This timely text examines the causes and consequences of population displacement related to climate change in the recent past, the present, and the near future. First and foremost, this book includes an examination of patterns of population displacement that have occurred or are currently underway. Second, the book introduces a three-tier framework for both understanding and responding to the public health impacts of climate-related population displacement. It illustrates the interrelations between impacts on the larger physical and social environment that precipitates and results from population displacement and the social and health impacts of climate-related migration. Third, the book contains first-hand accounts of climate-related population displacement and its consequences, in addition to reviews of demographic data and reviews of existing literature on the subject.

Topics explored among the chapters include:

Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans
Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico
The California Wildfires
Fleeing Drought: The Great Migration to Europe
Fleeing Flooding: Asia and the Pacific
Fleeing Coastal Erosion: Kivalina and Isle de Jean Charles Although the book is largely written from the perspective of a researcher, it reflects the perspectives of practitioners and policymakers on the need for developing policies, programs, and interventions to address the growing numbers of individuals, families, and communities that have been displaced as a result of short- and long-term environmental disasters. Global Climate Change, Population Displacement, and Public Health is a vital resource for an international audience of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers representing a variety of disciplines, including public health, public policy, social work, urban development, climate and environmental science, engineering, and medicine.

Auteur

Lawrence A. Palinkas, PhD, is the Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Policy and Health and Chair of the Department of Children, Youth and Families at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. A medical anthropologist, Dr. Palinkas is particularly interested in cultural and environmental influences on health behaviors, health disparities, implementation science, and community-based participatory research. He has held positions of leadership in studies that have focused on migration and health, migrant stress and coping, adaptation to extreme environments, and disaster mental health in projects funded by the National Science Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and National Institutes of Health. He has been engaged in developing new types of mixed method designs for mental health services research that target implementation of evidence-based practices and addressing the behavioral and mental health needs of youth, older adults, and communities of color.

Contenu

Chapter 1. IntroductionThe 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. Chapter 2. Katrina and New OrleansThis 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. Chapter 3. Maria and Puerto RicoThis 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/2017/09/27/economy/more-residents-are-expected-flee-puerto-rico-contributing-brain-drain). As was the case with the residents of New Orleans after Katrina, many of these displaced migrants have already or will experience increased rates of posttraumatic stress disorder and other mental and behavioral health problems. Departure of many of Puerto Rico's better-educated and younger citizens will make efforts by those left behind to rebuild and recover more difficult (USA Today, Oct 12, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/10/12/puerto-rico-young-professionals-leaving-hurricane-maria/754753001/). As with Katrina, host communities like Miami and New York will experience a severe strain on resources as they are challenged to find adequate housing, services, and schooling for the new residents, resulting in tension between established residents and new arrivals. Chapter 4. The Tubbs Fire and Santa RosaThis chapter describes the devastating wildfires that began on October 8, 2017 and destroyed entire neighborhoods of Santa Rosa, California, resulted in 42 deaths, and inflicted severe damage in other communities like Napa, Sonoma, and Marin Counties, including the destruction of o…