One step forward, two steps back?:the fading contours of (in)justice in competing discourses on climate migration

In recent debates on climate change and migration, the focus on the figure of ‘climate refugees’ (tainted by environmental determinism and a crude understanding of human mobility) has given ground to a broader conception of the climate–migration nexus. In particular, the idea that migration can represent a legitimate adaptation strategy has emerged strongly. This appears to be a positive development, marked by softer tones that de-securitise climate migration. However, political and normative implications of this evolution are still understudied. This article contributes to filling the gap by turning to both the ‘climate refugees’ and ‘migration as adaptation’ narratives, interrogating how and whether those competing narratives pose the question of (in)justice. Our analysis shows that the highly problematic ‘climate refugees’ narrative did (at least) channel justice claims and yielded the (illusory) possibility of identifying concrete rights claims and responsibilities. Read in relation to the growing mantra of resilience in climate policy and politics, the more recent narrative on ‘migration as adaptation’ appears to displace justice claims and inherent rights in favour of a depoliticised idea of adaptation that relies on the individual migrant's ability to compete in and benefit from labour markets. We warn that the removal of structural inequalities from the way in which the climate–migration nexus is understood can be seen as symptomatic of a shrinking of the conditions to posing the question of climate justice

Where Next?:Climate Change, Migration, and the (Bio)politics of Adaptation

The series of recent hecatombs in the Mediterranean, together with the regressive reactions we have witnessed in and around Europe, highlight the importance of posing the question of climate change and migration. Climate change will interact with a number of drivers of migration, and will hit hardest on the weakest and most exposed – which often include migrants as well as those too poor to move. However, how the climate-migration nexus can be addressed in fair and equitable ways (with what concepts, in what fora, through what policies) is far from a simple question. This intervention proposes two main arguments. First, a brief overview of recent debates suggests that we are still far from any progressive approaches to ‘climate migration’ – those that have emerged are different expressions of biopolitical discourses on sustainable development and resilience. Second, this intervention invites to reconsider the widely held and depoliticising assumption that climate migration is a ‘problem to be solved’ - for instance, by UNFCCC. Rather, the nexus should be seen as a set of open questions on different alternative climate futures, as well as a symptom of the irreducibly political tensions inherent in every form of mobility as much as in every attempt to discipline/govern it

At What Cost? How Ghana is losing out in fishing arrangements with China’s distant water fleet

Report of the impacts of illegal fishing in West Africa and the implications for sustainability of the region\u27s coastal fisheries

The Ever Widening Net

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of China’s vast, opaque and, at times illegal global fisheries footprint, with the specific aim of informing appropriate and effective responses by fisheries decision-makers in China and globally

Stolen at Sea: How illegal \u27saiko\u27 fishing is fuelling the collapse of Ghana\u27s fisheries

Saiko is the local name for illegal fish trans-shipments in Ghana, where industrial trawlers transfer frozen fish to specially adapted canoes out at sea. It used to be a practice whereby canoes would buy the unwanted by-catch of industrial vessels. However, the practice has developed into a lucrative industry in its own right, for which industrial fishers actively fish. Today, industrial trawlers not only target the demersal (bottom-dwelling) species for which they are licensed, but the same species as the artisanal fishing community, including the severely depleted small pelagics such as sardinella and mackerel. These catches, which often contain juvenile fish, are landed by the saiko canoes for onward sale to local markets. This has severe implications for Ghana’s artisanal fishing sector, which is critical to food security and provides significantly more jobs than the saiko industr

Institutional interplay and effectiveness: assessing efforts to conserve western hemisphere shorebirds

Bird conservation, Biodiversity conservation, Western hemisphere shorebird conservation network, Effectiveness of environmental institutions, Oran Young, Fit and interplay, Transnational environmental institutions, Environmental policy,