Bringing migrants' perspectives in ‘migration as an adaptation strategy’ discourses

Abstract

Over the last few years, migration is increasingly being framed as an adaptation strategy to deal with climate change, to move away from apocalyptic representations of migration in debates on climate change. While acknowledging the merit of this discourse, this commentary calls for more attention to include migrants' perspectives in debates on environmental migration and reflecting on how such discourses work out in practice. As most studies have focused on regions of origin being impacted adversely by climate change, and the ability/willingness to migrate, the perspectives of migrants themselves and how they feel about their migration and integration, whether internally or internationally, facing slow‐onset or sudden climate impacts, have not been discussed thoroughly. This point of view is needed to grasp the preconditions of success for such discourses, as migrants occupy vulnerable positions in immigrant societies, but are pressured to have a ‘double engagement’ towards both the region of origin and destination.