CLIMATE REFUGEES? Discourse vs Evidence Related to Climate Migration
This talk will address the growing reportage and public discourse on climate refugees, interrogating the degree to which this is based in evidence. Dr. de Sherbinin will describe results from research – including from his own research and modeling work – that seek to determine the sensitivity of migration decision making to climate shocks and trends and to anticipate future trajectories in low income regions. He will also present what is known about potential climate migration to New England, as a perceived haven from climate risks in the United States.
The Speaker
Alex de Sherbinin is the Deputy Director and a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), a spatial data and analysis center within the Columbia Climate School specializing in the human aspects of global environmental change. Dr. de Sherbinin is a geographer whose research interests focus on the human aspects of global environmental change and geospatial data applications, integration, and dissemination. He is lead or co-author more than 60 peer reviewed articles and chapters, including lead authored articles appearing in Annual Reviews of Environment and Resources, Climatic Change, Environmental Research Letters, Global Environmental Change, Science, and Scientific American.