Unsettling Settlements - Cities, Migrants, Climate Change

Droughts, sea-level rise, crop failures - against the background of dramatic challenges in a changing climate Kira Vinke examines the effectiveness of migration as one probable form of adaptation. Her research concludes that only preventative migration can be labeled as adaptation to the threatening changes and that frequently migration falls short of maintaining or improving people's standard of living after relocation. Often, it merely ensures survival. Vinke's illuminating study which led her to Bangladesh and the Central Pacific appeals to policy makers to responsibly manage preventative outmigration if there is no option to protect exposed regions as human habitats.

Kira Vinke works at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.