As temperatures rise around the planet, floods, drought and deforestation are forcing people in the Global South from their homes and livelihoods. The media likes to call them climate refugees, but is that accurate? This episode will unpack the catchy phrase and guide us through some of the nuanced intersections between the environment and migration.

First, we'll hear from Daniela Paredes Grijalva. In 2019, she was on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where, just months earlier, a strong earthquake had caused a tsunami and a rare phenomenon called soil liquefaction. The consequences for the islanders were absolutely devastating.

Here to help host Maggie Perzyna separate the myths from the facts surrounding climate-induced migration are Kathleen Hermans, senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) in Halle, Germany, and Robert McLeman, professor of geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada, and a policy adviser on the effects of climate change and global migration patterns.

Maggie is a researcher with the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Migration & Integration program at Toronto Metropolitan University and this podcast is Borders & Belonging. In it, Maggie talks to leading experts from around the world and people with on-the-ground experience to explore the individual experiences of migrants: the difficult decisions and many challenges they face on their journeys.

She and her guests will also think through the global dimensions of migrants’ movement: the national policies, international agreements, trends of war, climate change, employment and more.

Borders & Belonging brings together hard evidence with stories of human experience to kindle new thinking in advocacy, policy and research.

Top researchers contribute articles that complement each podcast with a deeper dive into the themes discussed.

Borders & Belonging is a co-production between the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration & Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University and openDemocracy. The podcast was produced by LEAD Podcasting, Toronto, Ontario.

Show notes

Below, you will find links to all of the research referenced by our guests, as well as other resources you may find useful.

Art and documentary

‘Climate Refugees’, by Michael Nash, Multicom Entertainment Group (2010)

‘Fleeing Climate Change – The Real Environmental Disaster’, by Thomas Anders, DW Documentary (2019)

‘Planet SOS from Palau to Alaska: Where will climate refugees go when the tide rises?’, by Al Jazeera (2019)

‘The Age of Consequences’, by Jared P. Scott, STARZ Documentaries (2016)

Donate or get involved!

‘Hudara’: Standing with communities

‘Refugees International’

‘