What is the relationship between climate change and migration?
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain how migration and climate change are linked.
Key learning points
- Climate change refers to long-term changes in the Earth’s climate system. It is mostly caused by human activities.
- These changes can affect human health, food and water supplies, and people’s ability to live in certain areas.
- As a result, climate change is becoming a growing push factor for migration, forcing people to leave their homes.
- Some people migrate temporarily or permanently within their own country, while others cross international borders.
- Climate refugees are not recognised by law. Many face difficulties with migration, such as a lack of legal protection.
Keywords
Climate change - the long-term changes in the Earth's weather patterns and temperatures, often caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation and pollution
Migration - the movement of people from one place to another, for example, moving from one country to another
Common misconception
Anyone forced to leave their home because of a risk to life is automatically recognised as a refugee and protected by international law.
People who migrate due to environmental reasons are not currently recognised as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention. That law only protects people fleeing persecution based on, for example, race, religion, nationality, political opinion.
Teacher tip
Encourage pupils to look into more examples, like Kiribati, to help them connect emotionally and critically with the topic, for instance, Tuvalu. These examples make abstract issues like legal recognition and climate migration more relatable, encouraging deeper discussion and empathy.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1. is when people move from one place to another to live.
Q2.Which of these is a reason why people might migrate?
Q3.What type of migration happens when people move within the same country?
Q4.Put these types of migration in order from smallest distance to largest.
Q5.Match the type of migration to the correct example.
a family moves from Brazil to Spain
a family leaves home due to war
a person moves abroad for better leisure opportunities
Q6.What is one possible consequence of climate change for people living near the coast?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the word or phrase to its definition.
long-term changes in Earth's weather patterns, often caused by humans
the movement of people, e.g., moving from one country to another
gases in the Earth's atmosphere that trap heat, warming the Earth
Q2.Climate change is mostly caused by human activities such as burning fossil , deforestation and pollution.
Q3.Which of these is a push factor linked to climate change?
Q4.What type of refugee does the 1951 Refugee Convention not recognise?
Q5.Put these stages of a possible climate migration journey into the correct order.
Q6.What is one difficulty that climate migrants may face after moving to a new place?
To help you plan your 9 citizenship lesson on: What is the relationship between climate change and migration?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 citizenship lesson on: What is the relationship between climate change and migration?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 citizenship lessons from the Why do people move around the world? unit, dive into the full secondary citizenship curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.