Climate Refugees:What happens when human-

influenced environmental change impacts the fundamental

existence of an entire community?

Nature & Society: Climate Refugees• Define “climate refugees” and climate change• Examples of climate refugees• Incorporate key concepts of human geography• Discuss implications and solutions for those displaced

by human-influenced environmental change

What is a climate refugee?

• No universally agreed upon definition• Also known as “environmental refugees” or

“environmental migrant”• An estimated 50 million people have been

displaced in the last four years because of rising sea levels, desertification, dried up aquifers, weather-induced flooding and other serious environmental changes. (UN)

What is a climate refugee?

• "People who are displaced from- or who feel obliged to leave- their usual place of residence, because their lives, livelihoods and welfare have been placed at serious risk as a result of adverse environmental, ecological or climatic processes and events." (UN)

• Many are technically IDPs, but the media refers to them as refugees

What is climate change?• Environmental response to increased levels of

green house gasses (GHG) in the atmosphere.• Most GHGs come from industrialization and

development.• Earth is not just warming, but reconfiguring its

whole climate.

What causes climate change?

Climate Change impacts• More frequent and severe weather patterns

(including storms and drought)• Rising sea levels• Coastal erosion• Ground water salination

Relevant Concepts

• Cultural ecology vs. political ecology• Impacts of land-use change on the

environment• Industrialization and urbanization have a

global impact.

Examples of climate refugees

350.org

Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

Bangladesh

Small Island States

Residents of Tuvalu, a Polynesian Island situated midway between Hawaii and Australia, struggle with rising sea level.

Maldives

Carteret Islands

Carteret IslandsThe islands are so small that they’re barely visible on the map.

Google doesn’t even ID Carteret Islands on the map

Nature & SocietyI=PAT

(Impact on Resources = Population x Affluence x Technology)

But who is using the resources? And who is feeling the impact?

Alaskan barrier island struggling to combat sea level rise.

Key Concepts

• Cultural ecology vs. political ecology– Which best relates to the plight of climate refugees?

• Land-use change affects the environment, both locally and globally.

• Industrialization and urbanization (land use changes) have a global impact.

Political Ecology and Climate Refugees

• Carbon in the atmosphere is unseen, difficult to comprehend its role in environmental change

• Climate and GHG mitigation policies influence the global environment (atmosphere, oceans)

• Cap and Trade• Global policy impacts cultural ecology

Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana

Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana

CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana

CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Are the Boloxi-Choctaw Indians climate refugees?

Conclusions• Marginalized communities feel the effects of

climate change first and most severely• Those who contribute the least to climate

change are impacted most

Climate refugees flees coastal Bangladesh to the inland slums. (Radio Netherlands)

Want to learn more?

• www.350.org• www.islandsfirst.org

• http://www.storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/

• Talk to me!