Abstract

FAIST, Thomas. The socio-natural problematic: how migration reproduces inequalities in the era of climate change. Migr. desarro [online]. 2018, vol.16, n.30, pp.11-29. ISSN 1870-7599.

Cross-border migration is one of the many ways in which people have adapted to both the slow and sudden advance of environmental changes in the Anthropocene epoch, in which the activities of human beings have produced global consequences for the world’s ecosystems. This paper aims to explore the inequalities that require systematic study with regard to how migration increases as a result of the complex interactions between social (political, economic, cultural) and environmental processes. To date, two generations of researchers have engaged the climate change debate as it relates to migration. The first theorized migration as a mechanical response to climate change; while the second conceptualized migration as being tied to climate change as an adaptation in the relations governing human security, situating at its core the question of human beings’ actions. The emphasis on the «resilient migrant» has omitted the effects of climate change on the categories of classification of people according to social inequalities. This paper analyzes the evolution of those concepts in the debates around the migration-climate change nexus and some of the social mechanisms of inequality reproduction.

Keywords : climate change; human security; resilient migrant; social inequalities.