the book does little to engage empirically with climate-induced displacement, it offers much as an antidote to minimalism in part emanating from fears over securitization and helps develop the discourse in a way that should/could move it away from the securitization debate towards a more even handed engagement with displacement.

[Jack Taccons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written book by the American social scientist Gregory White, whose fields of research regard environmental degradation and climate-induced migration. In this work, these topics are analyzed through the framework of security as defined by IR scholars, which the author finds inappropriate in contrasting climate change phenomena. Nevertheless, states are responding by reinforcing their borders, so this book is an must read for those seeking to understand how polities react to such an important issue. The chapter about transit states alone - and Morocco, the related case study - makes this work worth a read.