Details
This book brings together a variety of disciplinary perspectives on the phenomenon of climate-induced displacement. With chapters by leading scholars in their field, it collects in one place a rigorous, holistic analysis of the phenomenon, which can better inform academic understanding and policy development alike. The specialist expertise of the authors in this book means that each chapter identifies key issues that need to be considered in shaping domestic, regional and international responses, including the complex causes of movement, the conceptualisation of migration responses to climate change, the terminology that should be used to describe those who move, and attitudes to migration that may affect decisions to stay or leave.
"The diversity of perspectives and the disagreements between contributors help to ensure that the book fulfils its aim of providing 'considered, well-informed research' that does not 'oversimplify the cases of movement'...it will be of relevance to a wide audience of students and scholars of politics, geography, development studies, anthropology, law, psychology and public health. It will also be compelling reading for policy-makers, non-governmental organisations and activists who are seeking to understand the impact of climate change on people."
Nina Hall
Environmental Politics
"The chapters are concise, yet dense and engaging; the topics covered are wide-ranging and build upon one another to provide a fluid read; and finally, it provides a 'one-stop shop' for an overview of the important but still nascent subject of climate-induced displacement."
David Adam Suzenski
New Global Studies
"...the splendid breadth of ethical, political, legal, economic and scientific perspectives offered is unusual for a law publication....Climate Change and Displacement generally succeeds because of the freshness and ambition of the contributors' approach, the clarity of their ideas, and their stimulation of informed thinking about this increasingly important subject...It is also exceptionally well edited and referenced, and reads easily. As with many books in the Hart Publishing stable, this one should appeal to a wide array of readers ..."
Benjamin J Richardson
Transnational Legal Theory
Jane McAdam is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC, and a Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford.
McAdam succeeds in the long-overdue endeavour to bring together all disciplines relevant to climate-induced displacement that so far have only been analysed and published separately. While reading the compilation of essays, the reader understands the 'full picture' and develops true understanding of the overall topic when he reads about an issue raised in one essay within a specific discipline that he can relate to another issue raised within another discipline… This paves the way for the necessary next step highlighted by McAdam: to interrelate the different perspectives and conduct true interdisciplinary research.
In addition to the multidisciplinary view, another great benefit of this book is the fact that most authors identify and describe misconceptions, wrong assumptions, dramatization and linguistic imprecision (the 'doomsday prophecies') without assuming the polarized 'defensive posture' described by Castles. This is of fundamental importance, since wrong basic assumptions, conceptual mistakes, and linguistic imprecision, as well as 'over scholarly' analysis, will necessarily lead all research and policy reactions in the wrong direction. Furthermore, the authors are very honest about identifying the restrictions of their research due to a lack of base research and respective evidence. In highlighting the many issues that require further research and how this could be achieved, the book encourages and indirectly contributes to the future development of the understanding of the relationship between climate change and displacement.
The endeavour of compiling multidisciplinary perspectives bears a major challenge: the reader will not necessarily have background knowledge of all disciplines. Therefore, the different essays need to be addressed to an audience of laymen, who neither are familiar with the discipline as such nor have any background knowledge on the particular topic addressed. All authors succeed in this by providing the reader with a clear overview of the relevant aspects, which is remarkable given the complex relationship between climate change and displacement.
Carolin Beverungen
Leiden Journal of International Law
Volume 25, 2012
Jane McAdam's collection of essays with its multidisciplinary approach is a welcome addition to the existing corpus of literature in the area. The contributors are leading experts in the field and their opinions are significant for guiding well-informed policy.
Climate Change and Displacement should be read by anyone interested in this area. The book provides a good understanding of existing legal regimes and institutions and their limitations. It considers innovative solutions that could be turned into international responses.
Ritumbra Manuvie
Climate Law
Volume 2, Number 4, 2011
... the book's main strength is its contextualisation and historicisation of migration and environmental change in the pacific islands.
The diversity of perspectives and the disagreements between contributors help to ensure that the book does fulfil its aim of providing 'considered, well-informed research' that does not 'oversimplify the cases of movement' (p. 4).
Given the multi-disciplinary nature of this book it will be of relevance to a wide audience of students and scholars of politics, geography, development studies, anthropology, law, psychology and public health. It will also be compelling reading for policy-makers, non-governmental organisations and activists who are seeking to understand the impact of climate change on people.
Nina Hall
Environmental Politics
April 2011
McAdam's multidisciplinary collection of essays on climate change and displacement is a welcome addition to a corpus of literature largely dominated by studies on the scientific underpinnings of climate change and on proposed mitigation strategies.
The chapters are concise, yet dense and engaging; the topics covered are wide-ranging and build upon one another to provide a fluid read; and finally, it provides a 'one-stop shop' for an overview of the important but still nascent subject of climate-induced displacement.
David Adam Suzenski
New Global Studies
Volume 5, Issue 1
Climate Change and Displacement...brings together a wide assortment of disciplinary perspectives on climate-induced displacement...the splendid breadth of ethical, political, legal, economic and scientific perspectives offered is unusual for a law publication.
Climate Change and Displacement generally succeeds because of the freshness and ambition of the contributors' approach, the clarity of their ideas, and their stimulation of informed thinking about this increasingly important subject. Although it is a relatively short book, at just 258 pages, it is dense it detail. It is also exceptionally well edited and referenced, and reads easily. As with many books in the Hart Publishing stable, this one should appeal to a wide array of readers, including seasoned scholars, students, policy
