Page 13 - IJPS-11-4

International Journal of

Population Studies

PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE
Climate change, migration, and displacement:

Advancing a risk-informed approach for
sustainable solutions

1,2
Shingirai Mugambiwa * and Patience Sibanda 1
1 Department of Community Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Midlands State University, Gweru,
Midlands Province, Zimbabwe
2 Department of Social Work, Faculty of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, University of
Limpopo, Mankweng, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Climate change has become a crucial factor driving migration and human
displacement. High temperatures lead to higher incidences of phenomena such
as extreme weather, rising sea levels, and altered environmental conditions
that threaten governance, human security, and sustainable development. This
paper seeks to establish the intersections of climate change and migration vis-
à-vis displacements and sociopolitical challenges to address them. The research
*Corresponding author: methodology included a secondary research approach that began with a detailed
Shingirai Mugambiwa
(shingirai.mugambiwa@ul.ac.za) search of relevant literature from databases such as Web of Science, JSTOR, Google
Scholar, ScienceDirect, and SpringerLink. The paper establishes the importance of
Citation: Mugambiwa, S. & risk management in advancing climate justice, resilience, and migration policies
Sibanda, P. (2025). Climate change,
migration, and displacement: with respect to sustainable development. The paper concludes with some policy
Advancing a risk-informed recommendations aimed at promoting favorable strategies to address climate-
approach for sustainable solutions. driven migration and displacement.
International Journal of Population
Studies, 11(4): 7-14.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.5165
Keywords: Climate change; Migration; Displacement; Risk-informed approach;
Received: October 16, 2024 Governance; Sustainable development
1st revised: October 22, 2024
2nd revised: January 17, 2025
3rd revised: February 10, 2025 1. Introduction
Accepted: March 05, 2025 Climate change is significantly influencing the trends and patterns of human mobility
Published online: March 21, 2025 (Ahsan, 2019). As the natural environment deteriorates and catastrophes become
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). more common, society is likely to see more environmentally induced migration and
This is an Open-Access article displacement (Mugambiwa & Makubele, 2023). Based on an estimation done by the
distributed under the terms of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), climate change contributes
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution, to the large-scale movement of people from their homes, particularly in regions of high
and reproduction in any medium, risk or vulnerability such as Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and small islands (Black,
provided the original work is
properly cited. 2001; UNHCR, 2022). The interconnections between climate change, the movement of
people, and displacement pose a big challenge to policymakers, international agencies,
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with and local communities (Alverio et al., 2024).
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional There is a great likelihood that many people will be forced to abandon their homes
affiliations. due to climate changes, especially in regions that are already vulnerable, such as the

Volume 11 Issue 4 (2025) 7 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.5165