The intensity and pace of climate change is a source of concern worldwide. Weather-related events are taking an increasingly heavy and obvious toll, pressing policy-makers to act decisively to safeguard natural resources and to protect populations from harm.
Against this backdrop, it has become routine for the public discourse to associate climate change and its impacts with migration and mobility. In Europe and the global north in general, climate change is often perceived as precipitating a new stage of large-scale mobility from developing countries. The occurrence of floods, droughts and other natural disasters and the resulting population displacement, contributes to cement the assumption that climate change and mobility are two sides of the same coin.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is facing severe climate risks. In fact, scientific projections indicate that the region is warming up faster than the global average, exposing local populations to a series of threats directly and indirectly associated with climate change. However, the migration and mobility implications of this phenomenon have been contentious. Indeed, measuring climate mobility is fraught with challenges, from assessing people’s propensity to migrate to identifying obstacles to movement.
This study aims to consider the various perceptions and narratives surrounding climate mobility in three different countries: Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Based on key stakeholder interviews, this work aims to provide policy-makers with pointers to understand how the public discussion on the climate mobility nexus is progressing in these countries. The research focuses on exposing people’s perceptions of climate impacts and how these perceptions shape decision-making mechanisms related to mobility. In doing so it aims to uncover the complex and singular realities that current reporting on climate mobility tends to mask.
