New research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) has found that short-distance migration is crucial for climate change adaptation. Contrary to popular belief, most migratory movements are people moving short distances due to economic, social, and environmental factors, such as climate change. The research was conducted in the drylands of India, Ghana, Kenya, and Namibia, covering the largest global biome, which accommodates more than a third of the globe’s population.
The study found that supporting and enabling this migration will help people to continue to adapt to the pressures in their lives, including increasing climate variability. The paper, ‘Everyday mobility and changing livelihood trajectories: implications for vulnerability and adaptation in dryland regions,’ is published in a special issue on Everyday Adaptations in the journal Ecology and Society. The research was led by Dr Mark Tebboth, Associate Professor in Environment and International Development.
Dr Tebboth said that far from being exceptional, this everyday mobility is ubiquitous and much removed from alarmist discourses of ‘climate migration’ that views movement as solely climate-driven. The study concludes that most mobility, especially that in which environmental change is of some influence, is and will remain local.