Climate and the Border: Why Rising Temperatures Will Add Immigration Challenges

[MountainLaurel]

When experts warn of the consequences of global climate change, they usually cite impacts on natural systems. They tell us that ice caps will melt, sea levels will rise, extreme weather will become more common, droughts will increase in frequency, oceans will become more acidic and so on.

In recent years, we have also come to discuss the broader, indirect effects of climate change on our societies, economies and political systems. National security, for instance, will face a variety of new challenges as temperatures rise. Experts anticipate increased conflict over scarce resources, competition for access to new maritime passageways, more flooding and, in response to these and other crises, increased migration.

In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), experts analyzed the effect of climate change on immigration from Mexico to the United States. Researchers chose to study Mexico because of the abundance of data on Mexican migration patterns, primarily based on factors such as labor demand shocks, demographic changes, U.S. immigration policy and the effects of trade agreements on agriculture. The paper concluded that as temperatures rise and crop yields shrink, many Mexicans will become climate refugees – individuals forced to find labor and establish livelihoods elsewhere.

The PNAS paper arrives while the federal government is challenging Arizona lawmakers, who have introduced a controversial state-level immigration policy. The report adds climate as a new element to the ongoing debate.

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/12/climate-and-the-border-why-rising-temperatures-will-add-immigration-challenges/