Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of climate change on forced migration and population displacement in the period to 2050.

There is increasing consensus among experts and academics that climate change will influence the factors that drive migration, changing both migration patterns and the volume of people likely to move, but the relationship is complex. The UK’s Foresight Report (2011) on Migration and Global Environmental Change found that environmental change will affect migration. Through resilience programming DFID is working to support countries, communities and households to anticipate and avoid shocks and stresses where possible, and to adapt when their current activities are no longer appropriate or threatened with collapse due to changing circumstances.