• Forests

Mexican President López Obrador to Propose Cooperative Immigration Plan During Climate Summit

• climate change
• climate migrants
• immigration
• Mexico
• refugees
• restoration
• trees

As President Biden’s April 22 climate summit approaches, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico has announced by video that he will propose a new migration agreement between the nations of North America this week. This proposal would ask Central American and Mexican emigrants to work planting trees and crops in Mexico for three years in exchange for a six-month U.S. work visa and eventually the right to apply for U.S. citizenship. 

Why This Matters: As global temperatures warm, there will be a surge of predominantly impoverished climate refugees and migrants to many countries including here.

• Climate Change

Climate Change A Major Factor for Central American Migrants Fleeing to US

• #COVID19
• climate change
• Drought
• Hurricanes
• migrants
• migration
• poverty
• refugees

The mainstream media often cites Hurricanes Eta (a devastating Category 4 hurricane that caused heavy damage in early November 2020) and Iota (it underwent explosive intensification and became a rare Category 5 hurricane in mid-November) as a major factor driving the migration to the U.S. Southwestern border. 

Why This Matters:  Hurricanes like Eta and Iota will only become more commonplace as the globe continues to warm.  But the migration driving climate stressors go beyond severe coastal storms to drought, desertification, sea-level rise and heavy flooding.

• People

Millennial Spotlight: Ama Francis

• climate migration
• refugees

Ama Francis is a fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University where her work cuts across issues of international law to apply legal solutions to climate migration. Ama’s area of legal expertise is a field that is becoming increasingly necessary as climate change continues to fuel unrest and migration around […]

• People

Climate change playing a role in Central American refugee migration

• climate change
• climate regufees
• refugee crisis
• refugees
• southern border

The influx of refugee seekers from Central American nations at our southern border has garnered widespread attention and caused national tension (made evident by last weekend’s firing of former-Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen for her relaxing of policies that separated children from parents). This year, nearly 1 million could arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border […]

• Climate Change

State Department can’t ignore climate refugees, GAO report says

• asylum
• Drought
• GAO
• refugees
• state department

Climate change is already drastically altering our planet and for millions of people around the world, this has meant that they’ve had to flee their homes and seek asylum in other countries.