As the evidence ofglobal climate change has accumulated, academics, policymakers, and the media have given more attention to migration as a result of environmental change. A major concern is whether climate change will displace large numbers of vulnerable people around the world.

This Population Bulletin issue explores the relationship between migration and the environment and highlights recent research. This research uses new approaches to link demographic, social, and environmental science methods, enabling researchers to more explicitly link people to the environment on which they depend. This linking, combined with following people over time, permits researchers to determine how environmental change contributes to people’s mobility and how migration results in environmental change.  The research suggests that the popular narrative of “environmental refugees” is oversimplified and inaccurate.