How do population movements fit within the framework of systemic risk?

Abstract

Population movements are key elements shaping today's complex and interconnected societies. Movement of people underpins the circulation of capital, knowledge, ideas, culture, values and resources with systemic benefits but it also produces diverse risk implications. The varied and complex implications of human mobility (and immobility) are still poorly understood by existing systemic risk approaches. This literature review approaches human mobility from a more comprehensive and complex standpoint to understand how it fits within a wider framework of systemic risk.In this article, we explore the complementary ways in which movements matter for systemic risk considerations, namely as: 1) a dynamic force that shapes exposure, vulnerability and resilience to disasters across places and scales; 2) a feature and consequence of disasters that has the potential to amplify, extend and prolong the impacts of hazards, and 3) a lifeline for people and societies worldwide, whose disruption has significant implications on systemic risk globally.These considerations have important theoretical consequences for the integration of population movements in systemic risk frameworks, and they propose practical lessons learned for the disaster risk reduction arena. We conclude that human mobility should not be understood as a negative impact that must be prevented and mitigated but as a positive phenomenon which enablement and protection a will lead to positive resilience outcomes and the reduction of risks.

Keywords

• Population movements
• Systemic risk
• Cascading impacts
• Human mobility outcomes