CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT IN THE NEWS
Indeed, Haiti is considered the most climate-vulnerable nation in Latin America and the Caribbean. But the far-reaching effects of climate vulnerability, such as diminished crop yields in largely agriculture-dependent societies and resultant poverty, play out in countries around the region, posing an urgent challenge to the US as it emerges from years of blatantly anti-immigrant and anti-science policies.
A recent story in The Nation recounts the experiences of two climate migrants seeking refuge in the US with one defining difference between the two: legal status. The ease with which one migrant fleeing climate disaster is able to immigrate to the US mainland is juxtaposed to the difficulty of the other, highlighting the time sensitive need for the US to create legal infrastructure for climate migration.
As the Coronavirus pandemic spreads globally, US immigration agencies continue their raids, detentions and deportations with good indication from the WHO that US deportations to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala imported 1, 18 and 26 cases of the virus, respectively, as of March 23. With its unsanitary and extreme close quarters, detention centers exacerbate the high contagion rate of the virus. Prior to Covid-19, 700 detainees were reported to have mumps and at least three children have died from the flu. The author notes that so many refugees have been forced to flee due to misguided US trade policies, wars and proxy wars, coups, political interventions and now, unchecked greenhouse gas emissions and continued failed climate policies, which threaten to displace millions more who could face similar cruelty in that crisis. (Common Dreams)
The global economic shutdown has made apparent what is possible if humans commit to reducing its carbon footprint. Since January, China’s emissions have declined 25 percent and satellite imagery has captured huge declines in pollution in Beijing, Los Angeles and New York. Marshal Burke at Stanford University calculated that China’s shutdown has likely saved 4,000 lives of children under 5 and 73,000 lives of adults over 70, 20 times the deaths of Chinese coronavirus cases. In the long run though, as countries re-emerge from the economic loss, the inspired long-term actions needed to avert a climate crisis we sense is coming is unlikely as governments prioritize short-term economic growth over long-term sustainability, all the while loosening environmental regulations, which we already see playing out in some countries like the US and China, and public pressure to combat climate change is subsumed by the economic effects of the coronavirus. (World Politics Review)
Kumari, a plant virologist, has been working the past 10 years on solutions to a fueled virus spreading from Syria to Ethiopia affecting livelihood crops known as “poor man’s meat”, vital for both income generation and food security. She says climate change has provided aphids with the right temperature to breed exponentially and spread epidemics. When she finally found a bean varietal resistant to one of the viruses, she safeguarded the seeds with her sister in Aleppo, never believing the Syrian war would expand across the country. Determined to equally safeguard her work, she traveled via Damascus to Aleppo, dodging bombings and dangerous roads over two days, eventually bringing the seeds back to safety with her in Lebanon. But that was only the first hurdle, as the region faced mounting crop production losses and producers began to rely heavily on insecticides with no safety measures. Her work eventually succeeded, providing a cheap and environmentally friendly option with good yields. Turning down offers from virus detection tech companies who wanted to sell the seeds to farmers, Kumari now plans to distribute her seeds free to farmers, saying “it’s our responsibility to provide our solutions to people everywhere.” (The Guardian)
