Global Climate Change, Population Displacement, and Public Health: The Next Wave of Migration - Tapa blanda

The chapter begins with a brief history of climate change and population displacement, starting with the migration of proto-humans from the trees to the savannas to the mass migration out of Africa, to the mass migration of Europeans during the Little Ice Age between the 16th and 19th centuries that led to poor crop production, famine, disease, and social conflict.  The chapter then moves forward to the present day to briefly describe changes in climate that have attributed to human activity, including warming temperatures, rising sea levels, global distribution of regions of increased and decreased precipitation, and ocean acidification, as well as the two major forms of migration that are consequences of these climate changes: that which is caused by natural disasters and that which is due to long-term changes in climate. The remainder of the chapter focuses on the aims and organization of the book. The remaining chapters are organized into three parts. Part A includes three chapters that provide case illustrations of displacement resulting from natural disasters. A chapter each is devoted to displacement of residents from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, residents of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017, and residents of Northern California after the devastating wildfires in 2017. Part B includes three chapters that provide illustrations of displacement resulting from long-term changes in environment due to climate change.  A chapter each is devoted to displacement of populations from the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa due to prolonged drought; from South Asia and the Pacific Rim due to prolonged flooding and sea level rise, and from coastal communities in the United States.  Part C includes two chapters focused on policy and practice responses to climate-related displacement and a concluding chapter that describes potential strategies for preventing, managing, and mitigating climate-related population displacement and its effects through the development and maintenance of partnerships involving academics, policymakers, service providers, communities, and climate refugees themselves.

This chapter begins with a recounting of Hurricane Katrina and City of New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005. It examines why so many residents were forced to relocate to other communities such as Houston and Atlanta and the impact of this relocation on the migrants themselves, the City of New Orleans, and the communities that hosted them.  An estimated 1.5 million people living along the Gulf Coast were displaced as a result of the hurricane.  Many of the former residents of New Orleans experienced mental and behavioral health problems and social isolation due to separation from family and friends. Interviews with former residents of New Orleans living in Houston will be used to illustrate how the trauma experienced by Katrina was exacerbated by the more recent experience of Hurricane Harvey.  The population of New Orleans declined from 484,000 to 344,000 in the year after Katrina. Host cities such as Houston experienced a severe strain on resources as they were challenged with finding adequate housing, services, and schooling for the new residents. This resulted in tension between established residents and new arrivals. 

This chapter describes the Category 5 hurricane that struck Puerto Rico and the islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, beginning on September 6, 2017.  It examines the destruction of Puerto Rico's infrastructure and disruption of the economy and follows the migration of island residents to the United States mainland.  It is currently estimated that as many as 200,000 Puerto Ricans will leave the island (Marketplace, Sept 17, 2017, https://www.marketplace.org/2017