How Climate Change Makes Migrants
How Climate Change Makes Migrants
Climate change makes migrants, but we don’t always see it that way. That was takeaway of our #HOTM Twitter chat about this Heat of the Moment story about two Honduran brothers forced to make tough decisions in the face of drought.
Our guest hosts were climate change advisor Cassie Flynn of the United Nations Development Program and reporter Julia Kumari-Drapkin of community weather journal iSeeChange. Catch up below and send any other questions you have to @cassie_flynn and @juliakumari.
Here’s what they had to say:
On the physical impacts of climate change in Latin America
A1 Ecologic impacts - smaller yields of major crops like corn, #sealevelrise on coasts, #droughts in #Amazon #HOTM pic.twitter.com/3vfSbZEOCB
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
A1 Glacial ice that took 1,600 years to form in the Andes has melted in the last 25 years #HOTM @WBEZ @UNDP pic.twitter.com/IlRHpUOYh1
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
A1 Economic impacts that affect major sectors like #agriculture & #tourism and reduce incomes and increase #inequality #HOTM @WBEZ @UNDP
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
And the people-based ones
A1 Economic impacts that affect major sectors like #agriculture & #tourism and reduce incomes and increase #inequality #HOTM @WBEZ @UNDP
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
A3 #Climatechange erodes the stability of people’s livelihoods & makes them more vulnerable to longterm impacts & #shocks #HOTM @WBEZ @UNDP
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
A3 it hits the poorest the hardest. 4 example, when a storm hits they have the fewest resources to recover #HOTM pic.twitter.com/481LuKR39q
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
A3 #climate impacts can wipe out #water, #food, #land, #forests, #fish that people depend on. Keeps them in #poverty. #HOTM @WBEZ @UNDP
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
On climate refugees
@WBEZ @Refugees A4 #HOTM, hard 2say #, but definitely increasing. Since 2009, est. 22.5M avg per/yr people on the move bc of #wx#climate
— Julia Kumari Drapkin (@juliakumari) August 31, 2016
@WBEZ @Refugees A4 #HOTM, as we saw in the story, there are 2 kinds of migration after a #wx#climate event, internal and external.
— Julia Kumari Drapkin (@juliakumari) August 31, 2016
And why it’s so hard to define them
@juliakumari How might climate refugees differ from conflict or disease refugees? #HOTM
— Matt Zhou (@yang85225) August 31, 2016
@WBEZ A4 #HOTM, @Refugees is authorized to aid w/internally displaced people, we see that after big nat disasters -earthquakes, tsunami, etc
— Julia Kumari Drapkin (@juliakumari) August 31, 2016
@WBEZ @Refugees A4 #HOTM, if displacement is external bc of #wx#climate disasters, migrants may not meet definition of refugee,
— Julia Kumari Drapkin (@juliakumari) August 31, 2016
@WBEZ A2 #HOTM:to Honduran migrants, drought =“an economic problem,”not #climate which may be why we’re missing the links btw the 2 issues
— Julia Kumari Drapkin (@juliakumari) August 31, 2016
On what migration might look like in the future
@WBEZ A6 #HOTM if small scale rural farming collapses in Central America, we will see more migration to US
— Julia Kumari Drapkin (@juliakumari) August 31, 2016
@WBEZ A6 #HOTM if small scale rural farming collapses in Central America, we will see more migration to US
— Julia Kumari Drapkin (@juliakumari) August 31, 2016
@WBEZ A6#HOTM On #climate migration, will watch for more people pulses &other exps., like the Eritreans&Ethiopians crossing Mediterranean
— Julia Kumari Drapkin (@juliakumari) August 31, 2016
And what future policies we can expect
With Isle De Jean Charles (LA.) residents receiving a govt. grant to relocate, will grants be a #sustainable policy for US, or others? #HOTM
— Marc Hertz (@mhertz) August 31, 2016
@mhertz Costs of relocation can be very high in the US and other countries. This is a key issue for governments in the @UNFCCC negotiations
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
A5 Over 190 countries committed action in #ParisAgreement in 2015 that launched a new era of cooperation. #HOTM pic.twitter.com/HT3SHPy4xd
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
A5 #ParisAgreement preamble mentions migrants & calls for recommendations to address displacement from #climatechange. #HOTM @UNDP @WBEZ
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
A5 #ParisAgreement preamble mentions migrants & calls for recommendations to address displacement from #climatechange. #HOTM @UNDP @WBEZ
— Cassie Flynn (@cassie_flynn) August 31, 2016
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