Paper short abstract:

Wider and deeper understandings of migration/displacement and immobility are often absent from discussions of climate change forcing population movements, inhibiting public engagement on this topic. Axioms are proposed for distilling a complex issue into straightforward communication categories.

Paper long abstract:

Many communities are being told that they need to prepare for migration/displacement due to climate change, with several initiatives currently ongoing or being discussed. Frequently, the discourse centres around "climate refugees" or "climate change refugees" without factoring in wider and deeper understandings of migration/displacement and immobility. Evident nuances, subtleties, and provisos are too frequently bypassed, despite them pervading choices and lack of choices for migration/displacement and immobility which might sometimes connect to aspects of contemporary climate change, but which do not necessarily do so. The keys for understanding the intersection or lack thereof between climate change and migration/displacement/immobility tend to be resources and choices to make decisions rather than climate change per se as an inevitable and sole forcer of population movements. Yet such details and descriptions are not always conducive to public engagement regarding climate change impacts on migration/displacement/immobility while countering populist demonization of migrants. Drawing on the wide literature, policies, and practices regarding climate change and migration/displacement links, axioms are proposed for distilling a complex issue into straightforward communication categories showing how migration has always been a basic human condition, sometimes influenced by changes to the climate.