Speaker:David Durand-De lacre
Visiting Assistant Professor - United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
Speaker:
David Durand-De
lacre
Visiting Assistant Professor - United Nations University
Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
Talk title:
Human Mobilities in a Changing Climate
<
b>Reflections on the
persistent challenges in defining\, representing\, and acting on “climate m
igration”
Climate change and migration are two prominent su
bjects of intense concern occupying public and political debate today. Sinc
e the mid-1980s\, a growing academic and policy literature has sought to ch
aracterise the relationship between them. From the outset\, this literature
grappled with major conceptual\, practical\, and political questions. What
is the causal relationship linking climate change to migration? Where is c
limate migration occurring? What responses do identified cases of climate m
igration call for\, and what principles should guide interventions? In this
talk\, I argue that the answers to these questions remain elusive due to p
ersistent conceptual and political ambiguities: any conversation about clim
ate migration inevitably leads to other conversations about a host of relat
ed social\, economic\, political and cultural challenges and competing acto
r priorities. Mention climate migration\, and inevitably you will find your
self arguing about existing migration policies\, related human rights viola
tions\, colonial history\, land rights\, the failures and biases of develop
ment policy\, and much more depending on the context. In short\, “climate m
igration” is a difficult concept to define\, a difficult phenomenon to repr
esent\, and a problematic starting point for formulating policy\, let alone
designing practical responses\, even as it points to real events and chall
enges. To illustrate these points\, I draw on my PhD thesis - which explore
d French international development and international solidarity actors’ cli
mate migration discourses\, policies\, and projects – and subsequent work I
have done at the United Nations University engaging with researchers\, jou
rnalists\, policymakers\, and activist networks.
Speaker bio:
I am a human geographer and critical migration scholar inter
ested in the political\, cultural\, and epistemological controversies arisi
ng from growing concern about climate change’s impact on human mobilities.
I situate my work broadly within mobilities studies\, social sciences of cl
imate change\, and geographies of knowledge. My PhD research (2018-2022) fo
cused on how knowledge about climate mobilities is produced\, debated\, and
communicated across academia\, government\, civil society\, and the news m
edia in France\, allowing me to identify conceptual and political obstacles
hindering action on climate mobilities. I am particularly interested in th
e challenging work of translating knowledge between the worlds of academia\
, development practice\, and policy-making\, especially through non-convent
ional or creative means like “serious games” and interactive workshops.
This is hybrid event hosted in Geog 229 and on zoom.
[buttons][button link_text="Zoom link" link_url="https://ubc. zoom.us/j/66932229867?pwd=jBmaKW852xYSfbF8Wt7VXQXb4mSdBd.1"][/buttons]
< p> CATEGORIES:Featured Events LOCATION:Geography building GEO:49.266015;-123.256221 URL;VALUE=URI:https://geog.ubc.ca/events/event/geography-colloquium-series- david-durand-delacre/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://geog.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/12/GEOG-Colloquium-David-Durand-Delacre-Apr-8-2025-X.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 DTSTART:20250309T100000 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR