Limit(ation)s, sustainability, and the future of climate migration

Abstract

Climate change and human migration are two of the world's most pressing issues, as many populations rely on migration as an adaptation strategy to climatic stressors. Human experiences of, and responses to, climate stress are uneven and mediated by resource privilege. In many communities in the Global South, climate vulnerabilities are exacerbated by fragile ecological conditions due to geographical positioning, and many already marginalised groups shoulder a disproportionate burden of climate change effects, despite contributing the least to this problem. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, rapidly deteriorating climatic conditions imply that climate vulnerabilities may be reproduced in migration destination areas as well. Drawing on primary research conducted in Ghana, we illustrate how migration may present limitations and thus serve as an unsustainable adaptation strategy towards climate change for agrarian and structurally marginalised groups. We highlight the need for more discussions of sustainability in issues of climate migration in Ghana and similar contexts of the Global South, and the urgency of mitigating climate change globally. We conclude with calls for more nuanced understandings of the futures of climate migration as an adaptive strategy.