According to Bogumil Terminski it seems reasonable to distinguish the general category of environmental migrants from the more specific (subordinate to it) category of environmental refugees.

Environmental migrants, therefore, are persons making a short-lived, cyclical, or longerterm change of residence, of a voluntary or forced character, due to specific environmental factors. Environmental refugees form a specific type of environmental migrant.

Environmental refugees, therefore, are persons compelled to spontaneous, short-lived, cyclical, or longer-term changes of residence due to sudden or gradually worsening changes in environmental factors important to their living, which may be of either a short-term or an irreversible character.

According to Norman Myers environmental refugees are “people who can no longer gain a secure livelihood in their homelands because of drought, soil erosion, desertification, deforestation and other environmental problems, together with associated problems of population pressures and profound poverty”.

These cites are home to tens of millions of people, most of whom are oblivious to the fact that climate change is creeping up on them.

Thanks, Betsy, for the informative post.

More resources need to be directed toward 1. determining the impact and 2. developing plans for mitigating that impact.

Institutions like the Rockefeller foundation have realized this & have committed significant money toward those objectives.

It’s a good start, but more is required.

Things are getting serious with this matter.

Some countries which are expected to face an inevitable situation, regarding migration, in over less than a century from now are certain Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Tuvalu, Marshall Islands etc. who are already seeking to buy land in other countries for their threatened populations but receiving paltry response in return.