Mass migration due to climate change? A critique of the security focus on climate mobilities

During the last decade, there has emerged almost a consensus in the policy debates about a potential mass migration due to climate change in the near future. It is assumed that climate change will be a major driver of mass migration from the Global South to Global North. Although the potential negative impact of climate change on livelihoods is real and alarming, the accounts that link it to large numbers of climate refugees is highly questionable. This kind of linking leads to the framing of climate migration as a security crisis. Climate migration is portrayed as a significant threat to national and international security and it has become a widespread justification for measures to protect national and regional borders in the Global North. This paper aims to first review the literature that discusses the linkage between climate change and mass migration. Secondly, there will be a critical discussion about the misleading claims, gaps, and assumptions about this linkage in the literature. Finally, the paper will discuss the necessary components of a research agenda on climate migration or “climate mobilities” that does not depend on problematic assumptions and that advances our understanding of the connection between climate change and human mobility.