From Environmental Crisis to Security Concerns: Examining the Threats Posed by Climate Migrants in China
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Abstract
In recent years, the issue of climate change has increasingly become a topic of discussion. Among the many impacts of climate change, one less-discussed issue is that of “climate migrants.” Currently, no consensus has been reached regarding the definition of this term, and thus no agreements or frameworks have been established on how to deal with them. However, in China, there is undeniably a significant number of people forced to migrate in the context of climate change and disasters. In recent years, the Inner Mongolia area has faced severe snowstorms, sand storms, and locust disasters. Coastal areas, like Shanghai, have been exposed to floods and typhoons, while other regions are combating extreme heatwaves. Climate-induced migrants in China have heightened the total number of internal migrants in the country, causing copious internal displacement. This emerging trend is becoming a growing cause of concern, especially with the prognostication of continuous environmental deterioration to come. With this in mind, this paper examines the threats posed by the rapidly increasing number of climate-induced migrants in China. By examining the case of China as an example, this paper aims to encourage a collective drive toward devising comprehensive strategies to address this pressing issue. Since the root cause of climate migration stems from the progressing deterioration of our shared global resource-our planet-it has the potential to affect every country in the world. Without effective management, an issue that currently remains internal and domestic holds the potential escalate into a global crisis.
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