Exploring a Human-Centered Approach to Climate Change and Migration

Climate change continues to profoundly impact people and communities, which is evident in the increasing frequency of sudden-onset disasters and the acceleration of slow-onset disasters. We become more aware of these crises' direct and cascading consequences, leading individuals and communities to face compounded insecurities that threaten their survival, livelihoods, and dignity. Migration has been one of the critical and inevitable consequences of disasters, including those driven by natural hazards and climate change. Traditional security discourse paints migration as a constructed security threat that is both exclusive and divisive, vilifying those who seek to move. However, adopting a human security approach shifts the referent object of security from threats to individuals, offering a people-centered perspective for examining insecurities and developing solutions. This paper attempts to present the features of the human security framework not only to explain and understand the interface between climate change and migration but also to identify viable solutions to their challenges. By raising individual security questions of security of whom, security from what, and security by what means, this paper focuses on the affected and displaced populations, expounds on the multidimensionality of insecurities, and emphasizes the need for complementary top-down protection and bottom-up solutions in reaching sustainable solutions to climate change-induced migrations. The paper highlights that a human security approach to climate change and migration opens not just a conceptual analysis of the diversity of crises we face today but, more importantly, offers the potential for suitable programs for the most vulnerable and marginalized.