Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to unpack why a Feminist Political Ecology reading of migration is needed in order to understand the power structures that drive climate change and forced migration as well as to reach more inclusive interventions that jointly redress socio-environmental injustices.

Paper long abstract:

Climate change and stresses will be felt by all, but they will not affect all people equally. Multiple, unequal and intersecting social differentiations of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability and class translate into privilege for some, but disadvantage and marginalisation for others. Despite increasing calls for the integration of gender and social equity considerations, research examining the climate change-migration nexus has often sidestepped gender and/or has underestimated the gendered and social inequity causes, processes, and impacts of migration. However, gender and social relations are key in shaping social tipping points as well as the perceptions of socio-environmental risks. On the one hand, they influence who migrates and why, and how decisions about migration in the context of climate change are made. On the other hand, migration can transform pre-existing socio-ecological inequities, either by entrenching traditional values and norms or by challenging and transforming them. Drawing on an ongoing EUH2020 project, entitled HABITABLE – Linking Climate Change, Habitability and Social Tipping Points: Scenarios for Climate Migration – this paper seeks to unpack why a Feminist Political Ecology reading of migration in the context of climate change is needed in order to understand the power structures that drive both climate change and forced migration as well as to reach more inclusive policy interventions which can jointly redress both social and environmental injustices at multiple scales.