We need to address the impact climate change will have on migration

The author highlights how climate change is eroding livelihoods and redrawing habitable maps, leading to unprecedented human displacement. While resilience to extreme weather is improving, the author emphasizes that the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) provides a critical framework for managing this crisis. However, the text asserts that managing migration is insufficient without fundamentally altering the global economic model to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperature rises within 2°C of pre-industrial levels.

• Climate change is actively altering habitable regions by disrupting food supplies in Central America and the Sahel region of North Africa, increasing water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa, and causing more frequent droughts in Somalia and heat waves in Iraq.
• The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM), finalized by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018, is described as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to establish an international system for managing climate-driven migration.
• To prevent runaway climate change triggered by feedback loops, the author states that greenhouse gas emissions must be drastically reduced to maintain the Earth's temperature within 2°C of pre-industrial levels.
• The current 'take-make-dispose' economic model is identified as a driver of environmental risk, and the author calls for a shift toward sustainable consumption and production methods, noting that atmospheric carbon dioxide has exceeded 410 parts per million.

APA

Swing, E. S. W. L. (2018). We need to address the impact climate change will have on migration. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/making-migration-safe-for-climate-nexus/

Chicago

Swing, Erik Solheim, William Lacy. We need to address the impact climate change will have on migration. World Economic Forum, 2018. https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/making-migration-safe-for-climate-nexus/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Swing |first1=Erik Solheim, William Lacy |title=We need to address the impact climate change will have on migration |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=30 August 2018 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/making-migration-safe-for-climate-nexus/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{swing2018need, author = {Swing, Erik Solheim, William Lacy}, title = {{We need to address the impact climate change will have on migration}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2018}, month = aug, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/making-migration-safe-for-climate-nexus/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }