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Environmental Causes and Impact of Refugee Movements: A Critique of the Current Debate
Author(s) -
Kibreab Gaim
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/1467-7717.00042
Subject(s) - refugee , state (computer science) , population , forced migration , displacement (psychology) , political science , poison control , suicide prevention , human factors and ergonomics , repetition (rhetorical device) , development economics , psychology , criminology , social psychology , sociology , environmental health , medicine , law , economics , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , psychotherapist
The relationships between insecurity, environmental change and population displacement are discussed in this paper. It argues that environmental change and concomitant population displacement are the consequences of war and insecurity rather than triggers for it — as postulated in so much of the recent literature. Additionally, the paper critically reviews the state of knowledge concerning the impact of refugees on the environment of host countries. The aim here is not to document the negative or positive impacts as such, but rather to de‐mythologise some aspects of the state of knowledge which through repetition have become accepted as ‘scientific truth’.