Environmental Causes of Human Migration
Environmental Causes of Human Migration
Student: Nigay Oleg.
Batch: BMCDP 1330A (M55).
Group B.
07.02.15
Human migration is movement of population related to the change of residence. This is a complex social process which serves an important function in society. There are different reasons for migration. One reason for the migration of the population is ecological. Environmental degradation is a serious deterioration of ecological conditions. Vast areas are virtually uninhabitable, so people are forced to leave these regions. Migration of this type are called environmental migrants.
There are two types for environmental influences on human migration. One of them is fast and another one is slow (Gray and Bilsborrow, 2013). The fast one is a quick change of the environment such as natural disaster (e.g. earthquake, tornado or flood). For example, considering the effects of hurricane "Katrina", which claimed the lives of more than a thousand in 2005, it should be noted that more than 800,000 people were left without electricity and telephone services, and one and a half million people have fled their homes. Many left the city forever. This can also be man-made catastrophe, which does not cause long-term changes in the environment of serious ecological habitat. The slow one, in contrast, is a specification of environment like land quality and long-term climate norms. The best example is the deterioration of the ecological situation in the Aral Sea region due to the thoughtless melioration policy in the region, carried out during the Soviet era. Another indicator of land quality could be in connection with recent technological disasters cause long-term radiological, chemical or bacteriological contamination of areas. The most significant examples of this are accident on the fourth unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the tragedy in the Indian
1
city of Bhopal, which occurred two years before Chernobyl, when pesticide plant leaked about 40 tons of
Student: Nigay Oleg.
Batch: BMCDP 1330A (M55).
Group B.
07.02.15
Human migration is movement of population related to the change of residence. This is a complex social process which serves an important function in society. There are different reasons for migration. One reason for the migration of the population is ecological. Environmental degradation is a serious deterioration of ecological conditions. Vast areas are virtually uninhabitable, so people are forced to leave these regions. Migration of this type are called environmental migrants.
There are two types for environmental influences on human migration. One of them is fast and another one is slow (Gray and Bilsborrow, 2013). The fast one is a quick change of the environment such as natural disaster (e.g. earthquake, tornado or flood). For example, considering the effects of hurricane "Katrina", which claimed the lives of more than a thousand in 2005, it should be noted that more than 800,000 people were left without electricity and telephone services, and one and a half million people have fled their homes. Many left the city forever. This can also be man-made catastrophe, which does not cause long-term changes in the environment of serious ecological habitat. The slow one, in contrast, is a specification of environment like land quality and long-term climate norms. The best example is the deterioration of the ecological situation in the Aral Sea region due to the thoughtless melioration policy in the region, carried out during the Soviet era. Another indicator of land quality could be in connection with recent technological disasters cause long-term radiological, chemical or bacteriological contamination of areas. The most significant examples of this are accident on the fourth unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the tragedy in the Indian
1
city of Bhopal, which occurred two years before Chernobyl, when pesticide plant leaked about 40 tons of
References: Chikulo, B. C. 2014. pp. 295-303. In: An Analysis of Climate Change, Poverty and Human Security in South Africa. Journal Of Human Ecology, 47(3). Cohen, N Gray, Clark & Bilsborrow, Richard. 2013. pp. 1217-1241. In: Environmental Influences on Human Migration in Rural Ecuador. Vol. 50. Issue 4. Jin, Z. 2009. In: Effects of 'Ecological and Environmental Migration Policy ' on Pastoralists ' Household Economies in China: Cases of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Johnson, G. S. 2006. pp. 466-468. In: COME HELL OR HIGH WATER: HURICANE KATRINA AND THE COLOR OF DISASTER. Humanity & Society, 30(4). Kothari, U. 2014. Political discourses of climate change and migration: resettlement policies in the Maldives. Geographical Journal, 180(2). Nakawo, Masayoshi & Konagaya, Yuki. 2011. pp. 43-60. In: Ecological Migration: Environmental Policy in China. Issue 1. Wetzel, F. T., Kissling, W. D., Beissmann, H., & Penn, D. J. 2012. pp. 2707-2719. In: Future climate change driven sea-level rise: secondary consequences from human displacement for island biodiversity. Global Change Biology, 18(9). 6