Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A bibliometric review on the drivers of environmental migration

  • Review
  • Published:
Ambio Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A large body of literature exists arguing that numerous, complex factors result in environmental migration. Thus, in order to understand environmental migration, we must investigate how its drivers are defined, explained and interrelated. This study aims to produce a comprehensive analysis of the literature on the drivers of environmental migration and assess future opportunities for studying ‘environmental migration’. We conduct a systematic literature search using the keywords ‘environmental migration’ and ‘drivers’ in Scopus and Web of Knowledge, analysing 146 publications. The findings are organised as a bibliometric analysis, including network analysis and evaluation of publication metrics. Results show that the literature on environmental migration drivers constitutes a relatively new, growing field largely developed in the USA. It is rooted in the wider environmental migration literature and strongly associated with the discourse of climate change impacts as driving factors. Typologies of ‘migrants’ are more prevalent than ‘refugees’ when referring to actors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, H. 2016. Why populations persist: Mobility, place attachment and climate change. Population and Environment. 37: 429–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Afroz, S., R. Cramb, and C. Grünbühel. 2018. Vulnerability and response to cyclones in coastal Bangladesh: A political ecology perspective. Asian Journal of Social Science 46: 601–637. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685314-04606002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aria, M., and C. Cuccurullo. 2017. Bibliometrix: An r-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics 11: 959–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bates, D.C. 2002. Environmental refugees? Classifying human migrations caused by environmental change. Population and Environment 23: 465–477. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015186001919.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, R. 2001. Environmental refugees: Myth or reality? 34. Working Paper Series.

  • Black, R., S.R.G. Bennett, S.M. Thomas, and J.R. Beddington. 2011. Migration as adaptation. Nature 478: 447–449. https://doi.org/10.1038/478477a.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Black, R., N.W. Arnell, W.N. Adger, D. Thomas, and A. Geddes. 2013. Migration, immobility and displacement outcomes following extreme events. Environmental Science & Policy 27: S32–S43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2012.09.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boano, C., R. Zetter, and T. Morris. 2008. Environmentally displaced people: Understanding the linkages between environmental change, livelihoods and forced migration. Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, O. 2008. The numbers game. Forced Migration Review 31: 8–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byravan, S., and S.C. Rajan. 2010. The ethical implications of sea-level rise due to climate change. Ethics & International Affairs 24: 239–260. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7093.2010.00266.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cardona, O.D., M. van Aalst, J. Birkmann, M. Fordham, G. Mcgregor, R. Perez, R.S. Pulwarty, E.L.F. Schipper, et al. 2012. Determinants of risk: Exposure and vulnerability. In Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation: Special report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, 65–108. Cambridge University Press.

  • Codjoe, S.N.A., F.H. Nyamedor, J. Sward, and D.B. Dovie. 2017. Environmental hazard and migration intentions in a coastal area in Ghana: A case of sea flooding. Population and Environment 39: 128–146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-017-0284-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Della Corte, V., G. Del Gaudio, F. Sepe, and F. Sciarelli. 2019. Sustainable tourism in the open innovation realm: A bibliometric analysis. Sustainability 11: 6114. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Édes, B. W., & Gemenne, F. 2015. Managing environmental migration to improve economic and social outcomes in developing Asia and Pacific. In Climate change in the Asia-Pacific region (pp. 103–117). New York: Springer.

  • Egghe, L. 2006. Theory and practise of the g-index. Scientometrics 69: 131–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-006-0144-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang, C., H. Liu, and G. Li. 2016. International progress and evaluation on interactive coupling effects between urbanization and the eco-environment. Journal of Geographical Sciences 26: 1081–1116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foresight. 2011. Final project report—foresight: Migration and global environmental change. London: Government Office for Science. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-and-global-environmental-change

  • Gemenne, F., and J. Blocher. 2017. How can migration serve adaptation to climate change? Challenges to fleshing out a policy ideal. The Geographical Journal 183: 336–347. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Handmer, J., Y. Honda, Z. W. Kundzewicz, N. Arnell, G. Benito, J. Hatfield, I. F. Mohamed, P. Peduzzi, et al. 2012. Changes in impacts of climate extremes: Human systems and ecosystems. In Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation: Special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 231–290. Cambridge University Press.

  • Hinnawi, E. E. 1985. Environmental refugees. United Nations Environment Programme.

  • Hugo, G. 1996. Environmental concerns and international migration. International Migration Review 30: 105. https://doi.org/10.2307/2547462.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, L.M., and E. David. 2009. Climate change and migration: Considering gender dimensions. London: Institute of Behavioral Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, L.M., J.K. Luna, and R.M. Norton. 2015. Environmental dimensions of migration. Annual Review of Sociology 41: 377–397. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, L.S. 2009. Environment, security and environmental refugees. Journal of Animal & Environmental Law 1: 222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jokisch, B.D., C. Radel, L. Carte, and B. Schmook. 2019. Migration matters: How migration is critical to contemporary human–environment geography. Geography Compass. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelman, I., R. Stojanov, S. Khan, O.A. Gila, B. Duží, and D. Vikhrov. 2015. Viewpoint paper Islander mobilities: Any change from climate change? International Journal of Global Warming 8: 584. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijgw.2015.073056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelman, I., J. Orlowska, H. Upadhyay, R. Stojanov, C. Webersik, A.C. Simonelli, D. Procházka, and D. Němec. 2019. Does climate change influence people’s migration decisions in Maldives? Climatic Change 153: 285–299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02376-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, M.A., and Y.-S. Ho. 2012. Top-cited articles in environmental sciences: Merits and demerits of citation analysis. Science of the Total Environment 431: 122–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.05.035.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhnt, J. 2019. Literature review: Drivers of migration: why do people leave their homes? Is there an easy answer? A structured overview of migratory determinants. Discussion Paper 9/2019, Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik. https://doi.org/10.23661/dp9.2019

  • Mallick, B., & Etzold, B. 2015. Environment, migration and adaptation—Evidence and politics of climate change in Bangladesh. AH Development Publishing House.

  • Mallick, B., and J. Schanze. 2020. Trapped or voluntary? Non-migration despite climate risks. Sustainability 12: 4718. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mallick, B., Z. Sultana, and C. Bennett. 2020. How do sustainable livelihoods influence environmental non-migration aspiration? Applied Geography. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2020.102328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maretti, M., A. Tontodimamma, and P. Biermann. 2019. Environmental and climate migrations: An overview of scientific literature using a bibliometric analysis. International Review of Sociology 29: 142–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/03906701.2019.1641270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., & International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (Eds.). 1998. Worlds in motion: Understanding international migration at the end of the millennium. Oxford: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press.

  • McCue, G.S. 1993. Environmental refugees: Applying international environmental law to involuntary migration. Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 6: 151.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeman, R. 2016. Migration as adaptation: Conceptual origins, recent developments, and future directions. In Migration, risk management and climate change: Evidence and policy responses, ed. A. Milan, B. Schraven, K. Warner, and N. Cascone, 213–229. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • McLeman, R. 2018. Thresholds in climate migration. Population and Environment 39: 319–338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-017-0290-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeman, R., J. Schade, and T. Faist (eds.). 2016. Environmental migration and social inequality. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscoso, P., M. Peck, and A. Eldridge. 2018. Systematic literature review on the association between soundscape and ecological/human wellbeing. PeerJ. https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.6570v2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, N. 2005. Environmental refugees: An emergent security issue. 1, 1–29

  • Nurse, L., R. Mclean, J. Agard, L. Briguglio, V. Duvat-Magnan, N. Pelesikoti, E. Tompkins, and A. Webb. 2014. Small islands. In Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability (pp. 1613–1654). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781107415386.009

  • Obokata, R., L. Veronis, and R. McLeman. 2014. Empirical research on international environmental migration: A systematic review. Population and Environment 36: 111–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-014-0210-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peel, M.C., B.L. Finlayson, and T.A. McMahon. 2007. Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 11: 1633–1644. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piguet, E., and F. Gemenne. 2018. Theories of Voluntary and Forced Migration. In Routledge handbook of environmental displacement and migration, ed. R. McLeman. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piguet, E., R. Kaenzig, and J. Guélat. 2018. The uneven geography of research on “environmental migration”. Population and Environment 39: 357–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-018-0296-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramachandran, K., & Susarla, P. 2010. Environmental migration from rainfed regions in India forced by poor returns from watershed development projects. In Environment, forced migration and social vulnerability (pp. 117–131). Berlin: Springer.

  • Ransan-Cooper, H., C. Farbotko, K.E. McNamara, F. Thornton, and E. Chevalier. 2015. Being(S) framed: The means and ends of framing environmental migrants. Global Environmental Change 35: 106–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.07.013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renaud, F.G., O. Dun, K. Warner, and J. Bogardi. 2011. A decision framework for environmentally induced migration: Framework for environmentally induced migration. International Migration 49: e5–e29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2010.00678.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Revi, A., D. Satterthwaite, F. Aragn-Durand, J. Corfee-Morlot, R. Kiunsi, M. Pelling, D. Roberts, W. Solecki, et al. 2014. Urban areas. In Climate change 2014 impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability (pp. 535–612). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781107415379.013

  • Sivertsen, G., R. Rousseau, and L. Zhang. 2019. Measuring scientific contributions with modified fractional counting. Journal of Informetrics 13: 679–694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2019.03.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Upadhyay, H., I. Kelman, G.J. Lingaraj, A. Mishra, C. Shreve, and R. Stojanov. 2015. Conceptualizing and contextualizing research and policy for links between climate change and migration. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management 7: 394–417. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-05-2014-0058.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Hear, N., O. Bakewell, and K. Long. 2018. Push-pull plus: Reconsidering the drivers of migration. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 44: 927–944. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1384135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Raan, A.F.J. 2005. Measurement of central aspects of scientific research: Performance, interdisciplinarity, structure. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research & Perspective 3: 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15366359mea0301_1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiegel, H., I. Boas, and J. Warner. 2019. A mobilities perspective on migration in the context of environmental change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Q. Yu, F. Zheng, C. Long, Z. Lu, and Z. Duan. 2016. Comparing keywords plus of WOS and author keywords: A case study of patient adherence research: Comparing keywords plus of WOS and author keywords. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 67: 967–972. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, X., R.C. Estoque, H. Xie, Y. Murayama, and M. Ranagalage. 2019. Bibliometric analysis of highly cited articles on ecosystem services. PLoS ONE 14: e0210707. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210707.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, B.-B., J. Wu, and J.M. Anderies. 2019. Sustainable landscapes and landscape sustainability: A tale of two concepts. Landscape and Urban Planning 189: 274–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.05.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zickgraf, C. 2019. Immobility. In Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement and Migration, 1st ed, ed. F. Gemenne and R. McLeman, 71–84. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

The research was funded under the ‘Open Topic Post Doc’ initiative of Technische Universität Dresden, and the second author was a recipient of this OTPP Grant (F-003661-553-Ü1G-1212042, titled ‘Non-migrability: Non-Migration of People at Risks in the Context of Social and Economic Vulnerability’). Authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Chup Priovashini

  2. Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Bishawjit Mallick

  3. Chair of Environmental Development and Risk Management, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Bishawjit Mallick

Authors
  1. Chup Priovashini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bishawjit Mallick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chup Priovashini.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Electronic supplementary material 1 (XLSX 98 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Priovashini, C., Mallick, B. A bibliometric review on the drivers of environmental migration. Ambio 51, 241–252 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01543-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01543-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation