The Balkan Migration Route

The purpose of the chapter is to assess and link the issues of migration flows with the accession process of the Balkan countries and the European Union enlargement policy. The chapter argues that despite the recent changes in the EU commission's policy towards the candidate countries there is more to be done to foster the process and encourage domestic reforms in the countries. The chapter examines the process of migration along the Balkan migration route from 2001 till 2021 and its influence on the European Union policy and the policy of Balkan countries. The author links the issue of migration flows with the accession process of the Balkan countries, traces the connection between the issue of migration flows with the European Union enlargement, and analyzes the legal steps taken by the EU and the countries of the region in order to control the process of migration.

Linguistica Educativa e contesti migratori

The volume, produced within the framework of the COMMIT project “Fostering the Integration of Resettled Refugees in Croatia, Italy, Portugal and Spain”, concerns the current European situation, and in particular the teaching of L2 in its relations and interdisciplinary exchanges with other scientific fields dealing with migratory phenomena; therefore, starting from the COMMIT experience, it offers a wide perspective, going beyond the borders of the countries involved in the project and identifying good practices that can be replicated in different territorial and social contexts to ensure successful social inclusion of newly arrived citizens. COMMIT is a project funded by the European Commission (DG HOME), co-financed by the Ministry of Interior and the Project Partners and managed by the Mediterranean Coordination Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in Italy. The project was implemented in collaboration with the IOM Missions in Croatia, Portugal and Spain, together with the Communitas Consortium, the Adecco Foundation for Equal Opportunities and the University for Foreigners of Siena (UNISTRASI). The project activities were implemented from 1 January 2019 to 30 April 2021. The project, based on the idea that successful integration of resettled refugees occurs both by putting in place certain structural conditions and by promoting mutual exchange between resettled refugees and their host communities, aimed to support their integration into their new communities, with a special focus on women and young refugees as particularly vulnerable groups. A secure humanitarian migration route to the European Union launched in 2013 is targeted at refugees who are beneficiaries of resettlement. Several Member States, including Croatia, Italy, Portugal and Spain, have therefore established or strengthened their national resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes for resettled refugees of Syrian, Eritrean, Ethiopian or Sudanese origin. In preparation for resettlement, beneficiaries participate in a series of pre-departure cultural orientation activities. Among them, training in L2 language and culture plays a crucial role. The book hence tries to offer answers to the many challenges that characterise the field of language education in contexts marked by the presence of migrants from an interdisciplinary perspective. It provides for effective solutions for an inclusive language education, attentive to ‘vulnerable’ subjects, paying attention to the interweaving of complex individual, social, cultural and economic contexts, such as school and university training courses and reception and resettlement programmes in host societies. In particular, the current situation in Italy, regarding both teaching L2 in a school context and teaching modern languages to adult foreigners, is still lacking in interdisciplinary relations and exchanges between language teaching and other scientific fields dealing with migratory phenomena. However, in recent years a particular sensitivity and empathy towards linguistic and cultural contact have developed.

Building a Knowledge Base for the Model

In this chapter, after summarising the key conceptual challenges related to the measurement of asylum migration, we briefly outline the history of recent migration flows from Syria to Europe. This case study is intended to guide the development of a model of migration route formation, used throughout this book as an illustration of the proposed model-based research process. Subsequently, for the case study, we offer an overview of the available data types, making a distinction between the sources related to the migration processes, as well as to the context within which migration occurs. We then propose a framework for assessing different aspects of data, based on a review of similar approaches suggested in the literature, and this framework is subsequently applied to a selection of available data sources. The chapter concludes with specific recommendations for using the different forms of data in formal modelling, including in the uncertainty assessment.

Principles and State of the Art of Agent-Based Migration Modelling

Migration as an individual behaviour as well as a macro-level phenomenon happens as part of hugely complex social systems. Understanding migration and its consequences therefore necessitates adopting a careful analytical approach using appropriate tools, such as agent-based models. Still, any model can only be specific to the question it attempts to answer. This chapter provides a general discussion of the key tenets related to modelling complex systems, followed by a review of the current state of the art in the simulation modelling of migration. The subsequent focus of the discussion on the key principles for modelling migration processes, and the context in which they occur, allows for identifying the main knowledge gaps in the existing approaches and for providing practical advice for modellers. In this chapter, we also introduce a model of migration route formation, which is subsequently used as a running example throughout this book.

Citrine Wagtail migration on the Indo-European flyway: a first geolocator track reveals alternative migration route and endurance flights to cross ecological barriers

Most long-distance migrating passerines that breed in Europe spend their winters in Africa, with only a few species migrating eastward to spend the non-breeding period in South Asia. The use of the Indo-European flyway is rare and has been poorly studied so far. However, it is extremely interesting as within that system we are currently witnessing a recent range expansion of European breeding long distance migrants and thus the lengthening of migration routes. It may therefore conceal a unique migratory strategies and behaviour that can help us to understand the underlying factors and mechanisms determining the evolution of migration routes, strategies and breeding range extinction. Based on light-level geolocator we reveal a first track of the Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) migration, providing insight into the migration pattern, timing and behaviour of the species that recently has extended its migration routes. Unexpectedly, the studied individual did not retrace a recent range expansion that runs north and east from the Caspian Sea but followed a migration route running south form the Caspian sea, suggesting possible presence of an alternative species range expansion. The overall migration distance between the breeding site in Poland and the non-breeding site in Pakistan was about 10,420 km and included two endurance movement phases (920 and 2240 km) covering 30% of the whole journey length, with an average movement speed of 574 km/day. We explain this migration behaviour as an adaptation for crossing the ecological barriers imposed by arid environments.

The Genomic Prehistory of the Indigenous People of Uruguay

The prehistory of the people of Uruguay is greatly complicated by the dramatic and severe effects of European contact, as with most of the Americas. After the series of military campaigns that exterminated the last remnants of nomadic peoples, Uruguayan official history masked and diluted the former indigenous ethnic diversity into the narrative of a singular people that all but died out. Here we present the first whole genome sequences of the Indigenous people of the region before the arrival of Europeans, from an archaeological site in eastern Uruguay that dates from 2,000 years before present. We find a surprising connection to ancient individuals from Panama and eastern Brazil, but not to modern Amazonians. This result may be indicative of a distinct migration route into South America that may have occurred along the Atlantic coast. We also find a distinct ancestry previously undetected in South America. Though this work begins to piece together some of the demographic nuance of the region, the sequencing of ancient individuals from across Uruguay is needed to better understand the ancient prehistory and genetic diversity that existed before European contact, thereby helping to rebuild the history of the indigenous population of what is now Uruguay.

The population of Sanderling (Calidris alba) in 2020 Migration on the South Coast of Puger, Getem, Jember

Sanderling (Calidris alba) is a type of shorebird that migrates from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere. Indonesia is a migration route for East Asia-Australasia. The southern coastal area of the Jember Regency, one of the wetlands, especially in East Java, has become an air route and a stopover for shorebirds every year. The research objective was to determine the population of Sanderling (Calidris alba) on the southern coast of Puger and Getem, Jember Regency. Method of collecting encounter rates. Bird watching is carried out in the morning at 06.00-08.00 and in the afternoon at 15.30-17.30. Data recording includes species, number of birds, and other supporting data. Identification using the book by Mac Kinnon et al. (2010) and Bhushan, B., et al. (1993). Tools used for binocular observation, monocular, camera, and GPS. Data analysis used the density index for individual bird species using the formula method (Alikodra, 1990). The results of the study were a total of 445 individuals. Data analysis of Muara Sungai population density was the location with the four other survey locations' highest number.

Groping in the Fog: Soaring Migrants Exhibit Wider Scatter in Flight Directions and Respond Differently to Wind Under Low Visibility Conditions

Atmospheric conditions are known to affect flight propensity, behaviour during flight, and migration route in birds. Yet, the effects of fog have only rarely been studied although they could disrupt orientation and hamper flight. Fog could limit the visibility of migrating birds such that they might not be able to detect landmarks that guide them during their journey. Soaring migrants modulate their flight speed and direction in relation to the wind vector to optimise the cost of transport. Consequently, landmark-based orientation, as well as adjustments of flight speed and direction in relation to wind conditions, could be jeopardised when flying in fog. Using a radar system operated in a migration bottleneck (Strait of Messina, Italy), we studied the behaviour of soaring birds under variable wind and fog conditions over two consecutive springs (2016 and 2017), discovering that migrating birds exhibited a wider scatter of flight directions and responded differently to wind under fog conditions. Birds flying through fog deviated more from the mean migration direction and increased their speed with increasing crosswinds. In addition, airspeed and groundspeed increased in the direction of the crosswind, causing the individuals to drift laterally. Our findings represent the first quantitative empirical evidence of flight behaviour changes when birds migrate through fog and explain why low visibility conditions could risk their migration journey.

Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) abundance estimate from the 2019 ice-based survey

An ice-based visual survey of the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas stock of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) was conducted in spring 2019 near Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. A Horvitz-Thompson-type estimator is used to estimate population abundance from the resulting data, correcting for detection probabilities, whale availability within visual range, and whale passage during periods of missed effort. Analytical methods mirror those used by Givens et al. (2016) for the 2011 survey as much as possible; however, unlike 2011, no simultaneous acoustic monitoring was conducted in 2019, so the availability correction factor had to be estimated from past years. The estimated abundance was 12,505 with 95% confidence interval of (7,994, 19,560) and a CV of 0.228. This estimated abundance is markedly lower than the 2011 estimate of 16,820, but the 2019 confidence interval wholly encompasses the 2011 interval. We do not interpret this finding as evidence of a decline for many reasons including: highly unusual ice conditions, an unusual migration route that was sometimes too distant from observers to detect whales, failure to conduct watch because of closed leads during the early weeks of the migration when numerous whales likely passed, an unusually short perch, and hunters’ heavy use of powered skiffs near the observation perch which likely disturbed the whales during the survey. Furthermore, bowhead health assessment information for 2019 suggests that harvested bowheads did not exhibit obvious reductions in health condition, and aerial surveys in summer 2019 indicated high calf production (Stimmelmayr et al. 2020). Despite the challenges of the 2019 survey, the estimate is adequate for use with the International Whaling Commission’s management procedure and complies with the survey requirements of the Aboriginal Whaling Scheme.