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Title: Understanding climate-induced migration through computational modeling: A critical overview with guidance for future efforts

Abstract

Climate change has the potential to displace large populations in many parts of the developed and developing world. Understanding why, how, and when environmental migrants decide to move is critical to successful strategic planning within organizations tasked with helping the affected groups, and mitigating their systemic impacts. One way to support planning is through the employment of computational modeling techniques. Models can provide a window into possible futures, allowing planners and decision makers to test different scenarios in order to understand what might happen. While modeling is a powerful tool, it presents both opportunities and challenges. This paper builds a foundation for the broader community of model consumers and developers by: providing an overview of pertinent climate-induced migration research, describing some different types of models and how to select the most relevant one(s), highlighting three perspectives on obtaining data to use in said model(s), and the consequences associated with each. It concludes with two case studies based on recent research that illustrate what can happen when ambitious modeling efforts are undertaken without sufficient planning, oversight, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Lastly, we hope that the broader community can learn from our experiences and apply this knowledge to their own modeling research efforts.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
  2. Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
Work for Others (WFO); USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1338483
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation; Journal ID: ISSN 1548-5129
Publisher:
Society for Modeling and Simulation International
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; research process; migration; model selection; climate induced migration; model; simulation; future planning

Citation Formats

Till, Charlotte, Haverkamp, Jamie, White, Devin, and Bhaduri, Budhendra. Understanding climate-induced migration through computational modeling: A critical overview with guidance for future efforts. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1177/1548512916679038.
Till, Charlotte, Haverkamp, Jamie, White, Devin, & Bhaduri, Budhendra. Understanding climate-induced migration through computational modeling: A critical overview with guidance for future efforts. United States. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548512916679038
Till, Charlotte, Haverkamp, Jamie, White, Devin, and Bhaduri, Budhendra. Tue . "Understanding climate-induced migration through computational modeling: A critical overview with guidance for future efforts". United States. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548512916679038. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1338483.
@article{osti_1338483,
title = {Understanding climate-induced migration through computational modeling: A critical overview with guidance for future efforts},
author = {Till, Charlotte and Haverkamp, Jamie and White, Devin and Bhaduri, Budhendra},
abstractNote = {Climate change has the potential to displace large populations in many parts of the developed and developing world. Understanding why, how, and when environmental migrants decide to move is critical to successful strategic planning within organizations tasked with helping the affected groups, and mitigating their systemic impacts. One way to support planning is through the employment of computational modeling techniques. Models can provide a window into possible futures, allowing planners and decision makers to test different scenarios in order to understand what might happen. While modeling is a powerful tool, it presents both opportunities and challenges. This paper builds a foundation for the broader community of model consumers and developers by: providing an overview of pertinent climate-induced migration research, describing some different types of models and how to select the most relevant one(s), highlighting three perspectives on obtaining data to use in said model(s), and the consequences associated with each. It concludes with two case studies based on recent research that illustrate what can happen when ambitious modeling efforts are undertaken without sufficient planning, oversight, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Lastly, we hope that the broader community can learn from our experiences and apply this knowledge to their own modeling research efforts.},
doi = {10.1177/1548512916679038},
journal = {Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Nov 22 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Tue Nov 22 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

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