Dr. David Durand-Delacre

Drylands cover a significant portion of the Earth’s surface and support a large share of the global population. They are particularly vulnerable to climate change due to low and highly variable precipitation, changes in precipitation patterns, drought, and desertification. Historically, human mobility has been a critical adaptive response in drylands, supporting communities to cope with climatic and environmental shocks. We use a systematic review of the case study literature in the Web of Science (1976–2023) to assess the effects of climatic stressors on human (im)mobility in drylands. The keywords we use capture various forms of mobility and immobility (migration, displacement, pastoralism, relocation, and immobility) and climatic stressors (rapid-onset, slow-onset, and climate variability) in the world’s 107 countries that have at least 1% of territory classified as drylands. More than nine in ten (91%) of the papers identified climatic stressors as influencing human mobility and immobility, with 76% finding an increase in mobility and involuntary immobility, compared to 15% reporting a decrease in mobility. Migration is the predominant type of mobility assessed by the literature, with droughts and anomalies in precipitation and temperature being the primary climatic stressors. Rapid-onset stressors are more frequently found to increase displacement than slow-onset stressors or climate variability. Climatic stressors tend to have a stronger impact on human mobility in drylands compared to global analyses, which include non-dryland regions. We also show a deficit of empirical studies on pastoralism and immobility, limited research on the effects of compound events on human (im)mobility, and a disproportionate focus of studies on China, the USA, and Mexico, leaving African and South American dryland regions understudied.

The production of knowledge is a mobile process. Efforts to conceptualise the mobilities of knowledge draw on a wide range of metaphors to conceptualise the ways in which knowledge moves and changes as it moves. In this paper, I present the theoretical origins and methodological implications – often tied to specific disciplines – of concepts in use. I distinguish between sedentarist metaphors (construction, transfer) and mobile metaphors (focusing on translation, contagion, friction, and circulation). I show that, although all these metaphors share a common attention to knowledge as mobile, they are neither synonymous nor interchangeable. They each structure how we think about and research epistemic mobilities in their own way. I find that mobile metaphors in particular are most compatible with, and can contribute to, the development of the mobile ontology that characterises the mobilities turn. I illustrate this using a case study of the epistemic mobilities of the idea of climate migration in the French context. From this example, I draw key lessons for studies of epistemic mobilities. I argue for a diverse, nuanced conceptual vocabulary of epistemic mobilities, leading to a nuanced, relational understanding of space, scale, and how to trace the mobilities of knowledge in practice.

This report reviews 11 CJRF grants that address challenges arising from diverse climate mobilities. The CJRF-funded projects were implemented by partner organizations working closely with communities, between 2017 and 2024 in Alaska, Bangladesh, and the Pacific. These 11 grants offer a rare opportunity to identify the kinds of community-led projects and initiatives that effectively address challenges arising from climate-related displacement, relocation, migration and immobility, at a time when these are a growing concern for people around the world but few funders of any size provide dedicated funding with this thematic focus. The report provides an inventory of activities carried out by partners. From this, it distills recommendations on four themes: (1) principles to guide climate mobility projects adopting human rights and climate justice lenses; (2) promoting participatory approaches and community leadership; (3) the relationship between climate mobilities and losses and damages, both economic and non-economic; and (4) effective grant making practice: what makes a “good climate mobility grant”. These recommendations can guide not only CJRF’s future grantmaking but also other philanthropic funders and international policy advocates supporting communities dealing with challenges and difficult decisions pertaining to diverse climate mobilities.

The planned relocation of communities away from areas of climate-related risk has emerged as a critical strategy to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Empirical examples from around the world show, however, that such relocations often lead to poor outcomes for affected communities. To address this challenge, and contribute to developing guidelines for just and sustainable relocation processes, this paper calls attention to three fundamental tensions in planned relocation processes: (1) conceptualizations of risk and habitability; (2) community consultation and ownership; and (3) siloed policy frameworks and funding mechanisms. Drawing on the collective experience of 29 researchers, policymakers and practitioners from around the world working on planned relocations in the context of a changing climate, we provide strategies for collectively and collaboratively acknowledging and navigating these tensions among actors at all levels, to foster more equitable and sustainable relocation processes and outcomes.

In this chapter, David Durand-Delacre draws on the perspectives of international development and migrant solidarity organizations in France to illustrate that, while policy stakeholders may study, debate, and discuss the concept of ‘climate migration’, this rarely leads to any concrete action. He explains this is in no small part due to ‘perhaps insurmountable’ analytical and political ambiguities that appear to be inherent to any discussion of the topic in France. Having done this, he reflects on what uses the topic can still serve despite these ambiguities.