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How Climate Change Is Already Affecting Migration

In this photograph, internally displaced people turn a solar panel towards the sun as they use solar power to collect water in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif.
In this photograph, internally displaced people turn a solar panel towards the sun as they use solar power to collect water in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif.

More migrants were taken into custody at the U.S. border with Mexico last month than at any time in the past fifteen years. Across Central America, political and economic instability are forces driving migration. But a third factor is on track to eclipse both. Climate change.

Despite international agreements to tackle the issue, the earth is still on track for climate disaster. Sea levels and temperatures are all on the rise. And an increase in hurricanes is devastating communities near the equator. 

The World Bank estimates Central America will see millions displaced by 2050 as the weather turns more extreme. 

People are moving towards America’s southern border to try and escape these conditions. But they can face difficult, often perilous obstacles during that journey.

What responsibility does the U.S. have to help climate migrants?

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Michelle Harven