Environment and migration experts: Who are they, and what are their views?

There is an increasing understanding of the phenomenon of environmental migration, while less is known about the experts who directly or indirectly drive the policy development. This policy brief reports on an online questionnaire of 262 such experts, which aims to understand the environment and migration experts and their perceptions of environmental migration. The authors assume that policy is not only based on objective assessment of the issue, but also influenced by the knowledge, values, beliefs, assumptions, cultural contexts and activities of people involved in its development. At a milestone moment when, after a long period of research and debate, environmental migration is being formalized on policy agendas, the authors ask: What are the characteristics of experts? How do they define environmental migration, and what policies do they support? Knowing the answers to these questions can aid policy formation and, importantly, evaluation of policies and programmes addressing environmental migration, as well as self-evaluation and critical reflection among those involved