Each-for EU Project - Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios

EACH-FOR is a two year long research project within the frames of FP6 (Priority 8.1 - Policy-oriented research) of the European Commission.

'Forced migration' is a movement in which an element of coercion exists, including threats to life and livelihood, whether arising from natural or man-made causes (e.g. movements of refugees and internally displaced persons). The changes of natural and human-made environment will probably be the most significant factors among the causes of forced migration. It is essential to get accurate information about the current and future triggers of forced migration in each country of origin and within Europe itself.

GOALS of EACH-FOR:
Its goal is to support European policies, research and the civil society with 'forced migration' scenarios, and cooperate with other migration and environment degradation related projects and institutions by:
1.) Identifying direct and indirect links contributing to forced migration focusing on the interpretation and integration of existing forced migration research
2.) Investigating correlations between migration and environmental degradation
3.)Producing a series of case studies investigating the correlation between environmental degradation and migration patterns
4.) Analysing, synthesising and forecasting environmental degradation processes as they affect migration
5.) Developing detailed and aggregated forced migration scenarios on the basis of interdisciplinary analysis of local and regional environmental, economic, political and social processes.

OBJECTIVES of EACH-FOR:
The objectives of the EACH-FOR project are twofold:
1.) To discover and describe the causes of forced migration in relation to environmental degradation/change and their association with other social, political and economic phenomena in Europe and in the main countries of migration origin
2.) To provide plausible future scenarios of environmentally-induced forced migration

METHODS of EACH-FOR:
The study of the causes is a multidisciplinary and multisectoral process. The list of methodological tools contains all traditional elements of research from primary data collection (semi-structured expert interviews, semi-structured field interviews, migrant questionnaires, non-migrant questionnaires) via statistical analysis and environmental evaluation to modelling.

CASE STUDIES of EACH-FOR:
The studied cases are selected from the following regions: Europe and Russia, NIS and Central Asia, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana, Middle East and Northern Africa, Latin America.

OUTPUTS of EACH-FOR:
The project will produce detailed sub-region or country level forced migration scenarios, including environmental refugees; presentation of causes leading to forced migration, with focus on environmental concerns; and an online running "environment degradation caused forced migration" simulation model for demonstration and policy purposes.