The political construction of climate change induced migrants: A study of the connection between immigration/asylum and climate change in the EU

• Main Author: Carlsson Kanyama, Karin
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS) 2011
• Subjects: climate change; immigration/asylum; forced migration; human displacement; discourses; European identity; ethnic and cultural exclusion; Social Sciences; Samhällsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-21921

Studies have shown that climate change causes large scale human displacement. With this as background this thesis investigates the connection between climate change and immigration/asylum in EU documents. The EU is an institution that has not acknowledged the existence of climate change induced migration despite outside awareness that the phenomenon exists. This thesis analyzes discourses about climate change and immigration/asylum in the EU in order to find out how EU regards climate change induced migrants, and why it has not acknowledged their existence or provides protection. The thesis found that discourses of inclusion and exclusion based on European ethnicity and culture restricts possibilities for migrants from developing countries to come to Europe. It also found that EU represents its strategy to fight climate change as comprehensive and leaves no room for changes in that strategy. These two findings in combination explain why climate change induced migrants are not acknowledged, and in extension do not get protection from the EU. The research found that the absence of an acknowledgement and protection for climate change induced migrants is influenced by political discourses in the EU that see unskilled immigrants from developing countries as a threat and danger to Europe and its current climate change strategy as sufficient for coping with the effects of climate change.