CSH Talk by Rainer Münz “Climate Change, Displacement, and Migration: What do We Know?”

Rainer Münz (CEU) will present a talk on Thursday, November 23rd, from 3 – 4 PM in the Salon.

Title: Climate Change, Displacement, and Migration: What do We Know?   

Abstract:

On the climate side the evidence is clear: surface as well as sea water temperatures are rising globally at a considerable pace; and the number of natural disasters has been increasing over the past decades.

On the one hand, this leads to disaster-related displacement affecting tens of millions of people. On the other hand, the gradual degradation of livelihoods leads to long-term mobility.

The lecture will assess and discuss the multiple ways in which climate and environmental change can influence mobility and international migration of people at risk. It will be shown that – in contrast to the effects of sudden environmental shocks and disasters – the implications of gradual (slow-onset) environmental degradation induced by climate change on internal mobility, displacement, and cross-border movement are more complex to assess, quantify, and predict.

The lecture is based on a survey carried out by the lecturer covering about 100 empirical studies and data sources assessing the impact of extreme weather and climate change on human mobility.

Bio:

Rainer Münz is an expert in Demography and international migration teaching at the Department of Public Policy, Central European University.

Between 2015 and 2019 he was Adviser on Migration and Demography to European Commission President J.C. Juncker during his time in office. In 2020-21 he worked at the Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography (JRC-KCMD) of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy.

Prior to joining the European Commission, Rainer Münz was – between 2005 and 2015 – Head of Research and Development at Erste Bank, a Central European retail bank headquartered in Vienna. He also worked as Senior Fellow at the European macro-economic think tank Bruegel (Brussels), the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) and at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI, Washington DC).

Until 2004, Rainer Münz had an academic career as researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1980-1992, and at the Department of Mathematics of Finance/ TU Vienna, 2002-2004, as well as a tenured university professor at Humboldt University, Berlin, 1993-2003. He also was visiting professor at the Universities of Bamberg, UC Berkeley, AU Cairo, Frankfurt/M., HU Jerusalem, Klagenfurt, St. Gallen (HSG), Vienna and Zurich.

Between 2015 and 2019, he was chair of Migration Advisory Board of the UN Organisation on International Migration (IOM). Currently he is one of the chairs of the World Bank’s Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development trust fund (KNOMAD). He also is member of the Experts Council on Integration advising the Austrian government.

Contact: rainer.muenz54@gmail.com