Solidarity and Security : International and Swedish Preparedness for Climate Induced Migration in a Warming World

Abstract: Migration due to climate change has been going on for millennia, and societies´ resilience will be put to pressure even more with an accelerating global warming.22, 5 million people have left their homes due to climate change since 2008, according to the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, 2017). All of these people are not recognized as refugees, but some of them will most likely seek refuge abroad. The aim of this Master´s thesis is to explore how the UN, the EU, and Sweden understand and analyse the phenomenon of climate induced migration from a geopolitical aspect. It is furthermore to explore the institution´s preparedness through analysing the suggested measurements they utilise today and recognize a need for the future. Applying a human security perspective, this thesis aims at exploring the following two questions; what views and perspectives of climate induced migration exist in the UN, the EU and among Swedish authorities, and what legal, technical, economic or other measures do they respond with to meet climate induced migration? The results confirm that there is a consensus among the institutions that climate change will lead to cross-border migration to some extent but the preparedness for it is inadequate in terms of available measurements.