Climate Change and Migration in Latin America: Facing up to the challenge?

PUBLISHED IN INTERCAMBIO CLIMATICO 11 DECEMBER 2012

 
 

Climate refugees, climate-induced migration or environmental migrants are terms which, coined by various researchers and international organisations, have recently attracted a considerable amount of attention by the public, media and academics.

There is a variety of opinions when it comes to facing up to and defining a common terminology, with regards to the displacement of people for environmental or climatic reasons. This may to a certain extent make an initial approximation more difficult; although at the same time it enhances an understanding of the problem and the responses that one can give to it.

There are different  examples of this complexity including the aforementioned variety of opinions and definitions in its conceptualisation: a range in current and future forecasts of the number of displaced people, its forced or voluntary character, its identification as a response to sudden disasters or to the slow-onset of climate changes, its internal or cross-border character, or the existing difficulties in identifying environmental causes as a principal factor in displacements or as found deeper within a complex equation formed of environmental, social, political, economic or cultural factors.

Which needs to be confronted by institutions…

Yet it is a reality which exists, which is on the rise and parts from the logic: with greater consequences of climate change, there will be a greater impact on human populations.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three principal causes which could potentially lead to an increase in the displacements brought about as a consequence of climate change: 1) a rise in the intensity of tropical hurricanes and the frequency of torrential rains and flooding; 2) a rise in the number of droughts, with the evaporation of water contributing to a decrease in soil moisture levels, often linked with the scarcity of food; and 3) a rise in sea levels resulting from the expansion of water, as well as the melting of the polar ice caps.

In Latin America we can recognise some of these causes:

-Changes in rainfall patterns and the loss of glaciers will significantly reduce the availability of water for human consumption, for agriculture and for energy generation.

-In dry zones, fertile lands will become more salty and sandy, meaning lower yields and productivity of livestock, which will undermine food security.

-In tropical rainforests, higher temperatures and lower subterranean water reserves will bring about a reduction in biodiversity, affecting the means of survival for many indigenous communities.

-The rise in sea levels will provoke more instances of flooding in low-lying areas, while the rise in ocean temperatures will reduce fish populations.

-Or indeed the consequences of the “El Niño” phenomenon and its opposite, “La Niña”.

Understanding migration as being a positive response and an adaptive strategy to climate change is an important starting point when it comes to coming up with responses. The IPCC makes a point of this idea, as it considers that the migration of individuals and communities or the relocation of settlements ought to be a potential adaptive response to the impacts of climate change.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) also outlines this route in its Cancun Adaptation Framework; Article 14, paragraph f) invites all parties to undertake “measures to enhance understanding, coordination and cooperation with regard to climate change induced displacement, migration and planned relocation, where appropriate, at the national, regional and international levels”.

Which reinforces its significance with realities on the ground…

Evidence on the ground also helps us to approximate and better understand the issue in Latin America. And with a theory in mind, that may be able to explain us how social inequalities can influence this issue in its origins, character and impact, but also through the understanding of these social inequalities as a consequence of displacements related to environmental degradation and climate change.

In Latin America we see how one of the most affected regions is the Caribbean. Territorial limitations, extreme weather events, droughts or rising sea levels, together threaten the most impoverished economies and populations, and  can be added together as a factor of growing importance when reinforce social inequalities and the proneness to migration of its inhabitants.

Mexico is another country among those that suffer the most, but which also offers a greater number of studies about migratory patterns associated with climate change. In the state of Chiapas, environmental factors and the negative influence of climate change have sparked a wave of migration, not just within Mexico but also coming from several other Central American countries. These migration trends are also tied in with social or economic factors, and which results in unequal power relations and access to vital resources.

However, we can also find answers, such as that which has developed in the municipality of Saltillo, in the north of the country, where a model of agribusiness has been devised as a potential means of generating jobs, stopping the expansion of deserts, and counteracting against migration in the Mexican desert. The EACH-FOR (Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios) project drawn up by the European Commission also looked at the cases of the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tlaxcala, along with those of other countries such as Ecuador or Argentina.

Some other experiences can be considered in the study of migration as a response to natural disasters, and the holding up of the example of migrants as agents for development in their original or destination communities. This was reflected in the putting in place of the Temporary and Circular Labour Migration (TCLM) Programme, which was devised between Colombia and Spain.

And which requires answers from the perspective of the protection of the most vulnerable…

 Some examples and responses introduce us to the problem, and suggest that a discussion and recognition of the need to explore this question in more detail, whether from a political or investigative stance, is necessary.

And above all from a proactive perspective and understanding that climate change, and migration caused by it, is an issue of human rights and social justice.

Considering human security as a reference, which allows us to anticipate the dangers that the more vulnerable communities are likely to be in, and to develop sustainable and resilient ways which would allow communities to exercise their rights to remain in their original location and to confront the effects of climate change.

Equally, though, given the chance to understand migration as a legitimate adaptive strategy, and a potential solution to any displacements that may occur as a result of climate change, there may be a possibility of relocating to new areas and developing more sustainable ways of life.