migration – Climate Justice Now

Migrant Climate Activism

Francesca Von Krauland Global Future, Uncategorized November 18, 2020November 18, 2020activism, capitalism, climate change, migration, refugees

In my last blog, I discussed the ways that climate change increases migration rates, and increased migration in turn contributes to climate change. While it is important for policies to address this link, decreasing migration for environmental purposes is not the intended call to action. Talking about the negative impact of migration on the environment also denies the autonomy of climate refugees and overlooks the contributions many individuals with migrant backgrounds have made to the climate movement. Ideologically, the roots of migration and climate change are tangled, and many activists claim that the source of both issues must be addressed for either movement to see any substantive change.

Migration for climate-related causes alone is far less common than migration caused by reasons of climate exacerbated by political and economic issues.”Most importantly perhaps, climate change is a very political and economic issue: it is a form of persecution inflicted on the most vulnerable populations of the world,” this article points out. Maya Menenez, a migrant and activist, describes her view of the shared cause of both global issues: capitalism. Framing capitalism as a means for “individualizing our suffering,” she claims that indigenous movements, migrant movements, and environmental movements must support each other’s causes in order to make a difference, because of the issues’ overlap as products of the same system of power. Another migrant, Niria Alicia, who is a Xicana community organizer and SustainUS COP25 youth delegation leader, describes how her work as an agriculture laborer during childhood helped her to understand the “culture of disposability” that allows the land, and the people who work the land, to be exposed to toxic industrial chemicals for the profit of those more powerful. She connects the way that vulnerable populations like refugees and migrants are abused to the way that the Earth’s resources are depleted, each problem worsening the other for the benefit of corporations, wealthy people, and the function of society in the developed world. She stresses that even policies that are considered more forward thinking, like the Green New Deal, must be rewritten to include migrant justice in order to really achieve equity, with green jobs supportive of migrants and climate reparations included in reform measures.

Perhaps because of the way their experiences shaped their unique views of the world, many young refugees have become advocates for climate justice. Céline Semaan, who fled political conflict in Lebanon as child, founded a design lab in Brooklyn that brings sustainability into fashion—one of the highest polluting industries in the world. She turns plastic and textile waste into new materials for meaningful and ethically-created items, the sale of which she uses to support the efforts of the World Wildlife Fund, UNICEF, and ANERA—a mission that she says is driven by her experience as a refugee, during which she learned “how easily things can be taken away.” Another refugee-turned climate hero is Abraham Bidal of South Sudan, who works to combat one of the most prevalent environmental issues associated with refugee settlement: deforestation. He promotes a movement to plant trees in Uganda, the land that welcomed his people to safety. He explains, “Planting trees is important because trees are life…if one day we go back to South Sudan we can leave this place as we found it.” In Rohingya refugee camps in Myanmar, many of which are in areas effected by landslides and flash floods, refugee-led farming projects are common. Using solar powered safe water systems to reduce the effects of deforestation and erosion, refugees have led the way in using green technology to mitigate their energy costs and emissions.

The work of some of the most vulnerable people in reconceptualizing our norms and bettering a world that has given them so little is inspiring. In emerging from the pandemic, we need this same mindset, which focuses on regrowth inspired by the wisdom of our experiences. We must let the memory of our own discomfort create empathy for others still in the midst of their struggles. We must let pain fuel an urgency to protect others—our children, or our future selves.

Featured Image from New Frame

Climate Migration: A Cause and Effect

Francesca Von Krauland COVID-19, Global Future November 15, 2020November 15, 2020climate change, COVID-19, human rights, migration, natural disasters, pandemic, refugees

We watched the events of this year unfold from our couches. News of the pandemic’s spread had most of the population home and baking, breaking out board games and books to alleviate boredom. When election week got too stressful, or we read about yet another jihadist attack, or another Black American’s arrest gone disturbingly wrong, or the latest statistics on worsening climate change, we fought back with activism, yes, but also with self care. We watch the news on our couches, with our loved ones, light scented candles and buy another fluffy blanket as the cold weather sets in, as we contemplate the world’s most deeply rooted inequities. It is our right—self care is crucial to sustaining mental health so that we have the energy to keep fighting for change. But it’s also a luxury denied to the very people we fight for. As we munch on our homemade sourdough starters and shake our heads at the latest “presidential” tweet, there are people around the world who are so affected by global events that they lose, rather than retreat to, the homes they want to feel just as safe in as we do ours. Migrants and refugees have been a historical reality as long as the concept of borders has existed, but the causes of flight, the perils of that process, and its longterm ramifications are now more interconnected and alarming than ever.

In my most recent articles, I examined the links between climate change and natural disasters like droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires. Events like these, but also places with conditions of less immediacy, which nonetheless experience the effects of a changing climate, make many of the world’s most vulnerable places unlivable, resulting in migration. Such migration can occur within a country but also across national borders and even across continents. These movements and influxes of large, heterogeneous groups of migrants and refugees are both caused by environmental degradation and often unwitting contributors to that very same process. Yet despite, and perhaps because of this vicious cycle, humanitarian efforts to support these groups, especially during a global pandemic, are more crucial both to the wellbeing of migrants and to the environment than perhaps ever before.

While migration can be spurred by a variety of push and pull factors, when one examines the climate/environment as a catalyst for movement, there are several main causes, as outlined in this study. Migration induced by environmental disasters, like those mentioned above, is one. Migration caused by longterm environmental degradation, like resource strain due to overpopulation, is another main cause. Finally, long term effects of climate change like rising sea levels and shifts in disease patterns due to changes in weather regimes and temperature change also drives migration.

While the idea of migration might most readily bring to mind the entrance and assimilation of large groups from political conflict areas into the West, the reality of migration is nuanced, occurring over vastly different timelines and over varying geographic scales. Whether the movement is international or simply regional, the amount of people migrating, the reason for their migration, and the resources available for their support upon arrival all have ramifications both for the environment in the receiving territory and for the migrants themselves. Studies of internal migration show that “settlement into marginal and fragile ecosystems in [Least Developed countries] have led to desertification, deforestation and other environmental degradation.” Another study finds that migration from developing to developed countries causes an absolute increase in global emissions not just from the process of movement but also from environmental damage in the areas in which they settle. In developed countries, this means increased total emissions as migrant populations settle into the energy consumption patterns associated with higher income level urban areas, as well as loss of biodiversity, soil quality, deforestation, water pollution, and deterioration of natural areas responsible for carbon sequestration for migrants who settle in and develop more rural areas. These problems make living in migrant settled areas difficult not just for existing local populations but also for the migrants themselves.

The environmental problems in connection with the multiple stages of migration result from a lack of efficient management and planning. Understandably, the immediate wellbeing of refugee populations is the priority, but approaching the task of planning a refugee settlement cannot be dictated by short-term goals when such settlements are often longterm establishments, existing on average for 17 years. This is long enough to irreversibly damage the local environment of the settlement. Camp overcrowding, while a humanitarian issue, is also an environmental one, as local water and tree supplies diminish dangerously. The UNHCR created a tool to assess environmental impact in 2005, yet the focus remains on a “curative” rather than prevention-oriented approach. In some places, if the potential financial and social burden of supporting refugees does not dissuade a host country from accepting refugees, the damage to the environment that persists long after might act as a disincentive for aid. This article points out that after examining case studies in rural camps like that of 80,000 Nigerian refugees in Northern Cameroon and Syrian refugee camps in urban Lebanon, it is clear that “despite the gradual introduction of the term “environment” as a cross-cutting issue in policies and strategies, environmental issues are generally perceived as being separate from the humanitarian sector…humanitarian crises can have a significant impact on the natural environment, particularly when these are prolonged crises.”

Migration, whether for political, environmental, or other reasons, is predicted to increase in the coming decades, but it must do so in a way that protects both the displaced groups and their destinations. Establishing new urban centers in migratory destinations is one proposed sustainable solution. As a whole, planning and facilitating migration as a lifesaving option for vulnerable groups that does not jeopardize future environmental health must be prioritized in the conversation on migration, not just in addition to humanitarian aims but as a humanitarian aim in itself.

This year, the pandemic raised many questions about borders, international rights, and the priorities of governments. Within weeks of COVID-19’s spread across the globe, travel between the Unites States and Europe, and indeed between European countries, halted—and still has not been completely restored. In difficult times, the instinct of many is to protect those closest to them: family, neighbors, those with the same nationality. Asylum procedures were similarly disrupted. Displaced people became some of the most vulnerable to exposure to the virus due to cramped living conditions and shared resources, and their need was more urgent than ever. The pandemic serves as a powerful reminder of the world’s connectedness, but also of how differently people experience the same problems. Climate change causes migration, which causes environmental degradation and furthers the spread of the virus, which might lead to more inaction on climate change as leaders struggle to deal with the most immediate global issues at the direct expense of ongoing ones; it’s a brutal cycle that can only be broken with empathy, knowledge, and planning.

Featured Image from Climate and Migration Coalition

Drought, Migration, and Climate Change: When Hope Runs Dry

Francesca Von Krauland Global Future November 8, 2020November 8, 2020climate change, drought, migration, precipitation, wildfires

The World Health Organization defines a drought as “a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle that can occur anywhere in the world.” While widespread and naturally occurring, droughts impact certain regions far more drastically than others, and they do so with rapidly increasing frequency and intensity due to climate change. Rising temperatures elevate rates of soil moisture evaporation, which in turn decreases plant cover that could capture rainfall in dry areas. Climate change alters precipitation patterns, causing less rainfall overall in certain regions, and also affecting snowpack and melt, which diminishes the water supply. Areas that are already relatively dry, like the subtropics, will in coming years experience worsening droughts, while relatively wet places like the tropics will experience increased precipitation.

While some of the areas impacted by worsening drought conditions are located in the developed world, like the United States Southwest, most impacted regions are South and Southeast Asia—countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, and Laos, which are under the monsoon climatic zone. In Indonesia, 92% of the country experienced drought due to El Niño last year, impacting nearly 50 million people. Water scarcity impacts 40% of the world’s population.

Severe droughts, exacerbated by global warming conditions, affect every aspect of society, including the agricultural industry, transportation, energy, and public health. Droughts decimate the growth of crops like wheat, soybeans, and corn, some of which are necessary to support livestock and some are necessary for human consumption. This results in food price instability, social unrest, and famine. Droughts are costly for the transportation sector because a certain water level in waterways is necessary for transport barges to effectively ship goods, and water levels drop in droughts. Roads also crumble from prolonged exposure to dry heat, deteriorating crucial infrastructure. Electric grids strain under increased demand during heat waves, and the availability of hydroelectric power decreases during droughts. Yet perhaps the most alarming human impact of droughts is in public health.

Image from the World Health Organization

Droughts in less developed areas can disturb local health services due to a lack of water, which is especially troubling considering the worsening in various health conditions that droughts lead to in effected populations. The WHO reports that droughts can cause:

malnutrition due to the decreased availability of food, including micronutrient deficiency, such as iron-deficiency anaemia
increased risk of infectious diseases, such as cholera, diarrhea, and pneumonia, due to acute malnutrition, lack of water and sanitation, and displacement
increased health risk in people already impacted by lung diseases, like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or by heart disease, due to lower air quality in connection with wildfires and dust storms from droughts.
psycho-social stress and mental health disorders

In many cases, the above conditions make certain regions unlivable. Thus droughts exacerbated by global warming contribute to the growing problem of climate migration. Up to 700 million people are at risk of being displaced by droughts alone within the next ten years—a number that contributes to the total of migrants fleeing other climate disasters and political instability. The UN reports that “new displacement patterns, and competition over depleted natural resources can spark conflict between communities or compound pre-existing vulnerabilities.” In this way, people displaced by climate issues can be categorized as refugees and receive the international protections entitled to this group. The overlap between climate migrants and those traditionally thought of as refugees is significant, with many people displaced by political and other conflicts facing a secondary displacement because they live in climate change “hotspots.” As long as droughts and other climate issues persist and worsen, such groups cannot return to their home areas, sometimes putting a strain on regional political relations and the distribution of resources. Migration itself can have a negative environmental impact, with refugee settlements built for temporary usage being an unsustainable model of community building.

While it is people in developing countries who most directly experience the effects of climate change, it is the developed world—places like Europe and the United States, which caused much of the environmental degradation that contribute to the rising number of climate disasters. As the cause of these interconnected issues, it should be the responsibility of top-emitting countries to aid governments struggling with the effects of climate change—whether that entails supporting programs to combat the droughts and other such events directly, financing repairs, or giving aid to climate refugees. There are several ways that the effect of droughts in particular can be mitigated: conserving water and enhancing water efficiency in city plans, making available alternative water supplies, planting drought-resistant crops, and increasing energy efficiency in buildings so that less water-cooled power is used to begin with. However, many of these are much more feasible in places like the Southwest U.S. than in rural Indonesia, for example, and all present only superficial solutions to a complex problem.

Worsening droughts are an economic, political, and environmental issue, but most of all, it is a human one—a problem that will continue to take and disrupt lives with alarming rapidity until the underlying cause of climate change is addressed. Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions would simultaneously address each of the contributing factors not only to drought conditions, but also to wildfires and hurricanes, and to so many other destructive forces. Substantial progress in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement is the only humane way forward.