Towards a global ecology of migration: an introduction to climatic-environmental migration

With this paper we set out to provide an introduction of the subject: this includes a general review of relevant publications and a brief analysis of global scenarios. The second part of the paper gives a general interpretation of the issue, using a historical-social procedural method, of the global ecology of migrations. The ecological approach is based on the need to integrate the geographical and the historical aspects of the subject, and to consider both local and global dimensions. The authors examine the subject of climatic-environmental migration up to the present day, demonstrating the complex relations between environmental and geopolitical issues as determiners of migratorial phenomena. An analysis of the relations between climatic-environmental migration and urban dynamics draws the reader’s attention to certain problematic areas and potential vicious circles, most notably the problem of urban gigantism, especially in river delta areas, in African and Asiatic cities. We conclude with an introduction of the five papers of the theme section.