Climate change is a threat to everyone, but minority and low-income populations are on the front lines of the crisis.
Disasters triggered 30.7 million displacements worldwide in 2020, over three times more than conflict and violence, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The IDMC says most people who are internally displaced live in low- and middle-income countries experiencing a rise in extreme weather events and global inequality. An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone that is forced to leave their home but stays in their own country.
“Filling the data gaps on displacement associated with disasters and climate change is essential if we are to fully understand the issue, its scale, who it affects and what impact it has on sustainable development,” says Frankie Parrish, communications specialist at the IDMC. “The number of people displaced, their conditions, needs and aspirations, the duration and severity of their displacement and the risk of future displacement all need to be better quantified so that governments and the international community can plan and respond accordingly,” she adds.
People Displaced by Climate Change
Research shows that climate change displacement has a greater impact on developing countries that have contributed to fewer carbon emissions.
The top five countries for disaster displacement in 2020 were Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Sudan, according to the IDMC. Most of the disaster displacements in 2020 were the result of floods and tropical storms in South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific.
“This is both a global and a national issue,” says Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President of Unity College, a non-profit institution with environmentally-focused degrees. “Low income, low socioeconomic folks all across the world have always been at the low end of the totem pole.”
Climate displacement is not only an issue in developing countries. In 2020, 1.7 million people were newly displaced in the United States, the biggest number of new displacements in the Americas.
“When it comes to the United States, it’s a bit harder to track because the landscape of disasters don’t exactly look like how you might characterize displacement – IDP camps or refugee concepts,” says Amali Tower, founder and executive director of Climate Refugees. “People do live in shelters and FEMA housing. The disproportionate opportunities to adapt, mitigate and rebuild your life depends on your vulnerabilities, opportunities or privileges you had before the disaster.”
Impact of Climate Change Displacement
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says 90% of refugees come from the most vulnerable countries that are the least ready to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The UNHCR says population growth and recurring floods and droughts linked to climate change have worsened world poverty and hunger.
“We are talking about 200 years plus of a population explosion globally, coupled with geopolitical elements across the globe,” says Khoury. “Then you add the socio-economic impact of the lack of education and the misunderstanding of how our habits can interact with our local resources. All of those things combined do tend to affect the disadvantaged and minority populations more so than the privileged and the elite.”
Parrish says the risk of climate displacement aggravates existing inequalities that minority and low-income people experience, leading to a vicious cycle of vulnerability.
“Resources and resilience are eroded each time a person is forced to flee,” she says. “Displacement impacts all aspects of life, from safety and security to mental health, education and the ability to earn a living. But marginalized groups – whether women & girls, LGBTQ or indigenous communities – face unique risks, challenges and impacts that must be considered when designing appropriate responses.”
The neighborhoods where low-income and minority individuals live can also leave them more vulnerable to climate displacement and health-related issues like temperature-related deaths and childhood asthma diagnoses.
“Low-income people and racial and ethnic minorities often live in communities where there is underinvestment in infrastructure and amenities and greater exposure to pollutants, particularly as compared to wealthier and whiter communities,” says Todd Larsen, Executive Co-Director for Consumer & Corporate Engagement at Green America. “They often live in communities that are more susceptible to flooding, extreme weather, heat, and the air and water pollution that accompany the use of fossil fuels and other climate drivers.”
Climate Displacement Solutions
Economically vulnerable people often face greater hardships after they are climate displaced than they did before.
In 2005, approximately 1.5 million people from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama fled their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, according to the Center for American Progress (CAP). Ten years after Katrina, CAP found that approximately 40% of the people who left were not able to return to the homes they had before the hurricane.
“Having to flee home—particularly when return is not possible for months or years—can expose people to other significant risks linked to their displacement, and increase their vulnerability to future disasters,” says Parrish. She says sustainable urban and land-use planning and the construction and retrofitting of disaster-resilient infrastructure can help tackle the issue of climate displacement.
“Investing in socioeconomic development to provide populations affected by climate change and facing the risk of displacement with a range of livelihood opportunities and options to stay in their locality could also prevent future displacement,” says Parrish.
The White House’s 2021 Report on the Impact of Climate Migration says global efforts are needed to tackle climate change migration as it can contribute to instability and have serious geopolitical and international security implications. The report highlights programs and initiatives around the world to prevent forced climate displacement and emphasizes the most at risk for displacement are often the least able to relocate.
“Instead of seeing migration as means of adaptation, you’re left with leading people into situations where migration has to be survival or distress,” Tower says. “Or straight-up displacement. Straight up homelessness. The average American understands how homelessness works. These are failures in our system. You have to understand that climate change now has the propensity to do the same thing. It’s at a much bigger and grander scale.”
