Global Climate Change, Population Displacement, and Public Health

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Lawrence A. Palinkas

   Pages 1-14

3. Acute Climate-Related Events

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

      PDF

   2. Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 17-33

   3. Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 35-52

   4. The California Wildfires

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 53-67

4. Long-Term Climate-Related Events

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 69-69

      PDF

   2. Fleeing Drought: The Great Migration to Europe

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 71-98

   3. Fleeing Flooding: Asia and the Pacific

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 99-125

   4. Fleeing Coastal Erosion: Kivalina and Isle de Jean Charles

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 127-145

5. Responses to Climigration

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 147-147

      PDF

   2. Policy Responses to Climigration

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 149-169

   3. Practice Responses to Climigration

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 171-201

   4. The Future of Climigration

      • Lawrence A. Palinkas

      Pages 203-215

6. Back Matter

   Pages 217-234

   PDF

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.

• climate refugees
• the next wave of migration
• climate change and international security
• environmental disasters
• sustainability development goals
• climate and civil conflicts
• mass migration to Europe
• Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico
• displacement due to wildfires
• disaster recovery and response
• public health preparedness
• migration policy
• global climate change and health
• population displacement
• global health
• climate-related displacement
• climate change

“The study is well-sourced in a large secondary literature. … It supports ‘strategies for preventing, managing, and mitigating climate-related population displacement and its effects through the development and maintenance of partnerships involving academics, policy makers, service providers, communities, and climigrants themselves.’” (G.McN, Population and Development Review, Vol. 46 (3), September, 2020)

• Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

  Lawrence A. Palinkas

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.  

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