Climate migration and the UK

by Laurie Parsons

Date
15 Jan 2021
Publisher
Journal of the British Academy, volume 9 (2021)
Digital Object Identifier
https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/009.003
Number of pages
24

Pages in this section

Abstract: This article discusses the relationship between climate change and migration in the context of the UK. After a brief overview of climate migration scholarship, it examines the framing of climate migration as a crisis in UK policy discourse, highlighting the disjuncture between policy and academic scholarship in this respect. Subsequently, it examines the reasons for this schism, exploring both the framing of climate migration within the UK media landscape and the securitisation of the topic within UK government policy. Finally, the article explores how the UK’s political landscape undergirds the political logic of climate finance, emphasising the role of British domestic politics in shaping the boundaries and direction of climate change as it manifests in governance. The article closes by exploring potential new directions in UK climate migration policy.

Keywords: Climate change, migration, climate migration, securitisation, climate finance.

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