Climate (im-)mobility: Mariners and migrants in a Palestinian refugee community, Lebanon

This project examines climate (im-)mobility among impoverished Palestinian refugees turned inshore fishermen in Tyre (Lebanon). After years of overfishing, reef dynamiting, and pollution, fish stocks are declining, as are fishing incomes. The Mediterranean is a climate-change hotspot warming twenty percent faster than the global average, impacting marine life, with declining fish stocks and invasive species depleting incomes.

Conflict-induced migration triggered by the start of the Lebanese civil war (1975-90), offered legal access to Europe (Berlin, Germany). In the 1990s, new EU regulations made migration irregular using smugglers and brokers to reach Germany. Restrictions on family reunification increased irregular migration across new sea and land routes to Germany. Infrequent migrant remittances aid household viability, as do seasonal work in agriculture and day labouring for some.

The project uses mixed methods to account for the tenuous link between climate change and migration choice (behaviour). Environmental issues and hazards increase migration aspirations as do livelihood hardships and poverty (MIGNEX 2023: 154, 155).