Exploring Connections—Environmental Change, Food Security and Violence as Drivers of Migration—A Critical Review of Research

Abstract

Migration, whether triggered by single events, such as violent conflict, or by long term pressures related to environmental change or food insecurity is altering sustainable development in societies. Although there is a large amount of literature, there is a gap for consolidating frameworks of migration-related to the interaction and correlation between drivers. We review scientific papers and research reports about three categories of drivers: Environmental Change (EC), Food Security (FS), and Violent Conflict (VC). First, we organize the literature to understand the explanations of the three drivers on migration individually, as well as the interactions among each other. Secondly, we analyse the literature produced regarding Colombia, Myanmar, and Tanzania; countries with different combinations of the driving factors for migration. Although we find that many correlations are explained in the literature, migration is mostly driven by structural vulnerabilities and unsustainable development paths in places that have a low resilience capacity to cope with risk. For example, food insecurity, as a product of environmental changes (droughts and floods), is seen as a mediating factor detonating violent conflict and migration in vulnerable populations. The paper contributes to the literature about multi-driven migration, presenting an overview of the way in which different driver combinations trigger migration. This is important for determining the best governance mechanisms and policy responses that tackle forced migration and improve the resilience of vulnerable communities as well as sustainable development.

Conceptualization and management of disasters and climate change events in Africa: a review

“…Furthermore, 60 papers (35%) exhibited the socio-natural perspective. For example, [25] in exploring the connections between flood and drought hazards and food security, recognized the role played by natural processes in triggering floods and droughts. However, they argued from their results that the propensity to be affected by hazards lies in the structural vulnerabilities and unsustainable development paths in places.…”

“…Here, relevant concerns specified by the sampled papers as hampering hazard mitigation or research are highlighted. Some of the issues hampering hazard/climate change adaptation, mitigation and research in Africa include the lack of state capacity [26,43], gaps between research and policy implementations [33], lack of technical capacities for modeling and prediction [39,42], limited investment on research and innovation [2,8], lack of longer-term adaptation policies [10], limited research into the potential of ecosystem services in buffering hazards [24], limited collaboration between disciplines [25], the unpredictability of weather and unreliability of climate projections [19,29], the low human capacity to undertake climate change planning and lack of climate and hazard insurance [28] among other issues.…”

Global Crises: Gendered Vulnerabilities of Structural Inequality, Environmental Performance, and Modern Slavery

“…Increasing a plant’s ability to utilize nitrogen efficiently is an important consideration for environmental sustainability and food security. Unsustainable agricultural practices are one of the most significant causes of global food scarcity, which has been linked to forced migration (Morales-Muñoz et al 2020 ). According to the United Nations, about 690 million people are undernourished worldwide, and by 2050 that number is expected to increase by an additional two billion people (Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations et al, 2019 ).…”

A Review of Climate-Smart Agriculture Technology Adoption by Farming Households in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Drought, heat stress, and flooding have exacerbated the already low production of crops, livestock, and aquatic species, and have contributed to the increased rates of malnutrition and poverty, leading to a reduced quality of life and health [5,37]. Food shortages are a known cause of cross-border migration [38], and this is estimated to worsen by the year 2050. The prevalence of hunger and poverty will be highest in SSA in comparison to other locations on the continent, making it substantially hard to access food due to the huge increase in the population [39].…”