Top

BMC Medicine

Published in:

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Opinion

The health impacts of climate-related migration

Authors: Patricia Schwerdtle, Kathryn Bowen, Celia McMichael

Published in: BMC Medicine | Issue 1/2018

Abstract

Background

Changes in climate, in conjunction with other drivers of mobility, shape human migration. While there is an increasing focus on the adaptive potential of migration, the health impacts of climate-related migration, including planned relocation and forced displacement, have not been thoroughly examined. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that migration is currently, and will increasingly be, influenced by environmental degradation and climate change, and that it needs to be addressed in a focused and coordinated manner.

Discussion

This paper examines the links between climate change, migration, and health, considering diverse migration responses, including immobility, forced displacement and planned migration, as well as the associated health risks and opportunities in different contexts. Using case studies, the paper illustrates strategies to reduce the health risks associated with climate change-related migration.

Conclusion

While there is an increasing body of research examining the climate change–migration nexus, a dual approach is now required. This approach must include debate and further research regarding the health consequences and responses associated with climate migration as well as immediate strengthening of health systems to make them both climate resilient and migrant inclusive.

Finlayson C. Biogeography and evolution of the genus Homo. Trends Ecol Evol. 2005;20(8):457–63.CrossRefPubMed

McMichael C, Barnett J, McMichael AJ. An ill wind? Climate change, migration and health. Environ Health Perspect. 2012;120(5):646–54.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014. Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken DJ, Mach KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir TE, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, et al. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2014.

Foresight: Migration and Global Environmental Change. Migration and Global Environmental Change: Future Challenges and Opportunities. London: The Government Office for Science; 2011.

Tanner T, Lewis D, Wrathall D, Bronen R, Cradock-Henry N, Huq S, et al. Livelihood resilience in the face of climate change. Nat Clim Chang. 2015;5:23–6.CrossRef

Kelley CP, Mohtadi S, Cane MA, Seager R, Kushnir Y. Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015;112:3241–6.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

International Organisation on Migration. Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Assessing the Evidence. 2009. http://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/migration_and_environment.pdf. Accessed 20 Aug 2017.

Myers N. Environmental refugees: a growing phenomenon of the 21st century. Philos Trans R Soc. 2002;B357(1420):609–13.CrossRef

Reuveny R. Climate change-induced migration and violent conflict. Political Geog. 2007;26(6):656–73.CrossRef

10.

McLeman RA, Hunter LM. Migration in the context of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change: insights from analogues. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Change. 2010;1(3):450–61.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

11.

Bettini G, Gioli G. Waltz with development: insights on the developmentalization of climate-induced migration. Migr Develop. 2016;5(2):171–89.CrossRef

12.

McMichael AJ. Globalization, climate change and human health. NEJM. 2013;368(14):1335–43.CrossRefPubMed

13.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. In: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner G-K, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM, editors. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012.

14.

UNHCR. Planned Relocation, Disasters and Climate Change: Consolidated Good Practices and Preparing for the Future. Report. 2014. http://www.unhcr.org/54082cc69.pdf. Accessed 7 Aug 2017.

15.

International Organisation for Migration. IOM Outlook on Migration, Environment and Climate Change. Geneva: IOM; 2014. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mecc_outlook.pdf. Accessed 7 Aug 2017.

16.

Edwards JB. The logistics of climate-induced resettlement: lessons from the Carteret Islands, Papua New Guinea. Refug Surv Q. 2013;32(3):52–78. https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdt011.

17.

McIver L, Kim R, Woodward A, et al. Health impacts of climate change in Pacific Island countries: a regional assessment of vulnerabilities and adaptation priorities. Environ Health Perspect. 2016;124(11):1707–14. doi: https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1509756.

18.

UN Development Program. PNG. 2017. http://www.adaptation-undp.org/explore/melanesia/papua-new-guinea. Accessed 10 Aug 2017.

19.

Bronen R. Choice and necessity: relocations in the Arctic and South Pacific. 2014. http://unfccc.int/files/adaptation/groups_committees/loss_and_damage_executive_committee/application/pdf/bronen_choice_and_necessity_relocations_in_the_arctic_and__south_pacific_2014.pdf. Accessed 28 Aug 2017.

20.

Shulski M, Wendler G. The Climate of Alaska. Chapter 7. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press; 2007. p. 134.

21.

Brubaker M, Berner J, Chavan R, Warren J. Climate change and health effects in Northwest Alaska’. Cluster: Vulnerable populations in the arctic. Glob Health Action. 2011;4:8445. doi: https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v4iO.8445.

22.

Cochran P, Huntington OH, Pungowiyi C, et al. Indigenous frameworks for observing and responding to climate change in Alaska. Clim Change. 2013;120:557–67. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0735-2.

23.

International Organisation on Migration. Glossary on Migration, International Migration Law Series No. 25. 2014. https://www.iom.int/key-migration-terms. Accessed 8 Aug 2017.

24.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. South Sudan. 2016. http://www.unocha.org/south-sudan. Accessed 28 Aug 2017.

25.

Medecins Sans Frontieres. International Activity Report: South Sudan. 2016. http://www.msf.org/sites/msf.org/files/msf_activity_report_2016_web.pdf. Accessed 22 Aug 2017.

26.

Muller C, Waha K, Bondeau A, Heinke J. Hotspots of climate change impacts in sub-Saharan Africa and implications for adaptation and development. Global Change Biol. 2014;20:2505–17. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111.geb.12586.

27.

Albrecht G, Sartore GM, Connor L, Higginbotham N, Freeman S, Kelly B, Stain H, Tonna A, Pollard G. Solastalgia: the distress caused by environmental change. Australas Psychiatry. 2007;15 Suppl 1:S95–8.CrossRefPubMed

28.

Torres JM, Casey JA. The centrality of social ties to climate migration and mental health. BMC Public Health. 2017;17:600. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4508-0.

29.

Carson D, Bird D, Bell L, Yuhun P. Migration as adaptation to climate change for remote indigenous communities: what might we expect? The Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University. 2014. https://www.cdu.edu.au/sites/default/files/research-brief-2014-6.pdf. Accessed 28 Aug 2017.

30.

Ford JD, Keskitalo ECH, Smith T, Pearce T, Berrang-Ford L, Duerden F, Smit B. Case study and analogue methodologies in climate change vulnerability research. WIREs Clim Change. 2010;1:374–92.CrossRef

31.

Gracey M, King M. Indigenous health part 1: determinants and disease patterns. Lancet. 2009;374:65–75.CrossRefPubMed

32.

Parker A, Grossman Z, Whitesell E, Stephenson B, Williams T, Hardison P, Ballew L, Burnham B, Bushnell J, Klosterman R. Climate Change and the Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations. Migration as an Adaptation to Climate Change for Remote Indigenous Communities: What might we expect? Olympia: WA: The Evergreen State College, Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute; 2006.

33.

Perch-Nielsen SL, Battig MB, Imboden D. Exploring the link between climate change and migration. Clim Change. 2008;91:375–93.CrossRef

34.

Hugo G. What we know about circular migration and enhanced mobility. Migration Policy Institute. 2013. www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/Circular-Migration.pdf. Accessed 22 Aug 2017.

35.

Instituto de Hidrologia, Meteorologia y Estudios Ambientales. Executive Summary of Colombia’s Second National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 2013. p. 45–70. http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/colnc2exsume.pdf. Accessed 22 Aug 2017.

36.

European Commission. Climate Change in Latin America. 2009. https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/regions/latin-america/euroclima_en. Accessed 22 Aug 2017.

37.

Tran T, Mrad SO, Mantilla GC. Climate Change and Health in Colombia. Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation. 2015. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38670-1_70.

38.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Cancun Climate Change Conference Agreements. 2010. http://unfccc.int/meetings/cancun_nov_2010/meeting/6266.php. Accessed 28 Aug 2017.

39.

Bowen KJ, Miller F, Dany V, McMichael AJ, Friel S. Enabling environments? Insights into the policy context for climate change and health adaptation decision-making in Cambodia. Clim Dev. 2013;5:277–87. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2013.833077.

40.

Dovers S. Normalizing adaptation. Global Environ Change. 2009;19:4–6.CrossRef

41.

Berrang-Ford L, Ford JD, Paterson J. Are we adapting to climate change? Global Environ Change. 2011;21:25–33.CrossRef

42.

Burrows K, Kinney PL. Exploring the climate change, migration and conflict nexus. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016;13(4):443.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Title: The health impacts of climate-related migration
Authors: Patricia Schwerdtle
Kathryn Bowen
Celia McMichael
Publication date: 01-12-2018
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: BMC Medicine / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1741-7015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-017-0981-7

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

The health impacts of climate-related migration

Abstract

Background

Discussion

Conclusion

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Discussion

Conclusion

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2018

The cost-effectiveness of oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and early antiretroviral therapy in the presence of drug resistance among men who have sex with men in San Francisco

A cluster randomised controlled trial of two rounds of mass drug administration in Zanzibar, a malaria pre-elimination setting—high coverage and safety, but no significant impact on transmission

Living at home after emergency hospital admission: prospective cohort study in older adults with and without cognitive spectrum disorder

Liver toxicity associated with tuberculosis chemotherapy in the REMoxTB study

High-level artemisinin-resistance with quinine co-resistance emerges in P. falciparum malaria under in vivo artesunate pressure

Metabolic characterization of menopause: cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence