Acceso usuarios
Jenny Grote Stoutenburg
The discourse on environmentally induced migration has now been going on for more than a quarter of a century.1 Still, to this day there exists no empirical or conceptual clarity regarding the existence and number of environmentally displaced persons, as well as the terminology and legal protection mechanisms that should be applied to them. In recent years, the focus of scholarly and institutional attention has shifted from environmentally induced migration in general to migration induced by climate change, adding further complexity to an already difficult topic. Climate change-induced migration now needs to be distinguished not only from the social, economic, and political factors compelling human movement, but also from the �background noise� of general environmental change that might cause people to seek a livelihood elsewhere.
Efforts to shed light on the intricate relationship between climate change and displacement are therefore laudable, but they also run the risk of adding to the existing confusion, or even discrediting the subject, if they are based on unsound empirical assumptions or untenable legal extrapolations. The multidisciplinary contributions contained in Climate Change and Displacement avoid these pitfalls, providing a careful and detailed analysis of some of the major aspects of climate change-related movement. As the editor, Jane McAdam, explains in her introduction to the volume, the aim of the book is to bring together, in a single place, approaches from a variety of disciplines as a first step in promoting true interdisciplinary research (at 2�3). This aim has been well achieved, in an interesting compilation of nuanced views which dissipate many stereotypes as to the nature of climate change displacement and the appropriate response strategies.
Perhaps to underline the topicality of its approach (cf. at 3), the book contains no separate chapter on the history of the environmental migration debate. Not only for this �
