Linking climate change, environmental degradation, and migration: a methodological overview

Empirical research focusing on the links between climate change, environmental degradation, and forced migration has risen significantly in recent years and uses an impressive variety of methods. The present article suggests a typology identifying six research method families: ecological inference based on area characteristics, individual sample surveys, time series, multilevel analysis, agent-based modeling (ABM), and qualitative/ethnographic studies. The main technical features and empirical results of each family of methods are presented and critically discussed. We conclude by calling for a coordinated international effort to improve the quality and variety of data that could be used with existing research methods and significantly improve our understanding of the migration-environment nexus. (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. WIREs Clim Change 2010 1 517-524