The relation between climate change and human migration is often understood in relatively narrow terms. The predominant assumption is that climate change is causing millions of people to move: as people are impacted by sea-level rise, drought, or cyclones, there is no other choice but to move away.

This is certainly part of the story – as people’s homes are affected by sea-level rise, they can be forced to move as the sea has eaten away their land. However, this does not mean that everyone is affected at the same time, will move to the same place or at the same pace.

Especially for more gradual climatic changes, such as sea-level rise and intersecting erosion processes, change occurs slowly in ways that do not impact a whole village or city at the same time. First the houses closest to the shore get taken, then some months later the next, etcetera.

I saw this happening during my research in Bangladesh where the land gradually gets eaten away by the river, which gets deposited elsewhere in the delta. Though not a case of pure climate change – as these changes are inherent to the delta and are exacerbated by for instance cyclones that further impact on already eroded areas – it does show how gradual land changes impact on people’s mobility.

This is a part of blog post published by Ingrid Boas.