Climate change, environmental degradation and migration

This European Commission Staff Working Paper aims to provide an overview of the research and data currently available on the inter-linkages between migration, environmental degradation and climate change. The specific focus of this paper is on human mobility due to climate related disasters and environmental degradation, including such caused by climate change (e.g. land degradation, drought, desertification, rising sea level or climate induced disasters such as drought, floods, extreme weather events, winter storms and heat waves). It also provides an overview of the many initiatives of relevance for the topic which are already being taken by the EU in various policy fields, and analyses on-going debates on policy responses at EU and international level. Many of its recommendations are of specific relevance for EU policies with an external focus, including on development, foreign policy and humanitarian aid.