Sustainable Migration: Balancing Development, Climate Change and Human Rights

Abstract

This article examines how sustainable migration can be conceptualised across major international policy documents at the intersection of migration governance, sustainable development, climate change, disaster risk reduction, and human rights. Although the term has gained increasing visibility, its meaning remains fragmented across institutional frameworks and policy domains. Using qualitative document analysis and Sustainable Development Goal index, ND-GAIN, and MIPEX indices, the article analyses this concept. The analysis focuses on how sustainability is framed in relation to development, climate change and human rights within these documents from the perspective of sustainable migration. The findings show that sustainable migration is not articulated through a single coherent model, but through three overlapping governance logics. First, a developmental-economic logic presents migrants as contributors to inclusive growth and development outcomes. Second, an adaptive-environmental logic links migration to climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, and long-term adaptation planning. Third, a protective-social logic emphasises integration, rights, and state obligations toward vulnerable populations. The article argues that sustainable migration serves as a bridging concept across international policy domains, yet remains normatively unsettled and institutionally incomplete. Greater conceptual clarity and an index are needed to measure and connect dimensions of sustainable migration.