Global Networks

Understanding Globalization

“Globalization could be the answer to many of the world’s seemingly intractable problems. But this requires strong democratic foundation based on political will to ensure equity and justice.” – Sharran Burrow

     Clearly, one of the goals of globalization is for the world to become more interdependent. People and countries of the world are closely woven together especially in the economic aspect. Globalization is the most powerful source for change in the world today affecting all societies in the planet. It entails movement of capital, free flow of goods and services, the increased mobility of individuals, and the expansion of multinational corporations and transnational organizations.

Globalization and Migration

     The issue of globalization is linked with migration and with movement of capital and commodities.

     Migration is said to be as old as human civilizations, and there is clear proof that globalization is inextricably related to it. The growing demand for laborers of the most capitalist countries precipitated the migration of many families from the unprivileged communities.

     According to estimates, more or less 20% of the labor force in the Philippines want to leave the country in search for a job abroad. Some of them become victims of illegal recruitment and human trafficking.

What is Migration?

     National Geographic defines human migration as the movement of people from one territory to another for the purpose of taking up either a permanent or temporary residence.

People migrate for various reasons. The reasons may fall under four categories:

1. environmental
2. political
3. cultural
4. economic

Within these categories, National Geographic categorized them as “push” and “pull” factors of migration.

Push factors – are those that motivate people to move from one place to another because of difficulty, such as food shortage, war, flood, etc.

Pull factors – are those that motivate people to move their place to another place simply because of some desirable reasons such as nicer climate, better food supply, freedom and others.

Types of Migration

• Internal Migration – this is defined as the process where migrants look for a new residence within their own country, state, or continent.
• External Migration – moving in a different country, state or continent to a new residence
• Migration – leaving one country to move to another
• Immigration – moving into a new country
• Forced Migration – this happens when the state or authorities forced its people to migrate for a reason

2. Migration, Globalization and Climate Change

The first half-decade of the twenty-first century has been characterized by incidents of disaster that brought about massive human suffering. Regardless of location, humanity is threatened by hazards of many types. The World’s Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) shows that hazardous events have been on the rise around the world, which include natural and technological hazards: drought, earthquakes, epidemics, extreme temperature, famine, floods, insect manifestations, landslides, volcanic eruption, waves/surges, wildfires, and windstorms.

Natural calamities like earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and floods have brought varying degrees of devastation around the world. The global consciousness that climate change may represent one of the most significant threats of the near future has stimulated humanity’s collective interest in disaster.

“Migration, forced or otherwise, will undoubtedly be one of the most significant consequences of environmental degradation and climate change in decades to come.” – Achim Steiner

Ecological migrants are compelled to relinquish their belongings and escape for their lives in the fallout of typhoons, tidal waves, tremors and other grave calamities. They are displaced people who are compelled to leave their homes. They are the ‘new’ poor people and the most defenseless in the midst of calamities which are getting more violent because of climate change.

250 million people are permanently displaced by climate change-related phenomena, such as floods, droughts, famines, and hurricanes.

In the Asian regions, disasters emanating from natural and technological hazards have occurred with increasing frequency, impacting greater number of people and financial losses. In the past ten years alone, Asia had been hit by strong earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons that resulted to the loss of thousands of lives, and left ens of thousands homeless and in anguish.

Global ecological and environmental movements have rightly observed that a new poor called climate refugees or environmental refugees emerges out of this situation. They are the people who had been internally displaced, not because of war, but by disasters

In 2005, Glen Albrecht created the term “solastalgia,” consolidating solacium (comfort), nostos (return home), and algos (torment) – the misery, dejection, or tension brought about by modified situations. He believes that the level of pain an individual or a group encounters is associated with the loss of an endemic feeling of place.