Session 12.2

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a major driver of displacement, forcing millions to migrate from rural to urban areas worldwide (World Migration Report, 2018). In Ethiopia, climate-induced shocks such as drought, soil degradation, and changing rainfall patterns are exacerbating traditional rural-urban migration dynamics (Eshetu & Beshir, 2017). Climate induced environmental changes are accelerating rural urban migration and cross-regional displacement in Ethiopia, particularly in climate sensitive areas such as the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region. This presentation draws upon my academic expertise in Geography, Environmental Studies, and Population Studies, alongside practical field experience as a Climate Champion under the DOT Ethiopia Project, to explore how indigenous

environmental knowledge and modern geospatial tools can be combined to strengthen climate adaptation and migration support strategies. Ethiopia’s rural communities have long practiced adaptive measures such as traditional water harvesting, community-based soil conservation, and agroforestry. However, these systems are under increasing strain from severe droughts, flooding, and land degradation conditions that are forcing households to migrate. While climate migration is often treated as a humanitarian crisis, it is also an opportunity to implement resilience-based policies that integrate local knowledge with scientific data. Using secondary analysis of the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys (EDHS 2000, 2005, 2011, and 2016), this study will investigate the ways climate-induced rural-urban migrants exercise agency in deciding whether, when, and where to move. It will examine the push factors such as land degradation, declining agricultural productivity, and drought, and analyze the extent to which displaced individuals can make informed choices amidst these pressures (Dorosh & Getnet, 2011; Croft et al., 2018). In addition, the article will discuss the barriers climate-displaced populations face in securing decent livelihoods and accessing protections against exploitation in urban settings, calling for policy interventions that expand their choices and agency (Amene & Tesfaye, 2020).

This proposal will include

1. Present case study evidence from Gerese Woreda near Arba Minch, where I have led community engagement initiatives involving tree planting, soil erosion control, and climate data analysis using tools such as GIS, remote sensing, and the Climate Engine platform.

2. Demonstrate how GPS-based mapping and satellite imagery can identify environmental stress zones and migration pressure points.

3. Discuss strategies for integrating indigenous practices with geospatial analytics to inform planned relocation, urban integration, and livelihood restoration for climate migrants.

4. Recommend policy and capacity-building measures for local governments, NGOs, and international agencies to improve coordinated responses for both rural-origin migrants and receiving communities.

By bridging traditional environmental stewardship with modern data-driven planning, this approach not only supports displaced populations but also builds the institutional knowledge necessary to anticipate and mitigate future migration flows.

This proposal aligns with the symposium’s objectives by contributing to

knowledge-sharing on:

• Good practice in supporting planned migration and migrant integration into cities.

• Building national and local capacities for climate migrant support.

• Enhancing cooperation between governments, NGOs, and communities.

• Leveraging international climate change resources through data and advocacy.

Human-induced climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of hydro-meteorological hazards in vulnerable regions. In Bangladesh—a climate hotspot in South Asia—rising sea levels, shifting monsoon patterns, and intensifying floods and cyclones are disrupting livelihoods, damaging infrastructure, and forcing internal displacement. These escalating climate stresses, combined with pre-existing social and economic vulnerabilities, are reshaping migration patterns, particularly toward urban areas. This study proposes an innovative methodology that integrates geospatial techniques with national census data to quantitatively estimate internal climate-induced migration. Climate migrants are defined as individuals who relocated within the country over a distance of at least 14 kilometres and remained displaced for a minimum of 10 years due to climate-related disasters. Results indicate that approximately 10% of Bangladesh’s population migrates internally per decade, with 64% of these individuals moving for economic reasons. Notably, 72% of economic migrants cite climate-induced disasters as the primary driver of relocation. As of 2011, the estimated numbers of economic, environmental, and climate migrants in Bangladesh were 8.5 million, 5.6 million, and 2 million respectively. The findings highlight the urgent need to integrate internal climate migration into national and urban adaptation strategies, both in Bangladesh and in other climate-vulnerable regions worldwide.

Climate migration in developing economies is deeply entangled with precarious forms of economic mobility. While policy frameworks often seek to attribute specific climate risks to distinct spatio-temporal mobilities, urgent attention must also be given to making economic and labor policies more climate-responsive as societies adapt to cascading shocks and polycrisis contexts. My research, positioned at the intersection of urban climate regimes, economic geography, and the comparative political economy of climate migration, examines how pre- and post-relocation spatial politics shape the implementation of climate-resilient policies. In particular, I analyze how these policies intersect with racialized internal labor migration and the dynamics of urban labor markets, bringing together perspectives from critical theory, practice, and policy analysis to advance more just and climate-attuned governance of mobility.

My proposed intervention, arising from over six years of critical grounded and high-level policy research of various dimensions of climate migration, public policy and regional and local governance, contributes to two themes of the symposium: a) building national capacities to support climate migrants, and b) International climate change resources for climate migrants.

Building on my recently completed doctoral research on climate-resilient development in the economic geographies of climate migration in South Asia, and over a decade of experience in climate advocacy and policy research with global platforms such as the IPCC, UN-Habitat, and leading academic institutions across South Asia, the UK, and South Africa, I seek to contribute perspectives on how urban institutions — municipalities, local authorities, and cross-sectoral bodies spanning disaster risk, public health, and social service provision — can better incorporate climate migrants into adaptation planning. Rather than framing migrants solely as populations at risk, I argue for recognizing them as spatial climate agents whose adaptive capacities can be enhanced and leveraged for equitable urban resilience. Such a reframing not only enables more just approaches to urban climate governance but also opens up possibilities for reconfiguring mobility governance across national and international scales from the standpoint of humanitarian justice and sustainability. Drawing on illustrative examples from South Asian and other Global Majority cities, this presentation will offer critical and practice-driven provocations. First, it will explore how to bridge capacity gaps and leverage a broader range of institutional capacities for recognizing and reforming the governance of climate migrants. Second, it will examine potential convergences between international climate regimes and emergent frameworks on adaptation, loss and damage, and climate finance. In doing so, the presentation seeks to decenter migration from apocalyptic and risk-centric narratives that reproduce racial and social harm on already vulnerable populations, and instead recenter climate migration within more empowering discourses of global adaptation and sustainable climate-responsive development.