Latin American Countries Are Facing ‘’Internal Climate Migration’’

close-up photography of world map

22 November 2021 – by Deniz Saygi

Climate change impacts every area involved with human interaction, and these suffering areas could force people to migrate in distress. Regarding these unfortunate events, the governments are expected to declare an emergence of hotspots where livelihoods are threatened by climate change as early as 2030. These hotspots will continue to intensify and expand – if governments will not take action to reduce climate emissions. 

Today, climate change is emerging as a dominant cause of internal migration throughout Latin American countries. According to the Groundswell Report, internal climate migrants could number over 17 million, representing up to 2.6 per cent of the region of South America’s total population. 

In the recent past, floods and landslides displaced 295,000 people in Brazil, while Hurricane Dorian caused 465,000 new displacements in seven countries in the Caribbean. Also, concerning the decrease in the production of crops and food shortages, Guatemalan people were forced to migrate after droughts and floods. 

Currently, this internal migration process is gradually evolving amongst Latin American countries since the region is vulnerable to the effects of climate change. By 2030, Latin Americans could lose their jobs (2.5 million jobs, in particular) because of the increasing heatwaves. Moreover, it is estimated that the damages caused by climate change and global warming will cost the countries in the region US$ 100 billion per annum by 2050. Therefore, internal migration amongst the regions is inevitable. 

To incorporate the internal migration component into their climate change strategies and regulations, some Latin American countries are making progress: For example, Peru’s Framework Law on Climate Change calls for addressing forced migration as a result of negative climate impacts. Additionally, Honduras’s National Strategy for Climate Change proposes to establish both legal and institutional frameworks for the adaptation strategies with regard to the migrations due to climate change. 

Needless to say, the governments must promote adaptation measures to reduce vulnerability and prevent internal migration for the effects of climate change in the regions where the local people and small scale industries suffer most. Also, a more inclusive focus on adaptation and resilience strategies is needed to support vulnerable communities at risk of migration between Latin American countries.

The Climate Crisis Has Been a Driving Force of Central American Migration to the USA

29 March 2021 – by Evelyn Workman

Migration north to the USA from Central America has been driven over the past by many factors including government corruption, high levels of poverty, and violence. However, over the past few months, another factor has caused an increase in the number of people migrating north: hurricanes. 

In November 2020, two hurricanes made landfall within two weeks, causing devastation across Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. Hurricanes Eta and Iota brought flash flooding and landslides to these regions, and resulted in more than 200 deaths and another 5.3 million in need of assistance, according to estimates by Unicef. The Covid-19 pandemic had already left these regions in economic downturn, and the destruction the hurricanes have brought have only exacerbated issues created by the pandemic. Severe damage has been caused to homes and hospitals, resulting in increasing the transmission of COVID-19.

Recovery in these regions has been slow since the hurricanes, living conditions and access to services and income have declined. More people have been pushed into poverty and children are likely to become malnourished, as agricultural communities have been hit and damaged by the storms. These factors are helping push migrants out of their home countries, and a change of administration in the US has made the move north more attractive, due to Biden’s more humane approach to migration. We can expect to see cases like these becoming more frequent in the future, as climate change will make extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, more commonplace and more intense. 


Sources

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/3/22/22335816/border-crisis-migrant-hurricane-eta-iota

https://aldianews.com/articles/politics/climate-crisis-one-driving-forces-central-american-migration-heres-how/63631