Understanding Climate Migration Across the Rural–Urban Continuum | Benoy, Liby & Sheetal

Описание: Climate change is no longer a distant threat - it is reshaping lives, livelihoods, and migration pathways across India today.

This panel discussion was recorded during the workshop on Changing the Narrative on Climate Change and Labour Migration in India, hosted by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) as part of the CLAPs (Climate Change and Local Adaptation Pathways) programme. The session focuses on climate-induced migration across the rural–urban continuum, moving beyond statistics to center lived experiences, storytelling, and grounded perspectives.

Panelists:
Benoy Peter - Executive Director, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID)
Liby Johnson - Executive Director, Gram Vikas
Sheetal Patil - Lead - Academics & Research, IIHS

Together, the panel explores:

1. How climate stressors such as drought, agrarian distress, and livelihood loss drive migration the blurred boundaries between rural and urban migration pathways gendered and social dimensions of climate migration why dominant data-driven narratives often fail to capture lived realities.

2. The importance of ethical, people-centered storytelling in climate communication.

3. How climate impacts intersect with labour, mobility, and social vulnerability.

This conversation marks a shift from numbers and models to human stories, emphasizing the need for just, inclusive, and grounded climate narratives—especially for policymakers, researchers, journalists, filmmakers, and development practitioners.

Chapter Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction & Session Context
Overview of the Climate Narrative Change Workshop and focus on climate migration across the rural–urban continuum.

01:40 – Why We Need New Climate Narratives
Moving beyond data and models toward storytelling and lived experience.

05:10 – Understanding Climate Migration Beyond Numbers
Framing migration as a process shaped by livelihoods, mobility, and structural inequalities.

09:45 – Migration, Labour & Inclusion (Benoy Peter – CMID)
Climate stress, labour precarity, informal work, and why migration cannot be reduced to displacement alone.

18:30 – Rural Livelihoods, Climate Stress & Community Responses (Liby Johnson – Gram Vikas)
How climate change reshapes rural economies, adaptation at the community level, and the limits of resilience narratives.

30:20 – The Rural–Urban Continuum Explained
Why rural and urban spaces cannot be viewed separately in climate migration discussions.

38:10 – Agriculture, Mobility & Climate Risk (Sheetal Patil – IIHS)
Changing agrarian systems, seasonal mobility, and the everyday decisions households make under climate pressure.

48:40 – Gender, Care Work & Invisible Migration
How climate impacts women differently and why their migration stories remain underrepresented.

57:30 – Ethics of Climate Storytelling
Who tells migration stories, whose voices are amplified, and the risks of extractive narratives.

1:05:20 – Policy Gaps & the Limits of Current Frameworks
Why existing climate and migration policies fail to reflect lived realities on the ground.

1:12:10 – Reframing Climate Migration for Justice
Connecting migration narratives to just transition, dignity, and rights-based approaches.

1:18:40 – Reflections, Key Takeaways & Closing Thoughts
What needs to change in climate communication, research, and practice going forward.

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