Climate change, slow onset events and human mobility: reviewing the evidence

Abstract

This article synthesizes recent empirical literature on human mobility linked to slow-onset impacts of climate change. Through a review of the CLIMIG database from 2015 to 2020, it assesses the state of knowledge on human mobility related to slow onset events by distilling peer-reviewed articles across world regions, with particular attention given to developing country contexts. On top of providing an anatomy of the field including a geography of current studies, the methods employed, and the types of migration addressed, it explores findings as they converge and diverge across the sample relating migration as an adaptation strategy. It demonstrates the importance of context and the difficulty of presenting a singular narrative or global conclusions regarding the impact of slow onset events on human mobility dynamics, before submitting recommendations for future research.