CIESIN director Alex de Sherbinin chaired the organizing committee for the MR2025 conference from 16-18 June, which had a combined in-person and online attendance of more than 500 academics, practitioners, and community activists. This was the fourth in a series of biennial conferences since 2019 addressing topics around mobility and resilience in a changing climate that were formerly the Managed Retreat conferences. This State of the Planet article addresses the reason for the shift in focus.
Dr. de Sherbinin and CIESIN associate research scientist Fabien Cottier each presented recent research under a Department of Defense Minerva project comparing the drivers of international migration from Central America and West Africa. Dr. Cottier also presented ongoing work in India on the drivers of rural-to-urban migration, with a focus on drought impacts. Senior Information Specialist Xiaoshi Xing also presented a web mapping tool on urban climate impacts which is being developed in association with the Urban Climate Change Research Network.
Looking back at the conference, de Sherbinin said "It's really gratifying to see how this community of researchers has grown, and how the field has matured in just six years. People have developed so many collaborations out of this conference, and younger researchers have found great inspiration for their careers." This year's conference was organized with the support of the Global Centre for Climate Mobility, with whom CIESIN has collaborated for more than five years, and the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change.
For the conference program and more information, visit https://adaptation.climate.columbia.edu/.
