Rethinking Environmentally Induced Displacement in the Global North

This research investigates how the environmentally induced displacement phenomenon is perceived in the Global North on the basis of the evidence gathered in in two Italian catatsrophes. An analysis on the environmental resources management and the vulnerability in Italy has been associated with a study over media coverage, political discourses and personal experiences about environmentally induced displacements following the two landslides in Sarno (1998) and Cerzeto (2005), highlighting the limits of the use of this concept. Moreover, this research illustrated how, contrarily to the current debate, the phenomenon is likely to occur both in the Global North and Global South contexts. The theoretical, political and media discourses and representations seem to be, in fact, mostly focused on specific geographical areas of the Global South. The motivations behind these different descriptions and narratives on the same concept are investigated, through geographical and political science tools. The findings of this research reveal a political agenda exploiting the debate to reinforce the power unbalance within the Global North and between the Global North and the Global South.