The proposed research delves into the emerging definitions proposed by international agencies for environmental migration and climate migration, which have gained significance in the last two decades amidst the global acceleration and intensification of the effects of climate change and human mobility.International migration data shows a steady rise in the absolute number of people moving from one country to another for various reasons. Within this movement, the number of people recognized by international agencies as refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, or internally displaced persons has steadily increased in the last two decades, with a significant acceleration since 2011.The proposed research has three main objectives. The first one is to reconstruct the international debate on these definitions. The second aim is to understand if these definitions are sufficient to understand the current migrations related to environmental changes from the point of view of the political ecology, who traditionally focuses on the structural forces underlying ecological degradation. The third aim is to understand if a political ecology of migrations approach, based on a politicization of the issue of migration within socio-environmental changes, is useful to better understand the relationships between climate and environmental changes and human mobility and migration.

Some suggested skills for a candidate working on the proposed research project are the following: Knowledge of political ecology theory and concepts, including critical analysis of the relationships between power, society, and the environment; knowledge of migration studies, including an understanding of the different theoretical approaches to migration, and familiarity with current debates and policies related to migration; ability to conduct field research and engage with different communities, including marginalized populations affected by environmental degradation and climate change. The knowledge of English is sufficient to conduct the proposed research.

The project proposer, Gennaro Avallone, is a member of the international network Agromig, which comprises researchers working on sustainable agriculture and migrant labor in agriculture. He is also a member of the inter-university center “Politics, Ontology, Ecology”, which coordinates researchers focused on political ecology. Furthermore, Gennaro Avallone has translated the works of Jason W. Moore, the leading proponent of the world-ecology approach, into Italian and benefits from a close association with the international Network of World-Ecology researchers, who primarily study the links between climate change and socio-political change.