The need for a systems approach to better understand the linkages between natural resources and human (im)mobility

To date, much of the climate change literature express alarmist and groundless narratives. This includes simple linkages between natural resource loss, forced migration and violent conflict mediated through climate change, or attribution of natural resource decline to climate change, that rather relates to mismanagement, governance, and politics. There is also a mobility-bias where natural resource impacts upon immobile or ‘trapped’ people often get overlooked. More systems approach studies could widen our understanding of how the natural environment ties into people’s decisions to move or stay. In this article, we build on case study examples to propose how a systems approach can be a way forward to investigate the relationship between natural resources and human (im)mobility. We believe that the value of a systems lens is that it serves as a flexible, holistic, and effective way to identify policy interventions points and existing research gaps.