Environmental migrants and social-movement participation
| Date | 01 January 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343320972153 |
| Published date | 01 January 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Regular Articles |
Regular Articles
Environmental migrants and
social-movement participation
Vally Koubi
ETH Zu
¨rich & Department of Economics,
University of Bern
Quynh Nguyen
School of Politics & International Relations,
Australian National University
Gabriele Spilker
Department of Political Science and Sociology,
University of Salzburg
Tobias Bo
¨hmelt
Department of Government, University of Essex
Abstract
The displacement of people due to climatic changes (environmental migration) presents major societal and govern-
ance challenges. This article examines whether and how climate-induced rural-to-urban migration contributes to
social-movement participation. We argue that the mainly forceful nature of relocation makes environmental
migrants more likely to join and participate in social movements that promote migrant rights in urban areas. Using
original survey data from Kenya, we find that individuals who had experienced several different types of severe
climatic events at their previous location are more likely to join and participate in social movements. This finding has
important policy implications. National and local authorities should not only provide immediate assistance and basic
social services to environmental migrants in urban settings, but also facilitate permanent solutions by fostering their
socio-economic and political integration in order to prevent urban conflict.
Keywords
climate change, Kenya, migration, social movements, survey, urbanization
The degree of urbanization
1
has sharply increased over
the past few decades. While 751 million people lived in
cities in 1950, the total urban population has grown to
4.2 billion by 2018, accounting for 55% of the world’s
inhabitants (United Nations, 2019). This number is
expected to increase to 68% by 2050, adding another
2.5 billion people to urban areas with almost 90% of this
increase taking place in Asia and Africa (United Nations,
2019). Traditionally, urbanization has been linked to
reductions in poverty (Sekkat, 2017), inequality
(Castells-Quintana & Royuela, 2015; Oyvat, 2016), or
to the formation of agglomeration economies and
productivity gains, which, in turn, lead to greater
national economic growth, particularly in less developed
countries (Bru
¨lhart & Sbergami, 2009; Bertinelli &
Strobl, 2007).
2
Yet, rapid urbanization processes, when
not managed well, can pose severe economic, social,
political or environmental challenges, including strong
pressure on the labor market, an inadequate provision of
social services, such as health, education, housing and
infrastructure, or water and energy systems. These chal-
lenges might subsequently trigger insecurity (Adger
Corresponding author:
vally.koubi@vwi.unibe.ch
1
Urbanization (city growth) is caused mainly by rural–urban
migration as well as natural population increase, geographic
expansion of urban areas through annexations, and the
transformation/reclassification of rural villages into small urban
settlements (United Nations, 2019).
2
Recent research shows that urbanization reduces economic growth
especially in less developed counties (Frick & Rodrı
´guez-Pose, 2018;
Castells-Quintana, 2017).
Journal of Peace Research
2021, Vol. 58(1) 18–32
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343320972153
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